Could there be a more damning indictment of the intelligence of most Americans than the figures reported in the latest poll?
Despite those vulnerabilities [figures showing doubts about his economic and other domestic policies], which the Democratic presidential candidates are busily trying to exploit, Mr. Bush retains a powerful advantage on national security. Sixty-eight percent, including majorities of both Democrats and independents, gave him high marks for the campaign against terrorism, and 68 percent said the Bush administration's policies have made the United States safer from terrorist attacks.[While we're at it, we should note that this poll is the work of, well, yeah, the NYTimes/CBS News, and what the heck is a newspaper doing putting its own poll as its lead front page story?]
Just where is the evidence of our increased safety? There have been no more terrorist attacks within the U.S. since September 11. If that's evidence, it's the same evidence that showed we were safe before September 11. Are these 68 percenters saying we're safer because only people outside the U.S. are being slaughtered - by ourselves and others, in huge numbers which happen to include a certain count of American soldiers as well?
Accepting tyranny and waging world war, whether in bits or in total, will not make us safe.
And, back to my original question, I no longer buy the argument that our media makes us stupid. If that were true, everyone would be cheering for the little man in the flight suit. By the Times's count there may still be some on the sidelines.
[image from The Museum of Hoaxes]
Your analogy about Americans not being safer isn't entirely accurate. Terrorist have consistantly attacked the United States for decades now, if you consider the first attack at the World Trade Center that didn't do what they hoped it would, the embassy bombings and the bombing of the Cole. Since Sept 11, there have been no attacks on that scale (50+ casualties) and none on US soil, even though we recieved a vow from the big UBL himself that the sept 11 attacks were only the opening skirmishes in a major war against the US. If the attacks before sept 11 were to say "We're coming!" and sept 1 was to say "We're here!", then the logical question is, "Where did they go?"
(And you can say they went to Iraq to kill our soldiers, but taking 10 casualties to every enemy kill is no way for an independant terrorist organization to do business.)