On the eve of the presidential election, conservative radio host Laura Ingraham said that if you vote for Senator John Kerry, “you're aligning yourself with” Osama bin Laden, China, and France. Right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh went a step further, saying that “a Kerry victory after the bin Laden tape [a videotaped message broadcast October 29], will ... give Osama bin Laden bragging rights all across the Middle East” and that if Kerry wins, “militant Islamists” will conclude that “they had the ability to affect the election of this country without firing a shot like they had to do in Spain.”
From Ingraham's guest appearance on the November 1 edition of FOX News Channel's On the Record with Greta van Susteren:
INGRAHAM: And I've gotta tell you, when people go in to the voting booth tomorrow, I really think a lot of people are going to get in there and realize they're aligning themselves, if they support Kerry, with the people of France ... with China ... which actually came out today saying they hate, they don't like [President] George [W.] Bush's foreign policy. You heard Osama bin Laden try to inject himself into American politics. So all these people you're aligning yourself with, it's not good.
From the November 1 edition of The Rush Limbaugh Show:
LIMBAUGH: And, you know, whatever the liberals think or say, and the two are not mutually exclusive, a Kerry victory after the bin Laden tape, will accomplish this -- it'll give Osama bin Laden bragging rights all across the Middle East. Stop and think -- and ... and in the -- in the words of the Left, create a whole new generation of terrorists.
If this -- if John Kerry wins this race and they got the bin Laden tape out there, do you realize what the conclusion will be by militant Islamists? That they did it -- they had the ability to affect the election of this country without firing a shot like they had to do in Spain.
[...]
It's gotten to the point now where the Democratic Party is actually echoing the words of a man who happily murdered 3,000 Americans on September 11 [2001]. The Democrat Party in this country is eager to point to the things bin Laden said and suggest that he's right, a man who happily murdered 3,000 Americans, and is eager to do so over and over and over again.
[...]
If there's that much rage and angry folks, a few little raindrops are not going to keep these angry Democrats from showing up and agreeing with bin Laden at the polls. ... That's a great -- with bin Laden, would you prefer I -- okay, all right, let me -- I take it back, bin Laden is agreeing with Democrats. Does that sound better? Bin Laden is agreeing with the Democrats. Take it however you wish.