Election season is upon us once again. That means that the right-wing is
gearing up big time to launch yet another "October Surprise". We've seen this
before of course. But, that doesn't mean that the faithful, obedient and scared Kool-Aid drinkers won't respond as Karl Rove knows they will.
The two most handy and time honored election time fear and disinfo campaigns are: "Is Osama bin Laden dead?" and "Where's the Nuke?"
There's more below the fold...
The bin Laden is/or isn't dead theme is used by the Bush propaganda meisters in two contrasting ways that both benefit the Administration.
The fact that, thus far, bin Laden has not been either caught by US forces (and proven dead with accompanying 8 X 10 color glossies) or in a prison somewhere eating Spagetti O's is a big political liability for the White House. Thus, it's important to create a diversion from this liability. Yet, in doing so, they must also define the Osama question in a way that benefits Bush.
The best way to do this is to create doubt and fear in the minds of the American people. "Maybe he's alive, maybe he's dead." This recent article at Media Matters outlines those contradictions rather well as parroted by a willing doggy Fred Barnes at Fox News. Note how Bush straddles the bin Laden question, stating on one hand that capturing and killing him is a "top priority" while at the same time insisting it's not a priority at all. It's basic doublethink, "the act of holding two contradictory beliefs simultaneously and fervently believing both." Doublethink allows the White House to stay on both sides of the issue. From a pragmatic perspective, why would one have to be on both sides of this issue? I can think of two reasons in the case of the Osama question: Either Osama is indeed dead and the White House knows it and are using it to their advantage, or they simply do not know and are cutting their losses playing both sides of it. Makes sense.
Which raises the most interesting point regarding the bin Laden question: Is he alive or dead? Current wisdom is that there seems to be a general consensus, or at least strong inclination from a number of intelligence and political sources, towards the idea that bin Laden is most likely indeed dead. Such rumors go back to December 2001. It would also explain why the CIA closed the unit charged with finding bin Laden. For what it's worth, the Israeli's don't consider bin Laden a threat either.
Granted, all of this could be disinformation from a number of sources. It's an unknown. But, if bin Laden were indeed dead, it would explain the existence of the doublethink. He's not a concern because he's dead, but they need him as a propaganda asset, so they play it up. It wouldn't be unprecidented. As said, it's an unknown, and if he is indeed dead, it would be a fact known only to a select few at the highest levels.
But, the fact that it is unknown whether Osama bin Laden is alive or dead doesn't preclude his being used by the Right Wing Noise MachineTM as propaganda fodder in order to instill fear and doubt in the minds of the masses. Bin Laden is, of course, the most recent (now that Saddam Hussein is behind bars) incarnation of Ultimate EvilTM, ie: Hitler. It's all the right wing propaganda bozos have really. The daily news from Iraq is bad and getting worse. The propaganda war for "hearts and minds" in the Muslim world is a total loss. The entire situation is a downward spiral for the Bush Administation. Throw in the fact that bin Laden escaped US forces at Tora Bora, suspicious to say the least, incompetent at best, and you've got a real case for ousting anyone associated with the Bush Doctrine and calling it a day.
It's not a leap of faith to suggest that the recent right-wing push to define the entire bin Laden saga, most especially to attempt to lay responsiblity for 9/11 at the feet of Clinton, is a propaganda campaign to divert people from the ever increasing litany of Bush failures, including the Tora Bora debacle, not to mention the Pakistan and Saudi connections to 9/11. (Both of which are unraveling.) Throw in some fear and loathing. Rally the hateful base of the right wing. It looks good when the brownshirts get all revved up. It has nothing to do with keeping us safe of course, in any real way, while also ensuring the values that make us all proud to be a US citizen, but it looks good.
This is what we have become: Half the population willfully allowing themselves to be manipulated and played like saps, insisting all the while it's the other guy, the Liberals, their own fellow citizens mind you, who are really the enemy, just like the terrorists, and the saps. It's so exceedingly sad. It's also not unprecidented from a historical perspective. It was only a matter of time until the world's greatest military power went down the rabbit hole. Violence begats violence, and at some point it turns inward.
In the end, therein lay the rub: The right wing of this country have allowed hate towards their fellow citizens to go mainstream in a manner which denies the democratic process it's proper role and power in our lives. They've decided that vengeance and hate and the impression of security shall overrule liberty and true American values. The right wing has utilized time honored techniques of totalitarian and fascist regimes in order to solidify and maintain their own base and their power in government. When you ostracize and demonize your Liberal opposition to such an extreme that right wing bloggers and commenters on right wing sites feel comfortable talking about how all Liberals should die, should be rouned up and shot, well that's a problem in a democratic society.
The eliminationist rhetoric should be a bone jarring hint to every American with an ethical backbone and a grasp on basic reality.
We'll have to wait and watch to see what Karl Rove produces this time, if anything, in the way of an "October Surprise". It's pretty basic. They will either produce another tape, which real or fake will do the job intially, or they'll produce a corpse. Or they'll produce nothing at all. Rove announcing that he has an "October Surprise" in advance tells me one thing... just putting it out there is enough to get the "Bush Bounce Bus" rolling, at least as a spin project. And, it serves up nice and toasty as kitty nip for wingnuts.
It's going to be an early Halloween this year.
Crossposted at The S.N.A.F.U. Principle