First Door on the Left

If you are one of the few people who still believe that democracy is alive and well in the United States, you really need to go read this post by Congressman Jerry Nadler on Blog for America.

The Democratic National Convention just ended, Kerry is leading in the polls and people are getting tired of the negativity of the Bush/Cheney campaign.

It’s time in instill more fear in the American people.

I’m really surprised that folks can’t see through this, especially when Mr. Ridge includes paragraphs like this in his “announcement:”

But we must understand that the kind of information available to us today is the result of the president’s leadership in the war against terror, the reports that have led to this alert are the result of offensive intelligence and military operations overseas, as well as strong partnerships with our allies around the world, such as Pakistan.

What he really meant to say was that due to the president’s incompetence in the war against terror and his insistence on diverting our resources from that war against terror to his needless war in Iraq and our desire to lock down New York City in preparation for the Bush convention, we are telling you again today to be afraid, be very afraid.

How could this possibly be more transparent? “Strong partnerships with our allies around the world” indeed.

Of course, Kerry and Edwards cannot call bullshit on this because then if something were to really happen they would look like idiots. I can, though, and I’m calling bullshit.

“I am concerned that every time something happens that’s not good for President Bush, he plays this trump card, which is terrorism,” Howard Dean, a former rival of Mr. Kerry for the Democratic nomination, told Wolf Blitzer on CNN on Sunday.

“His whole campaign is based on the notion that ‘I can keep you safe, therefore at times of difficulty for America stick with me,’ and then out comes Tom Ridge,” Mr. Dean, the former Vermont governor, added, referring to the homeland security secretary. “It’s just impossible to know how much of this is real and how much of this is politics, and I suspect there’s some of both in it.” (source)

I keep hearing about “swing voters” and “battleground states.” They tell me that 90% of the people in this country have already made up their minds as to who they going to vote for and it is for the benefit of the other 10% that both political parties must spend millions of dollars during this campaign.

I don’t agree.

If the election were held today, I believe the result would be the same as it will be on November 2. The untold millions of dollars that will be spent by the political parties and others in the next three months will be money wasted. There is not a person in this country who will actually go to polls in November who does not at this moment know how they are going to vote, and they will not be changing their mind between now and November.

Witness the recent Bush/Cheney campaign rallies into which nobody is allowed who is not willing to sign an oath of allegiance to George W. Bush. The Bush/Cheney campaign knows that nobody is going to vote for Mr. Bush who has not already made up their mind to do so. What would be the point of allowing people into their campaign events who are not going to vote for the Bush/Cheney ticket? Why take the risk of having somebody present who may do or say something that would embarrass the candidate?

This election is unlike any in our history. The contrasts have never been so stark nor the partisanship so deep. But we will play the game. We’ll give the newspaper pundits something to write about and the television talking heads something to talk about for three months, and then about half of us who are eligible to vote will go to our polling places and cast our votes for the candidate or party we had already decided we were going to vote for.

Swing voters and battleground states do not exist. There is not one person in this country who will vote in November who can honestly say that they do not know at this moment for whom they will be voting. There isn’t.

Go ahead — prove me wrong. If you can’t, send me the $150 million in public funds that the two parties will spend during this general election campaign. I’ll put it to better use.

(P.S. If you are interested in reading the truth behind Teresa Heinz Kerry’s “shove it” remark, you may do so here.)