Meanwhile The pRez Showcases New Strategery

Looking to Elections, Bush and Democrats Spar on National Security - New York Times:

The speech employed some of Mr. Bush’s sharpest rhetoric to date. He compared Osama bin Laden to Lenin and Hitler, saying, “Bin Laden and his terrorist allies have made their intentions as clear as Lenin and Hitler before them.”

The president also quoted liberally from Mr. bin Laden, warning that the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks is still pursuing his vision of “a unified totalitarian Islamic state that can confront and eventually destroy the free world.”

The speech used a classic strategy of Karl Rove, Mr. Bush’s chief political adviser, who specializes in turning a candidate’s weakness into a strength. In this case, Mr. Bush’s weakness is that Mr. bin Laden has not been captured — a point that was quickly picked up by Democrats. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts said that if Mr. Bush had “unleashed the American military to do the job at Tora Bora four years ago and killed Osama bin Laden, he wouldn’t have to quote this barbarian’s words today.”

That did not stop Mr. Bush from mentioning Mr. bin Laden 17 times in the 44-minute speech, a tactic that seemed intended to emphasize the Republican argument that the nation can trust the president and his party more than Democrats to protect it from attacks.

Which is, uh, to stay the course? Well, yeah, but with emphasis on how screwed up everything is and how the Dems couldn't do it any better? Hmmmm. Maybe they ought to take another look at that.