The Arabian Candidate

In a column sure to quiet his right-wing detractors, Paul Krugman suggests that Bush might be an al Qaeda mole. Well, at the very end of the column he says he doesn't really mean it, although the way he says it suggests that he does:

President Bush isn't actually an Al Qaeda mole, with Dick Cheney his controller. Mr. Bush's "war on terror" has, however, played with eerie perfection into Osama bin Laden's hands - while Mr. Bush's supporters, impressed by his tough talk, see him as America's champion against the evildoers.

Last week, Republican officials in Kentucky applauded bumper stickers distributed at G.O.P. offices that read, "Kerry is bin Laden's man/Bush is mine." Administration officials haven't gone that far, but when Tom Ridge offered a specifics-free warning about a terrorist attack timed to "disrupt our democratic process," many people thought he was implying that Al Qaeda wants George Bush to lose. In reality, all infidels probably look alike to the terrorists, but if they do have a preference, nothing in Mr. Bush's record would make them unhappy at the prospect of four more years.

Given that the wars on terror and Iraq are lining Republican pockets across the nation, and that Kerry won't change much about either one, I'd suggest that a more honest bumper sticker for Kentucky Repugs would say: "Bush and Kerry are bin Laden's men/And mine."