2004年，基地组织首脑本·拉登在美国大选投票前四天突然透过录影带亮相，并直接向美国选民喊话，明显意图影响美国大选。在拉登发出恐怖威胁后，美国《纽约时报》对5个关键州的数十位选民进行调查，结果显示选民的投票意向并不会因拉登的威胁而改变。
据报道：
A senior US official said here on Sunday that Osama bin Laden's surprise address to the American people was merely "threatening rhetoric."
"I can tell you, it's rhetoric. It's threatening rhetoric. We don't have any specific threat information that comes out of that tape," White House Chief of Staff Andy Card told local mass media.
Rhetoric表示“修辞，华丽的文辞，花言巧语”，这里指美方认为本·拉登的讲话不过是虚张声势的夸夸其谈而已。例如：His offers of compromise were mere rhetoric.（他提出的妥协只是空话。）此外，rhetoric还表示“雄辩，辩才说话或写作的风格”，例如：fiery political rhetoric（激昂的政治语言风格）。