It's the fear, stupid.

[Kimber Scott]

After watching the RNC it was painfully obvious to me, and the rest of the world, Bush is playing on people's fear - mostly of terrorism, but also of strange things like people of the same sex marrying each other and the fear people in the "heartland" have of the people in the city and the fear everybody has of actors. People's fear of dying has always been good for politicians and preachers. But, it's not just the "sheeple," as we like to call them, who are afraid. We are all terrified.

We liberals - forward-thinking, open-minded, broad-thinking folks - are petrified Bush will win. At least, that's what it looks like on the surface. What we're really afraid of is what Bush will do if he doesn't have to face re-election, considering his foolish foreign policy has moved the world closer to global instability and world war.

Human beings are always afraid, that's how we stay alive, but we cannot live on the verge of global panic and be expected to operate in a rational, meaningful and progressive way. Somebody's got to calm shit down and that somebody has to be John Kerry.

I don't know how. I have no suggestions. I'm not a political operative, but as I see the tensions in this country approaching a boiling point, I, as an American, am becoming afraid of my fellow citizens. Actually, I am becoming afraid of myself. Maybe, things just have to be this way. Maybe, there is no turning back. I don't want John Kerry to be nice. I want him to rip lying, Republican face off. I want him to win. But, then what? Maybe, soon there will, literally, be two Americas. One for the right, and one for the left. Maybe, "Crossfire" has gone too far. Limbaugh has done us in. Limbaugh hates America.

I don't know, but if there were any way John Kerry could heal these wounds before they become any deeper... I'm thinking it's too much for any man. We need a Jesus, or somebody. But, then we all know what happened to him.

I'm afraid we're going to be in the history books.

[mmonk]

1. Yes

"we're going to be in the history books". History is going to write how the American people responded to this crisis (and whether it was successful or not).

[Davis_X_Machina]

2. Here's the problem:

I can win the election with one paragraph.

I can take the whole Terra issue away from Bush in 75 words.

Because Bush doesn't have anything else.

Here's a speech that will win the presidency outright, in a landslide, for Kerry:

Kerry: I want to reassure the American people that I will be at least as prompt as my opponent to go to war at the drop of a hat, that I am no less ready to kill swarthy people who worship the wrong God without let or hindrance, and to drive this point home I will, on Tuesday morning, together with key members of my transition team, be truck-bombing an Islamic center near Buffalo, NY.

Result -- blowout, 65-35% style. A Roosevelt-Landon sized. Johnson-Goldwater sized victory.

If that's what it takes to win, and I believe there's a good chance it is, given who's voting, then I'm not sure even the White House is worth winning at that price.

I am not opimistic about the long-term fate of this country.

[Kimber Scott]

3. I hope you're wrong. I think many on "their" side have puffed

themselves up like blow-frogs to make everybody THINK they're bigger than we are. Limbaugh is a prime example.

I am afraid for this country, not only because of the people who would be swayed by your "speech," but because of the PNAC and the fact our media has been hijacked. Of course, if you listen to a freep they'll say liberals have hijacked the media. I don't believe them. They don't believe me. Nobody believes anything about anybody, except slime against the other guy. Our mindset is divided. We are like Israelis and Palestenians. We look at the same things and see things entirely different. Heck, we look at the Israelis and Palestinians and see something entirely different. Everything's screwed up. Upside down. Twisted inside out. The politicians have gotten the keys to our psyches and they're fucking with us.

Maybe, you are right. I'm getting depressed.

[Rhiannon12866]

5. Don't get depressed. We can't afford to

But I certainly understand how you feel and appreciate your Israeli-Palestinian analogy, since I have spent much of my time on DU in the I/P forum. The situation has exacerbated and become hopeless in this part of the Middle East, since they need intervention, but have received none, since Clinton's brilliant effort. Bush* has totally turned away from and ignored every Clinton effort, on purpose, notably the effort to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and he came so close, the nuclear threat from North Korea, who truly hate us, and, most important, the effort to take out Osama bin Laden, who was responsible for the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center and the attack on the U.S.S. Cole.

When 9/11 happened, Bill Clinton knew, immediately, who was responsible. Of course, I did, as well, having read up on the subject. This was a no-brainer. And, yes, the media has been hijacked. Liberal media, my a**. Watch the movie, "Outfoxed," and try to tell me that the media is liberal. But it's not about any of this. We have to take the White House back from the hijackers. That's a start. There will be much more work to do, but if Bush* gets "four more years," we are lost. So this just cannot happen. Period. Put it out of your mind. But I get depressed, as well. We just have to put our efforts and minds into making this happen. Just hang in there.:hi:

[JCMach1]

6. CAble news is playing right along with the Pukes

CNBC had a special on this weekend about the 12 Things That Can be Done About Terrorism...

CNN has a 'Nuclear' Terrorism special on next week I think...

Scripted on cue by Rove I think... The media is in the hands of the enemy.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. I watched the first show that you mentioned, on the 12 things, last night

And the second, on Nuclear Terrorism, on CNN, tonight. Television is a total wasteland on weekends. I didn't sit down and pay total attention to the shows, but I caught enough to know exactly what you were talking about. Actually, what I thought about the one on Nuclear Terrorism, hosted by Aaron Brown, who I usually like, was that this could be a manual for terrorists, should any be watching. I was thinking that these specials were shown on the occasion of 9/11, but your point is well taken. Even the "liberal" (give me a break) media is getting into the act and falling in line.:scared:

[Rhiannon12866]

4. It is the fear. That's how the neocons operate, using

"a culture of fear" to manipulate people. Michael Moore demonstrated this in "Fahrenheit 9/11" and, especially, in "Bowling for Columbine." If you notice, whenever they feel like they're losing control or things are starting to turn against them, they raise the terror alert or announce that they have good intelligence that another terror attack is planned. And look at Cheney's incendiary remarks of a few days ago. He pretty much said to all Americans "If Bush* doesn't win, you're going to die!" The man should be brought up on charges. We just can't let them get away with this!:grr:

Kerry should hit back, and hard. Instead, he brought out Edwards and Harkin to speak for him. I just don't get it. Cheney is just plain evil and people have to see it. Bush* is not a nice man, either. I really don't understand when people say that they "like" him! What is there to like?! He stole the 2000 election, has repeatedly lied to the American people, was asleep at the controls when this country was viciously attacked, then did almost nothing about it, launched an illegal, unprovoked war on a third-world country for no good reason, in which over 1000 brave Americans have died and tens of thousands of Iraqi citizens, and, by inflaming the Arab world, placed this country in even greater danger than before! How can anybody say that this is a nice guy?!!! America should run this guy out of Washington on a rail! I, too, am very afraid. It's George Bush* and his actions who's going to get us all killed! But John Kerry has more than enough ammunition to use against this outlaw. He just needs to start using it!:grr:

[kid a]

7. its the media perpetuated fear