Be Afraid, Be Patriotically Afraid

In my first post about President Bush's speech on the prison transfers and military commissions, I ranted about how transparent the political motives behind it were. I wanted to write in more detail this morning on what will be the general theme across all the Republican moves between now and November... fear.

Rep. Jim McDermott (D-IL) sums up the strategy: "The Republican Party will spend the next 30 days trying to make you afraid. It is the Republican midterm election strategy. For the rest of September, until the moment Republican leaders gavel the Congress into adjournment, Republican speakers will rise and implore the American people to be afraid... During September, Republicans will wield the gavel, but they will not make America safer... Republicans will spend the next 30 days trying to stay in power, nothing more." He then lists all the numerous important domestic and foreign priorities that will be ignored while this song-and-dance ensues. It's worth reading in full.

This campaign extends far beyond Capitol Hill too. The Philadelphia Daily News' Will Bunch writes about one incident in his hometown in which FBI agents were giving out terrorism-related materials to local media. The materials were not warnings of any threats, but rather just friendly reminders that terrorism exists. A Philadelphia Inquirer quotes the FBI agent as saying "the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks provides an opportunity for the government and media to remind people about the danger terrorists pose. The greatest danger to America today is complacency." 'Complacency', Bunch reminded, being the new GOP buzzword meaning that we aren't sufficiently terrified. No doubt incidents like this are occurring all across the country, particulary in swing states.

Meanwhile, blogger Shakespeare's Sister sums up my feelings on the BS legislative priorities that will be pushed as the forefront of this campaign-

Hmm. What, pray tell, is [Majority Leader] Boehner talking about when he says that House Republicans will focus first and foremost on homeland security and national security and border security, if they’re not going to focus on immigration, which Congressional Republican leaders, who are now abandoning immigration reform, have been telling us for awhile is the preeminent homeland security and national security and border security issue?

Republicans in the House and Senate say they will focus on Pentagon and domestic security spending bills, port security legislation and measures that would authorize the administration’s terror surveillance program and create military tribunals to try terror suspects.

“We Republicans believe that we have no choice in the war against terror and the only way to do it is to continue to take them head-on whether it is in Iraq or elsewhere,” said Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the majority leader.

Oh, I see. So they’re basically going to inch us closer to a police state, spy on us, operate above the law, and stay the course in Iraq. Cool. I feel much more secure now.

Moving on to that issue of a fear/terror-created police state, a new poll shows that a shockingly high percentage of Americans would be fine with this. A landmark new Zogby poll has many depressing results, not the least of which is the fact that almost half of Americans still believe Saddam was connected to the 9/11 attacks (though they don't think the war was worth it). More importantly, it finds that many Americans support random searches of their bags anywhere, regular roadblocks, searches of their cars, monitoring of their phone, and maybe even searching of their mail. Not surprisingly, Republicans polled support all this, with Democrats and independents noticeably less open to it, but not entirely unopposed.

What was it that Benjamin Franklin said once upon a time? "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Ahh, yes, that was it. What a defeatist he was.

In conclusion, I end with this quote from Keith Olbermann on MSNBC the other night- "Mr. Bush, you are accomplishing in part what Osama Bin Laden and others seek — a fearful American populace, easily manipulated, and willing to throw away any measure of restraint, any loyalty to our own ideals and freedoms, for the comforting illusion of safety."