From Matt Duss at Think Progress:
The attacks of 9/11 made bin Laden a major figure in Arab media and culture; the decision by Bush and the neocons to cast him as the sinister leader of a global Islamofascist movement made him a legend. Simply put, Bush's policy response to 9/11 has done more to promote bin Laden's ideology than a hundred 9/11s.
If Bush and those nefarious neocons made bin Laden a legend, they sure did a lousy job--his poll numbers in the Arab world have tanked since 9/11 according to Pew. Bin Laden and bin Ladenism have been marginalized, and we haven't had another 9/11, let alone a hundred. Simply put, this is hysterical nonsense that portrays Bush as an ally of al Qaeda--of course it's a "smear" to suggest that terrorists might prefer a Democrat (even when they've expressed that preference in the form of an official endorsement).
