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Kerry Says UBL Tape Cost Him Election

D

DealMonkey

Lifer
It's Geraldo Rivera reporting, so take this with a grain of salt. 😉

Exclusive: Kerry Says UBL Tape Cost Him Election

NEW YORK ? John Kerry (search) believes he lost to President Bush because of the video from Usama bin Laden (search) that surfaced just days before the Nov. 2 presidential election.

The Massachusetts senator told FOX News' senior correspondent Geraldo Rivera that he believes he lost because the tape may have scared the American electorate.

Rivera spoke to Kerry on Thursday as the senator and a slew of other notable names ? including wife Teresa Heinz Kerry, actors Robin Williams and Morgan Freeman and comedian Chris Tucker ? were in a holding room prior to the processional leading up to the formal opening of the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Ark.

"Tough luck, Senator," Rivera said to Kerry, referring to the Democrat's election loss.

Trying to recount Kerry's words verbatim, Rivera said Kerry responded by saying:

"Yes, it was those Usama tapes. The Usama tape came out too late for us to rebut and it scared people, and we couldn't counteract it in time for the Tuesday election."

"Sen. Kerry clearly believes not only is it the security issue that cost him the election, but very specifically the Usama tapes coming out in the 11th hour," Rivera reported Friday morning.

Kerry also acknowledged that the security issue in general hurt him in the race, Rivera said.

The broadcast of the tape from the Al Qaeda leader jolted the campaign's closing days, accentuating the terrorism theme with a reminder of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

In the tape, aired by the Arab television network Al-Jazeera, bin Laden spoke directly to the American people. He admitted for the first time that he carried out the Sept. 11 attacks and said the attacks would have been less severe if Bush had been more alert.

He promised to lay out "the best way to avoid another Manhattan" and told Americans, "Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or Al Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands."

The tape caused Kerry to revive his contention that Bush missed an opportunity to capture or kill bin Laden during the Afghan war. The Democratic challenger asserted throughout the campaign that U.S. forces could have run down bin Laden in the Tora Bora (search) mountains in late 2001 if they had gone after him on the ground, and he blamed Bush for the decision to let Afghan forces lead that chase.

But during the campaign, Republicans insinuated that terrorists would prefer to see Kerry in office, saying the Massachusetts senator would be too soft in the War on Terror.

Some political observers believe that many Americans voted for Bush not only because of his strong stance in the War on Terror but because they held tight to the adage of, "you don't change horses in midstream."

FOX News' Liza Porteus and Geraldo Rivera contributed to this report.
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it is sour grapes to say that the tape costed him the election.

Yes, the tape influenced the election, that was the intention of the release timing.
 
"Trying to recount Kerry's words verbatim"

isnt that a skill a true journalist should have?

Oh wait , we arent talking about a journalist, we are talking about a self-serving glory whore.
 
Come on 1 tape wont sway nearly 4 million people to not vote for you. If you looked at the final exit polls. The majority of people determined who they were going to vote for months ago. A small % in the past 2-3 months. And a very very small amount in the last week.

 
Originally posted by: Genx87
Come on 1 tape wont sway nearly 4 million people to not vote for you. If you looked at the final exit polls. The majority of people determined who they were going to vote for months ago. A small % in the past 2-3 months. And a very very small amount in the last week.
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if the difference is 4M, then he only needed 2M+1, right? so saying 4M to not vote for you is wrong.

But yeah, I doubt the tape would change 2M people's minds.. those 2M were stupid in the first place 😉
 
Wow I wouldn't believe it if it wasn't quoted.

Again Kerry trying to play down the importance of "the man" in the election.
 
If Kerry had won, it would have made Osama bin Laden a living god in the middle east and given him a good deal more power than would be good for the U.S.
 
Originally posted by: Genx87
Come on 1 tape wont sway nearly 4 million people to not vote for you. If you looked at the final exit polls. The majority of people determined who they were going to vote for months ago. A small % in the past 2-3 months. And a very very small amount in the last week.
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That's correct, the Brainwashing was complete long before the release of that Tape.


 
If you'll recall, in the days prior to the release of the Osama tape, news pages were saturated with stories related to the 380 tons of explosives supposedly stolen under Bush's watch ("supposedly" because I don't wanna get in that argument again)

When the Osama tape was broadcast, the media (and perhaps the nation) all but forgot about the explosives.

I think Kerry would definitely have a good case if he wanted to argue that tape swayed the election
 
I don't see what's wrong with it. I think it might be possible it's the tapes fault. But i'm not an american though. But i've seen several people in say "What a coincidence Bin Laden wants kerry to win".

But then, Bush didn't win, Kerry lost because he fvcked up, winning over Bush couldn't be hard, i mean, he's a retard, he can't complete a sentense without messing it up 😛
 
Geraldo Rivera should be banned from the media. He is a sham, a closet used-car-salesman.
How many times has he tried to fool his watchers?
 
Thats it! :| If Kerry runs in 2008 I swear I'm not going to vote for him. He's been an absolute sore loser these past weeks blaming everyone but himself for his loss and apparently he thinks that he nearly won because hes so damn cool. Hes apparently forgets that 1) he was running against a moron 2) his vietnam record was something he shouldn't have bragged about 3) thinking that never truly attacking Bush during his campaign, put him on some sort of moral high ground 5) The Republicans have enough dirt on him to last a lifetime and 6) that he need to pick a position and stick to it. For these reasons, hell, I'd vote for Hillary before I vote Kerry again :|
 
When the tape was released many pundits were predicting it would benefit Bush, because of the "tough" stance on security Bush was polled as having amongst voters. Whether Kerry is right or not is hard to say, but his arguement is not without merit.
 
Remember, voters chose morals over terrorism, i.e., they are more worried about gays than they are about terrorists.
 
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