The Fearmongering

I was going to title this the fearmongering has started, but that wouldn't be accurate - after all Conservatives have been fearmongering for decades now. But they are going to step it up for this election. They kind of have to. McCain isn't a candidate the right wing likes very much, and what they like most about him is his devotion to the War in Iraq and his promise to continue killing scary Muslims. Unfortunately the Iraq War and the promise of new wars in the Middle East aren't exactly going to win over undecided voters.

So they need a two tier strategy. Strategy one is portraying McCain as a reasonable Republican, willing to listen to the middle, a thinker and a far cry from President Bush. That will win over soft-minded liberals and some moderates who don't ask the obvious questions ("If McCain is so different from Bush why has he been so enthusiastic in supporting Bush's wars?", for example).

Strategy two is scaring the hell out of the base. This will keep them voting for McCain even as McCain doesn't court their vote. They can't sell their man to both the Conservative base and the moderates/undecideds at the same time, so instead of selling their man to the base they are going to scare the hell out of the base, by painting grim fantasies of an Obama presidency.

And for exhibit one of this second strategy, let's take Dennis Prager's latest article, which promises that a victory for Democrats in the fall dooms America.

But if "headed in the wrong direction" really does mean for most Americans that voting Democrat will put our country on the right track, it is hard not to conclude that America has begun the decline that has ended all great civilizations. For if the Democratic Party -- given how far left it has become -- comes to control Congress and the presidency, America's values will soon stray so far from what they have been since its founding that it is difficult to imagine ever being able to undo the change.

Yep - vote for America and end America. Gosh with that choice I guess a good conservatoid will have no choice but to vote for McCain.

You can tell that this article is intended strictly for the base, because it has this laugh inducing bit.

George W. Bush has passed legislation -- such as prescription drug benefits for the elderly -- that Democrats would pass; he is a personally decent and honest man who has led perhaps the most scandal-free eight years in modern American history; . . .

Yep. Not to many outside the Conservative faithful believe that any more.

Look for more articles of this stripe all summer and fall.