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Republican officials, along with their shills in the media - Tucker Carlson, Chris Matthews, and Joe Scarborough are a few notable examples - have spent the past few days going berserk about the fact that in his latest mix tape Osama sounds as if he's riffing off of the talking points of war critics on the left.

Here are a few things they might want to think about before they continue with this:

First, and most obviously, yes, he's borrowing quite liberally from George Bush too. Does that make the president a terrorist sympathizer?

When anti-abortion terrorists were bombing clinics and assassinating judges for their abortion-realted activities, they borrowed liberally from the rhetoric of conservative Republicans. Did that mean the Republican Party was responsible for their terror attacks?

When Timothy McVeigh borrowed anti-government rhetoric from the conservative movement to justify his acts, did that make the Republican party responsible?

Obviously, no.

More importantly, let's think this thorough a bit more.

Osama is supposed to be a smart guy, right? Terrorist mastermind and all that, right? So... from a PR standpoint, what else would you expect him to do? After all, nothing works to his favor better than to keep the nation divided. Post-9/11 America was his worst nightmare. Not only had his actions united our nation, it had united the world. 9/11 had precisely the opposite impact he had hoped for. But then Bush, Rove, and the rest of the Republican party saw a political opportunity. Rather than riding high on his 90+% approval rating, the president decided to turn terrorism into a political issue, dividing the nation right down the middle and turning most of the world against us. From a house untied to a house divided in less than 18 months.

As a student of history, Osama knows full well why that division is so critical. Without a doubt that division works to his distinct advantage. Would we expect any less than that he would do everything possible to further encourage that division? Of course not! That wouldn't make him much of a terrorist mastermind, now would it?

So... isn't it therefore possible that he has done this intentionally, knowing full well that the Republican party would fall right in line and use his speech to attack the left? Of course its possible. Its entirely possible. Osama may have in fact purposely borrowed the rhetoric of the left to enrage the right into attacking the left, thus further weakening what little is left of our national unity. And while the left may not have had any choice in Osama's plagiarism, the right has nothing but choice in their response.

Which, when you think it thorough, shows just how ridiculous this entire conversation is. We couldn't possibly be more off topic if we tried. We're fighting each other when we should be fighting the underlying sources of terrorism and hatred in the world. Why this is so hard for people to see is beyond me...

Good people better rise up!

UPDATE: Over at MyDD.com, looks like the good people are on their feet already!

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