Kerry Win Equals Terrorist Victory

From dKosopedia

1 Status
2 Quality
3 Origin
4 Talking Points
5 Rebuttals
6 Analysis

Status

Fermenting in the media with the impending election.

Quality

Origin

Found its beginnings after 9/11, when the nation rallied behind president Bush. In the wave of patriotic, even jingoistic fervor that swept the nation, the Republicans rolled out a meme akin to, "A vote for anyone other than a Republican is a vote for the terrorists." This appeal to the base fears of Americans, coupled with the almost daily upward fluctuation of the Homeland Security Terror Alert Level, helped the Republicans sweep the mid-term Congressional election in 2002.

Since then, this meme went through a transitional period, used mainly to quash dissent against the war ("If you're not for the war then you're a terrorist-loving anti-American!") and against the Republican partisan agenda ("If you're against tax cuts then you're a terrorist-loving anti-American!"). In the year since the war began, while things have gone downhill, the meme has morphed yet again, into its current form, and gained an especial boost when the terror attacks took place in Spain, resulting in the old government loosing the election. When that occurred, conservatives threw out the line that the defeat of the old Spanish government, which supported the war in Iraq, was a terrorist victory, and that the Spaniards had "caved" into terrorist demands. This completely ignored the fact that the Spanish tossed out the old guard due to its attempt to blame the Basque separatist group ETA for the attacks, when, in fact, it was al Qaida who was responsible.

The meme was then in full-swing, as Republicans rallied around the cry that any change of administration in America would constitute a victory for the terrorist. Therefore, they said, if no terror attack on American soil took place before the election, we should reelect Bush because he kept us safe, but if a terror attack did take place, we should reelect Bush because not to would be playing into the terrorists' hands. Since that time, the meme has died down, somewhat, due to the daily bad news coming out of Iraq and the looming investigations of Bush administration duplicity. However, members of the SCLM attempt to revive it, every once in awhile.

Talking Points

"You don't change horses in midstream."

Rebuttals

"What if the horse you're on is drowning and plunging towards the rapids?"

Analysis

A potentially effective meme, if the Republicans can whip the population into a patriotic fervor similiar to that after 9/11. Expect it to see more use closer to the election.

This meme is, however, double-edged. Such tactics have already begun to backfire on the conservatives. There are enough negatives for Bush, right now, for him to loose at the polls, and, contrary to the meme's earlier desire, a pre-election terror attack on U.S. soil might drive voters to, rather than away from, Kerry.

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This page was last modified 14:41, 2 July 2006 by Chad Lupkes. Based on work by dKosopedia user(s) Allamakee Democrat and EphemeralNotion. Content is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.