Well, as long as it came from John Cole’s brain, I’ll allow it.

snort

It was actually not from him either, and my only contribution to the thread was a bit of physics pedantry.

f Frist had said the same exact thing as Reid I wonder what the reactions (from both sides would be)?

I can’t speak for everyone, but my reaction would be the same: “Hope it’s true.”

Indian media, by the way, are notoriously certain about things that rarely pan out. I remember reading in March ‘03 a breathless and absolutely convincing piece in an Indian paper explaining how the Americans were going to launch their attack on Iraq from the west, from the Jordanian desert.

Fair enough, but again…all we’re talking about is speculation.

Reid, then, might be floating up the rumor balloon to try to smoke out the White House, just in case it really has got OBL’s mortal remains in a deep freezer in Bagram somewhere. If so, it’s savvy politics.

Indian media, by the way, are notoriously certain about things that rarely pan out. I remember reading in March ‘03 a breathless and absolutely convincing piece in an Indian paper explaining how the Americans were going to launch their attack on Iraq from the west, from the Jordanian desert.

For an organization whose ideology is based on having the “right flavor” of religion, having their head guy struck down by God is a death blow.

“Allah abandons al Qaeda, UBL smite-thed”

With the comments of Harry Reid, a blip on the inteligence map, this story will now perk a bit, and perhaps UBL will show himself just to prove that he hasn’t been struck dead by an earthquake, a simple act of God. If he is dead, the earthquake will be blamed on the CIA, Bush and/or the Crusaders.

Sure I did. Are you that naive to think that Reid would make such a statement based on something he heard on TV or the radio? People in and out of the media have been speculating about the fate of bin Laden since 9/11 and that’s not news. What is, is when the leader of the Democrats goes on TV and says he’s “heard” Uncle Binny is dead. Reid has unfettered access to information from groups like the CIA and given their recent penchant for undermining the Bush administration with made-up scandals like the phony Plame thing, it’s not much of a stretch to reason that Reid’s acting the part of a tool - at least. Or he’s just being his usual idiot self. YMMV

Again a leader on the Left is automatically assumed to be drawing on public sources; would a leader on the Right have been granted the same assumption here?

Based on this thread’s comments; I doubt it.

The criticism of Reid may still stand, per This&That’s arguement above, or if he later admits he was revealing classified info.

I’ll just make a wild guess right now and say he didn’t, given he hasn’t said anything different then what those news stories and blogs pondered.

The criticism of Reid may still stand, per This&That’s arguement above, or if he later admits he was revealing classified info.

But regardless of that, the failure of blog googlekings to googlecheck their own story is a big slip up. Not in the world at large, but within our little blogosphere.

Ok. The info is nothing new since it was already out there.

I wonder what the reaction would be if Bush had said “I heard that Bin Laden was dead?” Mere speculation based on public sources? Probably not.

Ok, that is the president. An important man. So what about the VP? Any White House offical? What if Frist said it?

So why is the Senate Leader for the Dem’s automatically assumed to be speculating about public sources when he says he heard this as opposed to drawing upon inside knowledge?

In other words, Reid did nothing wrong. How are you not seeing this? Are your partisan blinders really that thick?

But it that’s not it, then he’s revealed possibly classified intelligence (we don’t know what he’s gotten access to from the spooks) for partisan purposes. If that is ever proved, he should end up in Gitmo.

What I really enjoy is the subtext of the complaints — that if Osama Bin Laden has been dead for almost two months, and the Administration has seen fit to sit on it for all that time, it’s okey-dokey with them!

Why would anybody Google what you suggested if they had a already heard Harry Reid’s speculations? Unless of course they thought Harry Reid was an unreliable source which would then make sense to check out his statements. No chance Harry Reid might have a hidden agenda right?

Are you kidding me? They should Google to cofirm their suspicions before they target speculation by Reid as possibly leaking classified information.

I thought this went without saying. I guess not.

And as far as hidden agendas, no, I don’t think Reid had one. This information has been out there for more than a month. He neither confirmed nor denied that info.

Come on American Crusader…you’re really reaching.