Some of the positions Democrats in Congress have taken on issues of national security have been politically harmful, but high profile celebrities closely identified with the Democratic party have also provided plenty of ammunition to the GOP. Earlier this week, actually the day after September 11, Rosie O’Donnell made the comment that, “radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America." Appearing on The O’Reilly Factor to discuss Rosie’s statement, Democratic strategist Laura Schwartz admitted that the comment was shocking and that it would likely reflect badly on Democrats and could hurt them at the polls.
Later on the same O’Reilly show, Arianna Huffington was asked about the Iraqi Kurds’ ad thanking America for freeing them. Huffington said it was propaganda and that the situation of the Kurds had not changed at all since America invaded Iraq. When O’Reilly pointed out that under Saddam’s regime the Kurds were brutally persecuted, Huffington’s response was “So what.”
Although Rosie O’Donnell and Arianna Huffington are not candidates, they are identified with the Democratic party. When that party fails to put forward an identifiable plan, comments like those from O’Donnell and Huffington, as well as from others, such as Cindy Sheehan, receive increased attention.
The five year anniversary of September 11, the President’s announcement of information obtained from terrorists held in secret CIA jails, and a series of very good speeches have captured voters’ attention at the same time many were just beginning to follow the campaigns leading up to the November elections. Voters will take that, and other information, into account when they determine which side of the decision-making equation they want their leaders to fall in this post-9/11 world. I am betting that most will come down on the side of those candidates more concerned with preventing the murder of innocent Americans than those placing a higher priority on the rights of terrorists.