Well, well. I had nearly given up hope for an October Surprise this year, but it looks like the boogey-man-who-hadn't-been-named-recently-by -the-current-administration has finally shown up to say, "Boo": "Al-Jazeera broadcasts new bin Laden tape". Whether this is, of course, Karl Rove's October Surprise is a question, although it was something unexpected. On the other hand, it's coming in Friday afternoon, a time period often favored by the Bush Administration for releasing bad news, rather than something they like, as it misses the daily news cycle (read: the weekday morning headlines).

As it goes, however, I sincerely doubt it's going to be much of a help to el Bush, as it simply highlights his failure at the same time as reminding people that the mind behind those attacks was this dude, not the one found in a hole in the ground in Iraq.