Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Dim Bulb
It looks as if the meme of the day today is "Al Qaeda wants to disrupt the elections." The Repugs keep pointing to the perfidious Spanish, who threw out their government after the train bombings, and surmise that Al Qaeda might hope to accomplish the same thing here--to get us to toss out our Resolute and Determined Fighter of Evil and replace him with the Flip-Flopper. But if you remember the phenomenon that made Bush approximately Lincoln in the wake of the September 11 attacks, there's little doubt that an Al Qaeda attack sometime in the next five weeks would be likely to produce the same sort of rally-round effect, thus keeping Bush in office. Which, as the Gadflyer observed yesterday, might be precisely what Al Qaeda wants. So yeah, maybe they do want to disrupt the elections--but not for the reasons the Repugs would like us to believe.
Still, making contingency plans for disrupted elections is a fine idea, even if the immediate impetus for it is dubious. New York City had to improvise on September 11, which was mayoral primary day. It's better to have a plan. NPR reported this morning on Utah's plans, which were created in the wake of a problem in 2000, when a city clerk's office had to be evacuated because of a bomb threat, which had a ripple effect on polling places throughout the region. And in the end, it's more likely that such contingency plans would have to be activated for natural disasters, such as blizzards or hurricanes, than for attacks by Insensate Evil.
Recommended Reading: Yesterday afternoon, Brad DeLong asked, "How does George W. Bush change a lightbulb?" His readers responded with some gems.
It looks as if the meme of the day today is "Al Qaeda wants to disrupt the elections." The Repugs keep pointing to the perfidious Spanish, who threw out their government after the train bombings, and surmise that Al Qaeda might hope to accomplish the same thing here--to get us to toss out our Resolute and Determined Fighter of Evil and replace him with the Flip-Flopper. But if you remember the phenomenon that made Bush approximately Lincoln in the wake of the September 11 attacks, there's little doubt that an Al Qaeda attack sometime in the next five weeks would be likely to produce the same sort of rally-round effect, thus keeping Bush in office. Which, as the Gadflyer observed yesterday, might be precisely what Al Qaeda wants. So yeah, maybe they do want to disrupt the elections--but not for the reasons the Repugs would like us to believe.
Still, making contingency plans for disrupted elections is a fine idea, even if the immediate impetus for it is dubious. New York City had to improvise on September 11, which was mayoral primary day. It's better to have a plan. NPR reported this morning on Utah's plans, which were created in the wake of a problem in 2000, when a city clerk's office had to be evacuated because of a bomb threat, which had a ripple effect on polling places throughout the region. And in the end, it's more likely that such contingency plans would have to be activated for natural disasters, such as blizzards or hurricanes, than for attacks by Insensate Evil.
Recommended Reading: Yesterday afternoon, Brad DeLong asked, "How does George W. Bush change a lightbulb?" His readers responded with some gems.
Bush puts Allawi's hand on the burned out bulb, then grabs Allawi and turns him until the bulb comes out. Then Bush buys a million-dollar light bulb from Halliburton and uses the same technique to have Allawi install it.Of course, any lightbulb that burns out on Bush's watch is Bill Clinton's fault.
"Lightbulb, go screw yourself." --- Dick Cheney
The president has always supported the changing of the light bulb, as well as working with the light bulb changing commision's recomendations to change the light bulb that was set up after public outcry to the darkness problem.
Q: How does George W. Bush change a lightbulb?
A: President Bush's bold leadership and moral resolve has put the terrorists on the run after the tragedy of September 11. Next question?
