Dick Cheney's Politics of Fear
Has the presidentially race really become as low as Dick Cheney recently brought it? If you haven't heard by now Cheney has come up with a huge scare tactic to not vote for John Kerry. The Cheney threat....
"it's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2nd, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States."
I've mulled this over a few times and can't get away from the idea that the Republican ideology is all about fear. "Vote for us or you'll all die! Watch out for them liberal Democrats, they won't protect you."
Implicit in Cheney's statement is a guarantee that Bush can stop every terrorist attack. He is saying Kerry, terrorist attack, Bush, perfect protection. Cheney should up the anti like corporations do with an actual guarantee. He could offer us something like, "If the US experiences any terrorist attack, we will all resign immediately and turn the White House over to the Democrats."
Worse, Cheney totally ignores their own history. If I'm not mistaken (and I'm not) the worst terrorist attack that ever happened was while THEY were in office. Despite enough warnings (remember that presidential daily briefing) they did nothing to protect us. The 9/11 Commision report has clearly shown these guys were not on the ball.
They still have not caught Osama Bin Laden, they have a mess in Iraq and Cheney thinks Americans should trust them. He thinks that we should be scared into listening to them. He is also making a risky bet with his statement. What if we have a terrorist strike before the election? He will be pointing the finger at the White House big time, proving that they can't stop terrorism.
It is a crass political statement to accuse the other side of not caring to protect the country. Dick Cheney essentially said about Kerry, "A vote for Kerry is a vote to duct tape your house." I won't be misled by fear. I won't be scared every time they change the alert code color. In Franklin Roosevelt's words, "There is nothing to fear, but fear itself." and I might add, "and four more years of these fearmongers."
Link
"it's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2nd, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States."
I've mulled this over a few times and can't get away from the idea that the Republican ideology is all about fear. "Vote for us or you'll all die! Watch out for them liberal Democrats, they won't protect you."
Implicit in Cheney's statement is a guarantee that Bush can stop every terrorist attack. He is saying Kerry, terrorist attack, Bush, perfect protection. Cheney should up the anti like corporations do with an actual guarantee. He could offer us something like, "If the US experiences any terrorist attack, we will all resign immediately and turn the White House over to the Democrats."
Worse, Cheney totally ignores their own history. If I'm not mistaken (and I'm not) the worst terrorist attack that ever happened was while THEY were in office. Despite enough warnings (remember that presidential daily briefing) they did nothing to protect us. The 9/11 Commision report has clearly shown these guys were not on the ball.
They still have not caught Osama Bin Laden, they have a mess in Iraq and Cheney thinks Americans should trust them. He thinks that we should be scared into listening to them. He is also making a risky bet with his statement. What if we have a terrorist strike before the election? He will be pointing the finger at the White House big time, proving that they can't stop terrorism.
It is a crass political statement to accuse the other side of not caring to protect the country. Dick Cheney essentially said about Kerry, "A vote for Kerry is a vote to duct tape your house." I won't be misled by fear. I won't be scared every time they change the alert code color. In Franklin Roosevelt's words, "There is nothing to fear, but fear itself." and I might add, "and four more years of these fearmongers."
Link
posted by jon at 3:00 PM
2 Comments:
Perfectly said. The VP way overstepped on this one. The real question is: Will anyone care? Viscious minded right wing Christians are on the war path to stop homosexuals from attaining equal rights in civil marriage, stop abortion, and to get God into our civil society.
The "securtiy" argument, which I feel Bush wins soley because people have no skills in personal diplomacy (much less international diplomacy), and therefore support a very hawkish view.
We are not winning or accomplishing anything, but Bush's "easy to understand" strategy of "fight like hell" is winning votes.
Unfortunately, like Ariel Sharon, we are just fueling hte fire for the next attack. And until we take a different approach, I feel that we will be at war for some time.
Cheney's constituancies (military, oil, big contractor) benefit dearly from this policy.
As per Noam Chomsky:
"The war on (drugs, terrorism) is an excuse for American military intervention"
Brad
It's interesting being on the outside, looking in. Or scary. I was visiting another blog today, and the author of that blog used that same Cheney comment, saying that he was switched from a Kerry-supporter to a swing vote. Anyway, I told him to come and visit your blog to have things set straight.
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