Putin for Bush
Kerry may boast that some foreign leaders wish for his election, but he has avoided explaining the why of it. But not all these leaders have failed to find their voice, and while most oppose the war in Iraq, not all want Kerry in the White House. In an election cycle in which neither candidate has an easy time saying exactly why we should vote for them, and many endorsers seem to have the same problem, not all share this problem. In the most cogent endorsement yet for the election of George W. Bush, Russian president Vladimir Putin
put it succinctly:
Putin, speaking Central Asian Cooperation Organization summit in Tajikistan Monday, made his most overt comments of support so far for the re-election of Bush for a second term.
"Any unbiased observer understands that attacks of international terrorist organizations in Iraq, especially nowadays, are targeted not only and not so much against the international coalition as against President Bush," Putin said.
"International terrorists have set as their goal inflicting the maximum damage to Bush, to prevent his election to a second term.
"If they succeed in doing that, they will celebrate a victory over America and over the entire anti-terror coalition," Putin said.
"In that case, this would give an additional impulse to international terrorists and to their activities, and could lead to the spread of terrorism to other parts of the world."
At last. There it is. What can Kerry say to this? Putin is not even one of the "coerced and the bribed." And obviously, he is not one of the willingly blind, either.