Josh Schwerin, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, blasted Republicans for using Karl Rove scare tactics to distract from their epic, Do-Nothing fail.
“With their own anti-middle class agenda leading to record low approval ratings, House Republicans are resorting to Karl Rove’s scare tactics. It’s a shame that at a time when our nation is facing real threats abroad and economic challenges at home, the NRCC would stoop to these lows just to try to win seats,” Schwerin said, according to Igor Bobic in an article entitled “Republican Campaign Ads Fear-Mongering Over ISIS Threat” at Huffington Post.
Yes, Republicans are campaigning on fear-mongering about terrorism again (because they can’t run on anything else). It worked so well during the Bush years.
Former President Bush was a great employer of Rovian fear-mongering, stooping so low in the lead up to the 2006 midterms as to accuse Democratic members of Congress of being pro-terrorists because they did not agree with his “strategy” in Iraq. “The Democrat approach in Iraq comes down to this: The terrorists win and America loses.”
So subtle! Vote Democratic and the terrorists win! (Never mind that later the Democrats actually got Bin Laden, reality was not invited to this party.) Don’t think, y’all. Just FEAR. FEAR your vote, because if there’s one thing Republicans know, it’s fear.
Former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge said that in the days before the 2004 election, he was pressured by Bush aides to raise the nation’s terror alert level.
“We certainly didn’t believe the tape alone warranted action, and we weren’t seeing any additional intelligence that justified it. In fact, we were incredulous,” Ridge said of the push. “… I wondered, ‘Is this about security or politics?'”
Ridge resigned shortly after that incident.
So here’s the deal. The party that lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and later said that finding Bin Laden was not high on the priority list greedily used that war and the horrific memory of 9/11 to fear the vote. This is the same party whose President ignored the intel about an impending attack. But somehow they managed to sell themselves as the party that would keep us all safe. Big Daddy was in the House and he might be sort of a fool but he was not afraid to kill first so we should all rest easy.
Only it turned out that bumbling around in foreign policy wasn’t the safest bet after all. It turned out that by invading Iraq, a power vacuum was created. It turned out that by demonizing terrorism as an idea instead of going after specific leaders of terrorism like Bin Laden, terrorism was elevated. It didn’t need any help in that department, either, but this is a relationship of mutual benefit.
That party left it to the Democratic President to actually get Bin Laden.
Republicans were also busy using fear to sell their tax cuts for the rich at the same time, because nothing says winning and I understand the basics of accounting like two wars left off of the books and drastically lowering revenue. They left that mess to Barack Obama to clean up as well, so you can understand why they can’t afford to debate actual issues.
Fear is used to distract, to invoke immediate chaos via flight or fight instincts. Fear is used by the candidate who does not want or cannot afford to discuss the issues. Both sides of the aisle have used fear, but only the Republican Party has mastered it, honing it into an election tool of destruction.
The great irony is that were people to stop fearing and start thinking, they would realize that Republicans did not keep us safe. We were attacked on our soil under the Republican President, and he never did get Bin Laden. His invasion of Iraq was a disaster with no end.
Republicans using terrorism as a get out the vote tactic have no record to do so, and no shame. Why won’t they run on their record and debate their opponent? Why is the Republican campaign always jumping around from demonized issue/person/group to newly demonized issue/person/group, as issues wear out? What happened to their plan to run against affordable healthcare for everyone?
The party (Republicans) that could not get the votes together on their own to arm the Syrian rebels is now running as the only thing that will save us all from the threat of ISIS.
MUSHROOM CLOUDS! THEY’RE COMING TO KILL US ALL! DON’T LOOK AT OUR RECORD! MUSHROOM CLOUDS!
Republicans said they had deep reservations about the plan, but offered no alternative save for boots on the ground. Of course, they would never discuss a draft so close to election time, because some fears are real and must be denied in order for the terrorism fear-mongering to work.
Vote Republican because they really hate terrorists. Never, ever ask yourself what that actually means, lest you be caught thinking. Karl Rove would not approve.
Image: NRCC campaign ad “Passports for Terrorists”
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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