Day: October 9, 2006

Instead Messaging

Trish

Cute column by Daryl Lease in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Somewhere in cyberspace …

TheSpeaker: Thank you all for gathering on such short notice. I apologize for choosing instant messaging as the venue for our meeting, particularly in light of everything that’s happened, but it seemed the quickest way to get everyone together without attracting the media’s attention.

SpinMaster: = : O

TalentOnLoanFromGod: = : O

TheSpeaker: Oh, right. I almost forgot: I took the liberty of inviting Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh to join us for our strategy session today.

TheDoctorIsIn: Fine, but we have to use those dopey icons and abbreviations? Not all of us know the lingo.

TheSpeaker: Good point, Sen. Frist. As always, speak English; we’re in America.

FriendOfMacacas: And welcome to it!

TheSpeaker: Thank you, Sen. Allen. Now, if I may continue. I’ve also invited the president’s trusted adviser, Karl Rove, to lead our session. Karl?

TurdBlossom: Greetings, everyone. Let’s get right to it. As you know, our party is facing a major crisis just weeks before the midterm elections. We need to divert the nation’s attention quickly.

StraightTalk: So catch bin Laden already.

TurdBlossom: Thanks for the “suggestion,” Sen. McCain. We haven’t located Osama just yet, but we do have roughly 6,437 of his second-in-commands that we intend to capture or kill before Nov. 7. Anyone else have SERIOUS ideas on how to divert the attention of the American people?…Rush?

TalentOnLoanFromGod: One word: Billary. If the Clintons hadn’t lowered our moral standards, we wouldn’t be in the fix we’re in.

StraightTalk: I think I need a painkiller.

TalentOnLoanFromGod: Oh, so this is torture too, huh?

TurdBlossom: Boys, boys!

maf54: Heeey, what’s everybody wearing?

TheSpeaker: Foley! Get out of here! Right now!

(maf54 signs off.)

TurdBlossom: O’Reilly, what say you?

SpinMaster: FOX News plans to keep using that graphic misidentifying Foley as a Democrat as often as possible. We’re confident that’ll confuse our viewers.

TurdBlossom: That might help. Anyone else?

FriendOfMacacas: We could stuff a deer head in somebody’s mailbox. It’s a real attention-getter.

TurdBlossom: Thank you, Sen. Allen. But that’s just gross.

RepLaHood: I say we get rid of the page program.

StraightTalk: Oh, jeez. Here he goes again.

RepLaHood: Seriously. If we remove the temptation, we remove the problem.

…TheSpeaker: All right, that’s enough for today. Thanks, everyone. Good luck on the campaign trail. And, remember, before you kiss any babies, get the parents’ express, written permission!

The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is … George W. Bush

Jon Ponder

What if we had a president who inspired courage rather than inciting cowardice?

Fearmongering by politicians is a marker for despotic and fascistic tendencies. But I don’t think Pres. Bush is seeking a dictatorship — that would be too much work.

The politics of fear has been on my mind a lot lately, so I found Arianna Huffington’s column today to be very interesting. Huffington, who has a book out titled “Becoming Fearless,” sees a stark contrast between the Bush regime’s campaign of terror politics this season and President Franklin Roosevelt’s attempt to inspire courage during the Great Depression:

…Fearlessness, like fear itself, is contagious, FDR’s conviction that he and his fellow Americans could handle whatever challenges came their way ended up infecting — and buoying — the entire country. The Great Depression and WW II were certainly legitimate causes of fear, but Roosevelt’s mastery of his fear helped inspire millions to do the same. Just imagine how differently the current occupant of the White House would have dealt with these monumental crises — using them to stifle dissent, gain political and partisan advantage, smear critics, and browbeat a nation into compliance.

Instead of assuring us “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” W would have told us the only way out of the Depression is to waterboard the Constitution, put Lady Liberty in a “stress position,” and attach electrodes to the private parts of the Bill of Rights.

The paraphrase FDR, the only things we have to fear are fear itself — and those who use it for their own shameful purposes.

In dangerous times, we need leaders who inspire courage and hope, not fear and despair. What we have instead is the president and vice president barnstorming the country spreading messages of fear and slandering their opponents by suggesting they are in league with terrorists.

Enflamed fear is a like a free radical in the body politic. The damage it does is hard to predict and can lead to a break down of order. The British survived over a century of attacks by Irish terrorists. Israelis live with terror every minute. While politicians in both countries have been guilty of politicizing hatred, British or Israeli leaders have consistently depended on the courage of their people rather than exploiting their fears.

Why does he do it? Fearmongering by politicians is a marker for despotic and fascistic tendencies but it is hard to picture George Bush seeking a dictatorship — he’s looking forward to returning to Crawford in January 2009. The president has shorter term motives. If the Democrats win control of Congress, Mr. Bush will be forced to cede to the Legislative Branch the power the Constitution awarded it but which his cronies in the GOP have neglected to use. The Democrats would hold him accountable, finally; and he will do anything to avoid that.