Matt Yglesias: Cheney Apologist

I think I'd better defend Dick Cheney from David Adesnik's scurrilous attacks. Sure Cheney put the point rather impolitely, but "vote for John Kerry and the terrorists will kill you" really is the main message of the Bush campaign and it's a perfectly legitimate issue to raise. Indeed, it strikes me as the issue that ought to be raised. Pace John Edwards there's nothing "un-America" or even inappropriate about it. Cheney is, I think, wrong to say that the Kerry-Edwards team would do a worse job of defending the country against terrorism. Indeed, I think the reverse is true. But this is something to be talked about, not papered over, or implied but not-quite-said.