Greg Gutfield has a satirical piece up at the Huffington Post:
(NEWSFLASH, JANUARY 20, 2006) Experts confirmed today that a taped message aired on Al-Jazeera television was not only from Osama Bin Laden, but completely scripted by Bush cabinet member Karl Rove......According to a secret memo unearthed by Al-Jazeera, Karl Rove scripted these words, then convinced Bin Laden to repeat them, promising him it would increase his stature in the American political scene and get him invited to parties at David Geffen's house. "Trust me on this one. Look what I did for Cindy Shaheen," he told Bin Laden, according to the memo.
It's certainly debatable how funny the piece actually is, but that's not where the commenters were going. The mostly lefty commenters were falling into two broad categories; people who really think Rove and the White House are behind the OBL tape release, and those who are furious, and are lashing out obscenely at Gutfield for noticing how bin Laden's message really does sound like Democratic talking points. Worth a look just to marvel at the level of vitriol slung at the author.
Greg Djerejian has a thoughtful post on the bin Laden tape, and one of his commenters makes Gutfield's point more straightforwardly:
Have you read what OBL actually said? He sounds like he is channeling Cindy Sheehan. He hits all the left's talking points - we're losing in Iraq, Bush is a liar, withdraw the troops now, soldier morale is low, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, etc. He even manages to throw in a reference to Vietnam and a conspiracy theory or two.Posted by dan at January 20, 2006 10:31 PMWhat purpose does it serve for OBL to sound so eerily similar to Howard Dean? He obviously follows our political chattering classes quite closely. Why has he adopted the tone and message of the left? Why does he choose their words in his tapes designed to demoralize and threaten the US?
He did the same thing prior to the 2004 election, threatening retaliation to the "red states" who vote for Bush and referencing Michael Moore's film.
Whose side are you on if OBL is parroting your words?