Osama's only dangerous when it's convenient?

Whenever the administration doesn't find it useful to acknowledge a reported new bin Laden tape, it seems we hear a lot of "might be old" and "might not be him".

But apparently because it behooves them right now - with the Code Orange nonsense costing taxpayers at the federal level more than $1 billion a week and likely to cause major financial problems for various state and local groups, too - suddenly this bin Laden tape is oooooh so scary and forboding. "We should see a major attack within a week" was today's catch phrase, with many folks stating that everytime bin Laden releases a tape, we see a major attack. If this is true, why has the administration downplayed so many of them in the past?

And while we're in the realm of the dangerously nonsensical, why is the administration making bin Laden out to be such a threat again when for months - after "we'll get him dead or alive" didn't exactly pan out (9-11-01 is over 28 months ago now) - Bush, Rumsfeld, and company told us Osama didn't matter anymore, he was marginalized, he has no real support structure left? Remember? Suddenly Saddam was the Big Bad Wolf about to huff, and puff, and blow our homes down while Osama was a non-issue.

Which is it and why is the press pretending all this intermediate disqualification of Osama didn't happen? I can almost understand the American public being confused, but those covering these stories know better.

When - please when - does this Administration get held accountable for all the shifts, even if they'll never be held accountable for allowing 9-11 to happen at all?