Talked to a friend in Boston last night. He's convinced that there will be a serious terrorist strike in America before the elections. Of course, so is Condi Rice. And Karl Rove is probably banking on it. My friend figures it's just a matter now for the terrorists of deciding whether they want to strike Washington D.C., the New York rail system, or one of the Disney resorts. I told him that I didn't mean him any personal harm, but if I were a terrorist leader, I'd target Boston. It would much more effectively polarize the nation as neo-cons and fundies wouldn't be able to resist saying, "told you so, all you tax-wasting liberals," or moralizing about the attack as some kind of divine jusdgement against the Big Dig. And nevermind the symbolic effect or the effect on morale, you'd be doing some serious tactical damage. It'd be like frontal national lobotomy.
Of course, occurring on Kerry's home turf, it could possibly work to his advantage if he somehow became the organ of public reaction and a focus for popular sympathy. I suppose the true terrorist mastermind, however, would be conscious of this and would be working as diligently as Karl Rove to help Bush get re-elected, since Bush has probably been the best recruiting tool for their organizations (as opposed to our own armed services) since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.