Hit Bush on his alleged strength

Krugman suggests what many bloggers have long advocated. Specifically, the Rove playbook says you have to hit your opponent on his perceived strengths (read: SwiftBoatLiars), not on his weaknesses. In other words, it's a waste of time and energy to attack Bush for having been a yellow-belly during Vietnam. We already know that. Most people have already formed their opinion about that. We need to attack - frontally - the notion that Bush is strong against terror. He's not. You hear me? HE'S NOT!

On Sunday, a celebrating crowd gathered around a burning U.S. armored vehicle. Then a helicopter opened fire; a child and a journalist for an Arabic TV news channel were among those killed. Later, the channel repeatedly showed the journalist doubling over and screaming, 'I'm dying; I'm dying.' Such scenes, which enlarge the ranks of our enemies by making America look both weak and brutal, are inevitable in the guerrilla war President Bush got us into. Osama bin Laden must be smiling. U.S. news organizations are under constant pressure to report good news from Iraq. In fact, as a Newsweek headline puts it, "It's worse than you think." Attacks on coalition forces are intensifying and getting more effective; no-go zones, which the military prefers to call "insurgent enclaves," are spreading - even in Baghdad. We're losing ground. And the losses aren't only in Iraq. Al Qaeda has regrouped. The invasion of Iraq, intended to demonstrate American power, has done just the opposite: nasty regimes around the world feel empowered now that our forces are bogged down. When a Times reporter asked Mr. Bush about North Korea's ongoing nuclear program, "he opened his palms and shrugged.

Did you just read that? When asked about North Korea's nuclear program. The nuclear program that the rogue, Stalinist monarchical, Communistic enemy of the United States has admitted that it is pursuing. When asked about it, your President and mine - the one who's strong on defense- "opened his palms and shrugged." We can do better and help is on the way.