— House Majority Leader John Boehner
Be afraid: Despite an increasing number of reports of polls indicating that the Democrats could take back the House and Senate on November 7, we all know that the likelihood that Republicans will lose control of either body is extremely remote.
We have seen that the GOP will lie, cheat and steal to win an election. The stakes could not be higher this year. If the Dems take either house, they will quickly catch up on the proctological oversight of the administration that the Republican majority has let slide. If the Dems take both houses, Bush will only have the courts he has packed with rightwingers to protect him and his cronies.
Over the past five years, Republicans have instilled a fear of terrorists into the American “psyche,” as Pres. Bush calls it. He and his message team — Cheney and Rumsfeld, primarily — use fear in the public mind like a lever to manipulate voters to do their will.
When things go wrong, as appears to be the case now, Republicans play the “terror card” and the public snaps to.Predictably, then, the GOP is launching its fall election campaign theme for this year on the day after Labor Day:
With GOP control of the House and Senate hanging in the balance in the November midterm elections, Republican leaders want to use the monthlong session that begins today when Congress reconvenes to press what has traditionally been their biggest advantage over Democrats: national security.
House Majority Leader John A. Boehner issued a statement last week emphasizing the theme Republicans plan to hammer. In fact, he reminded voters four times in one sentence.
“From homeland security to national security to border security, House Republicans will focus first and foremost on addressing the safety and security needs of the American people throughout the month of September,” Boehner said.
What sort of leader deploys campaigns to ratchet up fear in order to manipulate and intimidate his citizens? What sort of regime needs a pliant media to reinforce the myth that it is trustworthy and competent?
What we need now is a leader who can credibly remind us, as FDR assured Americans during the Great Depression, that fear only serves to weaken us — that the American tradition is to stand tall even as bombs are exploding, to take out our enemies fair and square and to be benevolent to our enemies in defeat.
Where can we find a leader like that?
