PHONY PHEAR PHACTOR

Or it may come in the form of heightened security alarms of terrorist threats. It will be designed to produce great fear and anxiety in the electorate.

The threats may be real or contrived. We will never know. What we do know is that we must begin right now to counteract the characterizations and propaganda of Karl Rove and his rovers so the "Surprise" will not have its planned effect on voters.

Democrats = the mommy Party; Republicans = the daddy Party. Yeah, it's an unflattering, gender stereotype but it is one that most people can relate to and Karl Rove makes use of it. He has already infused the electorate with these images:

* Democrats are wussies, too weak to defend America. Republicans are macho and have the terrorists on the run.

* Bush is always posed as a swaggering pseudo-hunk with obviously stuffed package to appeal to brain-dead women; and as a super sportsboy-cowboy-flyboy to appeal to men.

Democrats must erase their wussie image and destroy Bush's macho image. Now is the perfect time, and the Bush campaign has provided the perfect opening. He has thrown a big fat blooper over the Democrat's plate -- the scenes of 9/11 in his campaign ads.

These 9/11 ads are used to show proof of his great leadership and ability to protect the country, but in reality show just the opposite. They picture his consummate failure to protect. Dems should laugh them and Bush right off the TV screen.

Right now, Democrats are complaining about these ads citing "respect for the dead" and "inappropriate" when they should be challenging what Bush is putting forth, i.e., 9/11 as proof of his macho leadership and ability to protect the country.

Whatever conclusions are finally reached about 9/11, it happened on Bush's watch and his administration is ultimately responsible. Surely some high raking Dems should be making the point that those ads are ludicrous.

While extending homage to the heroes and bereaved of that horror, Dems should question why Bush would show his abject failure in daddy-protection when obviously he didn't protect. And then the Dems should list all the pre-9/11 things Bush ignored or neglected, among them:

* The Harte Rudman report on domestic terrorism

* The many warnings from other countries about an eminent attack

* The information on terrorism contained in his daily briefs

Another thing that must be exposed is the canard that it was Bush's heroic leadership that brought the country together following the tragic demolition of the World Trade Towers.

What we remember is scared rabbit Bush running away on 9/11. It was the media afterwards that build up this legend that Bush was 10 feet tall and protecting the country. It was never anything Bush did, it was just the way he was posed and scripted, and described by a suck-up media.

The country rallied around as it would naturally do when attacked. If there was a uniting factor it was the way the Democrats gave their full support and cooperation to the administration.

For months afterwards, the media warned that any opposition to Bush would be construed as unpatriotic. Rove built on the power vacuum of the Democrats. It fed into to his ongoing characterization of the Dems as wussies.

The much vaunted "Home Security" Department was a Democratic idea which Bush had formerly ignored. It was embraced by both Republican and Democrats in the spirit of cooperation, but Bush got the credit.

The Dems carried this wussie label right into the primaries until former Vermont Governor, Howard Dean descended on the political process with all the tact and diplomacy of an atom bomb.

Dean was never scared of Bush or his thought police. He pounded on Bush, his poll numbers and his policies all across the country.

His message was that we the people had the power to take our country back from George Bush and his gang. His message took fire not only in the voters but had an electrifying effect on the other Dem candidates who finally re-discovered their cajones. Now they are showing some spunk, but they must challenge Bush on his 9/11 claim of fearless leadership.

Why? Polls are showing that voters trust Bush and the Republicans to protect them more than they trust Democrats. Rove is counting on voter's fear to reelect Bush. A fear intensified by an "October Surprise."

twanda@sover.net

2004-011

Copyright 2004 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: twanda@sover.net.