Comments on: Knock on wood

By: Mr. Obvious

Mr. Obvious — Wed, 14 Jul 2004 19:14:30 +0000

The Bush plan is not to hope for a terrorist attack and cancel the election. They have no specific intelligence of an attack. The Bush plan is to scare people with the threat of an attack on election day in order to lower turnout, so that only the Bush die-hards/crazies show up at the polls. Duh.

By: christopher ball

christopher ball — Wed, 14 Jul 2004 02:44:29 +0000

It is worth considering the procedures and obstacles to re-scheduling. If a terrorist attack took place in a toss-up state, the loser would likely wonder, Did the attack deter voters who would have voted for me? Presumably, the attack would deter voters for both major-party candidates, but the losing party is unlikely to see it that way. As others have pointed out, any terrorist attack is likely to be localized, so the question would be whether to re-schedule elections for a specific city or even a state, not the whole country. A contigency plan is worth considering, but it seems that this authority could be delegated to the state in which the event occurred. This might also be useful if severely disruptive weather occured during an election. CLB

By: vernaculo

vernaculo — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 22:24:19 +0000

Threat, not the creation of vague generalized fear. Direct threat. It’s kind of exciting. Yabonn, the second and third sentences in your post have the same subject. This is apocalyptic foreplay. The traditional uniforms are no longer in use. The dark forces wear white hats and sing the praise of the sweet hereafter. When they aren’t otherwise orally occupied.

By: peter ramus

peter ramus — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 22:09:58 +0000

“Today, because America has acted and because America has led, the forces of terror and tyranny have suffered defeat after defeat, and America and the world are safer,” Mr. Bush said. Except for the part about elections?

By: bull

bull — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 22:00:20 +0000

I’m no psychologist, but I suspect that the average paranoid doesn’t realize he’s a nut.

By: tom 47

tom 47 — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 21:54:38 +0000

The point is just to keep people off-balance through fear. Period. Rule by fear.

By: asg

asg — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 21:29:57 +0000

It is all kinda silly. Indeed, although “it” ain’t what you think.

By: yabonn

yabonn — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 20:59:57 +0000

I don’t get it. Grant the terrorists control over the date of the elections? And even more, this proposition coming from the tough-talking bush team? An election with people scared from a recent attack is worse than an election held a few month after, with people just as scared, waiting for another one? It’s not that the bushies consider that hypothesis that suprises me, it’s the fact that no one on the left seems to be jumping all over the place at the very idea. Must be missing something.

By: bob mcmanus

bob mcmanus — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 20:09:02 +0000

Perhaps it is distraction. There will some reason to postpone the election, which they will do by fiat. Meanwhile, the Repubs will steal Ohio and Florida via Diebold. Since television can only handle one story at a time, Ohio and Florida will not make the news in all the controversy over the postponement. It is all kinda silly. Bush is getting another four years, and he is not, never has been, or ever will be, the legitimate President. When you are oppressed by a tyrant, you do not argue the fine points of the law.