Clift: Washington Intrigue (Ashcroft, Ridge, Terror Alert)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5087576/site/newsweek/site/newsweek/

What was the subliminal message of John Ashcroft’s stepped-up terror warning earlier this week? It’s that if the terrorists want to disrupt the presidential election, that must mean they’re for Democratic candidate John Kerry.

Think Madrid. The terrorist train bombings there in March were credited with ousting Spain’s pro-Bush conservative government and propelling the Socialists to power. But Kerry has done a good job in recent days of countering the notion that if he is elected president, America will go soft on terrorism.

The Massachusetts senator showed real strength this week in a speech in Seattle where he laid out his vision for national security. He said America was less safe because of Bush’s go-it-alone war, and that he would never send U.S. troops “to fight a war without a plan to win the peace.” Kerry was steadfast on Iraq, refusing to heed critics on the left who want a date set for U.S. withdrawal, and warning terrorists against harboring any illusions they can divide the country on the eve of an election. "If we can build on America's confidence and not their fears, we can win this thing," says a Democratic strategist. "It's a trust issue—it's the modern version of finger on the button." The latest CBS poll showed Kerry opening up an 8-point margin over Bush, rebutting critics who fret Kerry is overly cautious and should be surging because of Bush's world of woe.

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The outpouring of antiwar sentiment is a bigger problem for the Republicans as they plan their convention than the likelihood of a terror attack. A former FBI official familiar with Al Qaeda’s method of operation says he “can’t imagine” them choosing to take on the convention. “They’ll say: what about Newark, or shopping malls, or the trains in D.C. … I don’t subscribe to their wanting to affect the election in Spain,” he adds. “They’re not that clever. They tried to do around Christmas. One of their packages was discovered. They did it the next time they got their act together. They do things on their timetable, not ours.”