Well, we have the MSM's drum beat slogan firmly established. It is increasingly being used time and again since the British uncovered their terror plot last week. Republicans are merely "using" this whole terror thing as a tactic to get votes.
It couldn't be that we REALLY face terrorism, that is is something to be worried about and discussed seriously, right?
Nah, it must just be a dirty GOP trick!
Today, CNN has posted a story from their senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, titled "Can the GOP use the terrorism issue to win -- again?, Suspected plot to blow up airliners puts issue front and center."
Um, no, your blather puts the "issue front and center", Mr. Schneider!
In fact, he immediately phrases with a negative connotation the possible impact on American politics of this British plot. The very first lines of his story calls an American reaction to what the Brits discovered as "political fallout". The word "fallout" is a negative terminology meaning upheaval and harkens back to the worrisome days of Mutually Assured Destruction and world wide nuclear war and the radiation fallout that would follow. It just isn't usually used positively, as in good "fallout".
"Could there be political fallout in the United States from the terror arrests in Britain?
Typically, when Americans become fearful their support for the president tends to go up. President Bush and the Republican Party used the security issue to their advantage in the previous two elections, when they portrayed Democrats as weak and vacillating. Republicans give every indication that they intend to run on the security issue again in 2006."
So, according to Mr. Schneider, all this terrorism stuff must just be a political tactic, not a REAL and JUSTIFIED reaction to being repeatedly attacked by Islamofascist terrorists? And those stupid Americans who "become fearful" are just dupes to superior GOP propaganda?
After discussing various quotes by several Administration officials, Schneider wonders aloud "Will the issue work for Republicans this year?"
As the media and the Democrats continue to view terrorism as a mere tactic for vote getting, and continue to scoff at Republicans for their worries, it is no wonder that we look like the proverbial "weak horse" to those such as Osamma bin Laden who imagine we haven't the will to fight them.
After all, if a politician cannot even discuss the issue seriously without it imagined to be a mere political tactic, a virtual propagandistic ploy, how can anyone take them seriously when solutions are called for?
But, perhaps we get to Mr. Schneider's true worry a little farther down in the story? That this British plot announcement will upset the apple cart of the "anti-incumbent feeling" that he had hoped would clean Republicans from power.
"But concern about terrorism threats could blunt that anti-incumbent mood and lead voters to place more value on experience. If news of the suspected plot had come out only a few days earlier, it might have helped Lieberman."
So, as it turns out, the thought that the GOP is just using terrorism as a tactic might just work. And that is what Mr. Schneider is all worried about. That the throw-them-all-out sentiment might be scaled back and the GOP might retain power.
Regardless, it is the height of cynicism to assume that if a candidate focuses on security and winning the war against Islamofascist terror it is only evidence of a mere vote getting tactic and not a serious and responsible area of concern for that candidate or government official to discuss.
The MSM to the rescue once again, letting us all know to avoid that nasty GOP's propaganda, I guess?
