If we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again
We need to get Dan Quayle as a vice presidential candidate. Maybe his statements were sometimes a bit off, but he never said anything like this about any of his political opponents:

"It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States."

That was, of course, Vice President Dick Cheney's statement in Iowa yesterday. Reaction from his challenger John Edwards was swift:

"Dick Cheney's scare tactics crossed the line today, showing once again that he and George Bush will do anything and say anything to save their jobs."

However, according to the entry in the official Bush blog, Cheney's appearance was a success:

Live Blogging Vice President Cheney's Town Hall Meeting in Des Moines

We're just wrapping up Vice President Cheney's town hall meeting in Des Moines, Iowa. The Vice President impressed the crowd with his wide-ranging discussion of the Administration's accomplishments -- from adding 1.7 million new jobs in the last year, to reducing health care costs, to not letting our guard down in the war on terror. On the war, the Vice President was perfectly clear: we WILL go after the terrorists....

The gathering saw a touching moment towards the end, as a teary mother whose son is being deployed today stood up and thanked him. The Vice President thanked the mother for her son's heroic service. As they worked the rope line afterwards, Mrs. Cheney unhooked the ropeline and embraced the mother. Mrs. Cheney was crying too. It was an extremely emotional and touching moment.

Ann Marie Hauser
Iowa Communications Director

Kerry's blog disagreed, quoting from Edwards' statement.

To my knowledge, Congressman David Dreier had no comment. He has other things to worry about. Oh, boy.

Blogs for Bush addressed the topic in passing:

Kerry's slide in the polls is due to not only his failure to outline during his conventiom, as President Bush did, a coherent domestic agenda for the next 4 years, but his inability to establish a coherent position on the war on terror, including Iraq. When Vice President Cheney declared it is imperative we make the right choice on Election Day, it was simply to re-state the obvious: vacillation and indecision are signs of weakness, and weakness in this war, in which resolve is our most potent weapon, would be catastrophic to our cause.

Well, here's my brief comment. The terrorists are slightly (but not necessarily substantially) more likely to attack someone who strongly opposes them. If Cheney asserts that there's more of a chance of an attack if Kerry is elected, that implies that the terrorists fear Kerry more. If Cheney was trying to claim that an offensive strategy can prevent ANY terrorist attack, then Cheney is mistaken on the powers of the government. No government, not even a totalitarian one, can prevent ANY terrorist attack.