We can take the tool of fear away from them

There's going to be a lot of alarm over this story that argues that as long as people can be kept in a state of fear they are going to feel positively towards Bush. The finding is that if people are reminded of terrorism and death, they are more attracted to Bush and/or the more charismatic candidate. Of course, the odds that BushCo will do the right thing and refrain from using government resources to whip up a frenzy of fear right before the election are little to nothing. The Democrats and their supporters must treat terrorist alerts and fear-mongering right before the election as inevitable.

Luckily, we're on the right track--people like Michael Moore are out there doing everything in their power to humiliate the President and tear down the alpha-male image that Karl Rove has carefully built around him. The more fear they generate, the more we need to counter, strangely enough, with images of Bush stuttering, losing his temper, and otherwise getting caught being his actual, non-stage-managed self. On the positive side, pushing Kerry as a war hero is going to be very effective--you can tell that it's our side's best weapon because the Republicans are doing everything they can to attack his war record, even though that's going to be the most difficult thing for them to attack effectively.

I know those are the two strategies that drive wonky liberals nuts. Showing off Bush's moronic side is a cheap shot and emphasizing a war record of 30 years ago instead of policy decisions is exactly the sort of thing that wonky types hate about modern campaigning. But what choice do we have? A last-ditch emotional manipulation of terrorism fears by BushCo is a certainty--anything they can do to make sure people vote with their fears instead of their minds they will do. Unless we set up a series of images to dismantle these emotional pleas, we are screwed. I just don't see how we have much of a choice.

Through South Knox Bubba, a tool of Bush mockery that you can use at home.