Close your eyes and imagine the wingnut response if John Kerry had said something like this in a speech :
Some wonder whether Iraq is a central front in the war on terror. Among the terrorists, there is no debate. Hear the words of Osama Bin Laden: “This Third World War is raging” in Iraq. “The whole world is watching this war.” He says it will end in “victory and glory, or misery and humiliation.”
The terrorists know that the outcome will leave them emboldened, or defeated. So they are waging a campaign of murder and destruction. And there is no limit to the innocent lives they are willing to take.
Yeah, I know it’s a bit of a straw man argument, but let’s be serious here. If John Kerry had said the exact same thing last year, Republicans would have gone hoarse shouting “Kerry agrees with Bin Laden?!” and accused him of emboldening our enemies or other such nonsense.