Crooks and Liars: "Each time a new videotape from Osama bin Laden emerges, as one did yesterday, it ends up embarrassing the Bush Administration because the Administration has adopted a tactic of planting stories in the media that bin Laden is dead, which are then conclusively disproven each time a new tape appears. Every since 9/11, the Administration has repeatedly whipped up speculation that Osama bin Laden is dead in order to induce the public into becoming distracted (and scared) by the Evil Ones, and to give the appearance that Commander-in-Chief George Bush is protecting us all by slaying the Big Bad Wolf."

(Via Crooks and Liars.)

AlterNet: Chomsky: 'There Is No War On Terror': "Noam Chomsky: George Bush would be in severe political trouble if there were an opposition political party in the country. Just about every day, they're shooting themselves in the foot. The striking fact about contemporary American politics is that the Democrats are making almost no gain from this. The only gain that they're getting is that the Republicans are losing support. Now, again, an opposition party would be making hay, but the Democrats are so close in policy to the Republicans that they can't do anything about it. When they try to say something about Iraq, George Bush turns back to them, or Karl Rove turns back to them, and says, 'How can you criticize it? You all voted for it.' And, yeah, they're basically correct."

(Via AlterNet.)