A Vote for John Kerry = A Vote for Al Qaeda?

I picked this up at Kevin Drum's Washington Monthly blog. It's a quote from John Ashcroft's "scary terror warning" a few days ago, and I believe that this single quote is the only purpose for the press conference:

"The Madrid railway bombings were perceived by Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to have advanced their cause. Al Qaeda may perceive that a large-scale attack in the United States this summer or fall would lead to similar consequences."

In other words, Al Qaeda wants to attack in the U.S. because then we'll vote George W. Bush out of office! Of course! How did I not pick up on that earlier?

Given that the Department of Homeland Security confirms that there is no new intelligence, no new terror threat and in increase in the stream of threat intelligence, is there any other possible explanation for this absurd press conference by John Ashcroft?

No, the whole point was to try to convince people that a vote for John Kerry = a vote for Al Qaeda. Just keep in mind that George W. Bush has done more for Al Qaeda than Osama bin Laden, and that their ranks have swelled to 18,000 potential terrorists thanks to his misleadership. Swell job, George.