The author, Thomas de Zengotita, is "a contributing editor at Harper's Magazine":
As some of my previous posts make clear, I don't hold with major 9/11-was-an-inside-job conspiracy theories, but I think the possibility that they will "find" Osama before the election is real. Deceptions of that kind are par for the course for these champions of moral clarity. Plus, even more importantly, it is logistically feasible.
So it could happen.
But here's the thing. Their credibility is now so damaged that it might backfire--especially if Democrats were to be smart about it. Candidates should confine themselves to solemn head shaking and comments like "All I can say is that this is very convenient timing." Bloggers will take care of the rest.
You can't outsmart Karl Rove, Tommy Boy. The Foley scandal and Lancet Study were timed to make Republican credibility so bad that voters will never believe that Republicans would expect to get away with "finding" Osama as a cynical ploy to get votes. So when they do "find" him, it will be taken as a genuine success against terror. It's sort of like storing your credibility safely in the bank and taking it out when you need it.
Come to think about it, the possibility of backfire is so real that if, just by chance, just by accident, they were to locate bin Laden in the next couple of weeks they might be well advised to keep him on ice until after the election.
That's how suspect they've become. That's the kind of looking-glass warp of weirdness you get into when you lie as much and as often as they have.
Fingers crossed. Let the hard rain fall...
But try to keep it off the ice.
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