Osama bin Laden is dead

[aaron]

that's fair. the numbers i got were outdated. this looks a little more accurate, i guess.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Sta ... val_rating

gosh, i sure use wikipedia a lot, it seems...

he is still at the low end of his average at this point, which is not a good place to be sitting with an election next november.

[dsheinem]

i am completely disgusted by the public reaction to this and it's seriously making me reconsider whether or not i want to continue living between these borders for the rest of my life.

i find it tragically ironic that the same circle of conservatives who have abhorred and lambasted obama for the duration of his candidacy and presidency are so willing to take his word that this poster-child for terrorism is essentially dead, thus ending a long-standing vendetta that we supposedly have with the entire middle east and all of its people.

it's also incredibly convenient that this announcement comes at a time when obama's public approval rating is at a near Bush-level low, in the wake of a birth certificate fiasco, after the defunding of public schools, programs, and organizations, and with a pending re-election campaign just around the corner.

and they're saying that he was "buried at sea" now within 24 hours, in accordance with muslim tradition. which is also shockingly convenient....

i don't think that bin laden is alive. i think he's probably been dead for a long time. either way, it doesn't really matter, i feel like it's pretty clear that this is a big power play for the obama camp. and the one thing that i'm so disappointed in is the reactions that some of my close friends and family have had, especially on facebook, twitter, etc.

Oh c'mon man...! I am certainly not a flag-waving yahoo nor have I suddenly changed some of my negative opinions of Obama or his administration because of this, but I certainly can respect the fact that the United States finally brought some small measure of closure to the 9/11 attacks.

This is NOT a strategic release of information. That's just paranoid bullshit.

The word from watching the news this morning is that Obama made the announcement in the hours immediately after the kill at the request of the Pakistani government, who wanted to make this known immediately. That may have been a condition of their cooperation, which is certainly needed now. In any case, already we have started to see more evidence such as video of inside the compound and I would guess that we'll eventually see more evidence in the forms of pictures, testimonials, or the DNA test results (we have DNA from one of his sisters). But if we don't, that's fine with me...I haven't been given any reason to think that this (or any) administration would fake something like this.

Look, in this day and age anything and everything could be faked. If you want to live in paranoia-land, so be it. But there's no legitimate reason to doubt the reports. Anytime would be a good time to release the information - if he was really doing it "strategically" he would have waited until the actual campaign, not a year and a half beforehand. This far out, the announcement will make almost zero impact on his election prospects. It will still be about "the economy, stupid" and he still has a lot of work to do there.

You claim to believe Bin Laden has been dead for a long time. Do you somehow have reliable information that the rest of us don't? Or are you just trying to concoct a scenario that fits a particular worldview you wish to hold to?

As much as I get pissed off about the way our government conducts itself, I don't think that they are competent enough to convincingly create cover-ups and fabricate news stories, nor do I think they are devious enough to lie about something like this for the sake of a bump in the polls.

[Evildeadmanwalking77]

I do not get involved with discussions or debates that are about anything related to 9/11/01 but I'm breaking my silence now because this is justice for my family and for MANY others. I lost both my uncle and cousin that day as they were NYC Firemen who lost their lives trying to save others and destroyed my family because no one has ever been the same since as a result of this madman's plots. I don't wish harm to anyone normally but I also feel that a shot to the head was too quick for him and I strongly feel that I would have liked to seen him get tortured like in those Hostel movies or something like that. GOOD RIDDANCE YOU FUCKING, FILTHY, EVIL, UGLY, SON OF A BITCH!!

[Flake]

I'm pretty disgusted that so many people are being so quick to assume the announcement was politically timed.

It wasn't.

It wasn't any more politically timed than Saddam Hussein's capture / trial / execution was for President Bush Jr.

It wasn't any more politically timed than the fall of the Soviet Union was for Bush Sr.

It wasn't any more politically timed than the decision to deploy atomics was for Harry S. Truman.

It wasn't any more politically timed than Nixon authorizing the evacuation of Saigon.

It is LESS politically timed than Lincoln giving the emancipation proclamation.

It is LESS politically timed than the Iran hostage crisis 'magically' resolving itself as President Carter was going out and Reagan was going in.

I am starting to wonder if President Obama can do anything 'right'. If the guy took a bullet for the pope while curing cancer and saving a puppy from being run over by a car people would be like 'how fucking convenient'.

The primaries are 6 months away - and it's not like President Obama even has to be re-nominated so literally his next election is 18 months away. You think people are going to care 18 months from now that his administration caught / killed that murderer? NO, people will be concerned with the political / economic flavor of the week. Osama Bin Laden's death will just be a small blip in the credits of his re-election commercials.

Stop being so damn paranoid and THINK.

[dsheinem]

I'm pretty disgusted that so many people are being so quick to assume the announcement was politically timed.

It wasn't.

It wasn't any more politically timed than Saddam Hussein's capture / trial / execution was for President Bush Jr.

It wasn't any more politically timed than the fall of the Soviet Union was for Bush Sr.

It wasn't any more politically timed than the decision to deploy atomics was for Harry S. Truman.

It wasn't any more politically timed Nixon authorizing the evacuation of Saigon.

It is LESS politically timed than Lincoln giving the emancipation proclamation.

It is LESS politically timed than the Iran hostage crisis 'magically' resolving itself as President Carter was going out and Reagan was going in.

I am starting to wonder if President Obama can do anything 'right'. If the guy took a bullet for the pope while curing cancer and saving a puppy from being run over by a car people would be like 'how fucking convenient'.

The primaries are 6 months away - and it's not like President Obama even has to be re-nominated so literally his next election is 18 months away. You think people are going to care 18 months from now that his administration caught / killed that murderer? NO, people will be concerned with the political / economic flavor of the week. Osama Bin Laden's death will just be a small blip in the credits of his re-election commercials.

Stop being so damn paranoid and THINK.

I rarely use the Citizen Kane gif, but when I do it is certainly deserved.

[puke_face]

[saturnfan]

The primaries are 6 months away - and it's not like President Obama even has to be re-nominated so literally his next election is 18 months away. You think people are going to care 18 months from now that his administration caught / killed that murderer? NO, people will be concerned with the political / economic flavor of the week. Osama Bin Laden's death will just be a small blip in the credits of his re-election commercials.

I don't know about that, this is a pretty big victory for the Obama administration. It will certainly help him in the long run because it shows he is strong on terrorism, which Obama certainly is. He is just as strong, if not more aggressive on terrorism than Bush Jr ever was. I mean conservative talk radio hosts can lambaste Obama for being weak on terrorism until they are blue in the face, but it doesn't change the fact that Obama is keeping open gitmo, expanding operations in Afghanistan, taking an aggressive stance on Lybia, re-authorized the Patriot Act and has now just killed the number one wanted terrorist of the past decade.

Now I am certainly not a fan of Obama, but politically timed or not, Osama's death is a positive attribute of his presidency moving into 2012.

[scarper]

Osama Bin Laden: Hide n' Seek Champion 2001-2011

[Limewater]

Uh...good job, FOX News. Again.

For what it's worth, that was a local FOX affiliate, not the FOX News Network. It's also the third case of someone making that slip that I've encountered since the press conference last night was announced.

[BRIK]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWS-FoXbjVI