Bin Laden [heart] John McCain

It’s been a difficult couple of weeks for John McCain on the endorsement front. First, Christopher Buckley — the son of National Review founder William Buckley — announced his support for Barack Obama. Then, Colin Powell provided one of the more humiliating moments in the campaign, when he endorsed McCain’s opponent while calling out the senator for his willingness to open the manhole covers and allow the party’s aggressive, grass-roots reactionaries to see the light of day. (McCain’s response to the Powell ennouncement — “But I have Lawrence Eagleburger!” — was underwhelming to say the least). Finally, the other day, Ken “Cakewalk in Iraq” Adelman e-mailed George Packer of The New Yorker to let him know that while he wasn’t excited by the prospect of a Democratic administration, the prospect of a McCain administration was too frightening to contemplate.

For McCain supporters disappointed by the recent high-profile defections to the ranks of Obama-Biden voters, a small bit of solace may be discovered in the long-awaited al-Qaeda endorsement.

Al-Qaida supporters suggested in a Web site message this week they would welcome a pre-election terror attack on the U.S. as a way to usher in a McCain presidency.

The message, posted Monday on the password-protected al-Hesbah Web site, said if al-Qaida wants to exhaust the United States militarily and economically, “impetuous” Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain is the better choice because he is more likely to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This requires presence of an impetuous American leader such as McCain, who pledged to continue the war till the last American soldier,” the message said. “Then, al-Qaida will have to support McCain in the coming elections so that he continues the failing march of his predecessor, Bush.”

Steve Benen points out that since the message was communicated on an Arabic-language bulletin board, conservatives will have a difficult time arguing that the message amounts to some sort of Br’er Rabbit, reverse-psychology plea not to be thrown in the brier patch of an Obama presidency.