Democrats & Liberals: Archives

June 18, 2003

The Election Bone is Connected to the... Terrorism Bone

One of Bush Administration major strengths has been its ability to link almost every issue to terrorism, effectively exploiting a series of tragic events and using them for political gain.

It seems that the Democrats, in an almost desparate measure to hang onto the 2004 election, are now incorporating the same tactic in to their campaign. The Christian Science Monitor reports that now that Democrats plan to focus “on [the] energy policy as a top issue in the 2004 campaign, in an effort to sharpen environmental credentials and stake out contrasting positions with President Bush.” The democratic candidates are not only trying to contrast their platform with that of Bush, but also use terrorism as a main catalyst of their argument for better energy policies, effectively playing the card of “scare tactic.”

Now that the threat of terroism, and the Bush Administration’s ability to milk it at every turn, is a firm part of the domestic political agenda, “the links now being drawn between foreign oil and terrorism may give energy policy new potency as a campaign issue.”

Is it possible for the Democrats to win the 2004 election without using the “terrorism” card? By assimilating to Bush’s tactics, are they not just blurring the party lines even further?

Posted by Ryan at June 18, 2003 09:00 PM
Comments
Comment #144

Terrorism linked with foreign oil dependancy is an achillies heel for Dems.

Reps response is simple, drill more in alaska and elsewhere

Dems response, Oh, NO, we Can’t do THAT.

The public concludes that the Dems aren’t serious, and that the issue is real, and the Reps have a partial solution to a bad problem.

Posted by: John at June 19, 2003 05:18 AM
Comment #147

So, even if the Dems play the Repubs Terrorism Game, they still lose? Oh, how sad.

All of this, in the larger picture of the last two years, just shows that when people are scared they become very, very stupid.

Oh, how sad.

Posted by: Ryan at June 19, 2003 08:58 AM