I want somebody to explain something to me.

One of the major Democratic criticisms of Bush is that he's mishandled, well...everything. That includes the War on Terror too, right? I mean, he hasn't gone after the right people. There are far too few troops and resources in Afghanistan. We haven't caught bin Laden. Bush is just playing the politics of fear. Is it safe to say this is a reasonable snapshot of Democratic views?

Basically, Bush has done a shitty job regarding terrorism. Instead of making us safer, he's made us less safe. Isn't that the assessment?

So how does that gel with Democrats seeming lack of concern for terrorism? In recent polls leading up to primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina Democrats consistently rank terrorism near the bottom of the list of concerns. National polls show a mismatch between the concerns of Republicans, Independents, and Democrats on the relative importance of terrorism and homeland security.

Shouldn't it be the other way around?

That is, if Bush is so incredibly incompetent that he's made us less safe than we were around 9/11, shouldn't Democrats be more concerned about terrorism and homeland security?

Or is the prevailing view among Democrats that Al Qaeda has just gotten bored and given up terrorism in favor of cross-stitch? I thought the view was that for every terrorist we kill, a hundred more will pop up to take their place. If Bush has done as bad a job as Democrats keep saying he has, why are they also accusing him of fearmongering?

Because if he's put us much more at threat than we were around 9/11, shouldn't we all be scared shitless?