Make my October Surprise the Truth
With such a tight race it’s understandable supporters on both sides are brainstorming silver bullet scenarios. Checkmate in one move. Uh-huh.
David Corn, in The Nation, came up with a new spin on an old idea. John McCain is really, secretly, on… Kerry’s side. This time, he’s only acting like he’s sidled up to Bush. That’s so he can AMBUSH him, in October! Sometime next month, McCain will apparently pop out of his spider hole, behind enemy lines. With rhetorical M-16 blazing, John will come to the aid of his old Vietnam Vet colleague. Bush, with his AWOL-cheerleader background, won’t know what hit him.
It’s never gonna happen. Let McCain go kids, nothing to see there. Even if McCain was the independent, courageous, free-thinker the above scenario requires he be, Bush’s handlers obviously already understand the threat. These guys are serious players – they think 3 moves ahead. Do you think a liberal columnist can come up with a scenario they haven’t? Nope, McCain will not be an October Surprise – they already have his balls in a vise. He’s neutralized, like the Black Knight he morphed into.
John Stewart, on the Daily Show last night, asked Mark Roscoe, Bush campaign manager, about the October Surprise. He didn’t give one, but later on in the conversation, Roscoe let fly with a nice Freudian slip. Words to the effect that the Bush administration leads the nation AND the planet. The actual agenda is nothing short of - Global Rule. Yee haw, let’s get going on the real work of conquering the planet. Next, we take Mars (that last yuck is borrowed from Stewart)! Now that’s an October Surprise worthy of this administration.
Instead of the Big Bang of an October Surprise, I’m much more satisfied with the direction the Kerry campaign is currently, apparently, taking. I see steps, perhaps just baby steps, towards speaking the simple, honest Truth.
Allan Lichman, in the American Prospect, even suggests a clever set of tactical moves, for October, that are all about truth:
1. Kerry should appoint a shadow government. Through November 2, they would show, point by point, issue by issue, how a Kerry administration would change things for the better.
2. Kerry should jump-start his administration by releasing his first three executive orders, his first three drafts of legislation, and the first three treaties that he would negotiate abroad. He should issue a real alternative budget, lined up against the Bush budget, with cost estimates and deficit projections.
3. Kerry should emulate what Ross Perot did in 1992 and have a serious conversation with the American people about the issues. Hey, I thought those goofy pie charts were great!
4. Kerry should fire the hucksters. Can the pollsters, the admen and women, and the consultants, tear up their scripts, and advance our national debate by speaking forthrightly and concretely about what Americans should be accomplishing during the next four years.
Amen brother! Bring on the truth. Checkmate… in 4 moves (apologies to the Elvis Costello literalists).
Everything about this campaign is unprecedented in our lifetime. It could happen: truth in politics. Imagine Truth. Now that would be a very welcome surprise next month.
With such a tight race it’s understandable supporters on both sides are brainstorming silver bullet scenarios. Checkmate in one move. Uh-huh.
David Corn, in The Nation, came up with a new spin on an old idea. John McCain is really, secretly, on… Kerry’s side. This time, he’s only acting like he’s sidled up to Bush. That’s so he can AMBUSH him, in October! Sometime next month, McCain will apparently pop out of his spider hole, behind enemy lines. With rhetorical M-16 blazing, John will come to the aid of his old Vietnam Vet colleague. Bush, with his AWOL-cheerleader background, won’t know what hit him.
It’s never gonna happen. Let McCain go kids, nothing to see there. Even if McCain was the independent, courageous, free-thinker the above scenario requires he be, Bush’s handlers obviously already understand the threat. These guys are serious players – they think 3 moves ahead. Do you think a liberal columnist can come up with a scenario they haven’t? Nope, McCain will not be an October Surprise – they already have his balls in a vise. He’s neutralized, like the Black Knight he morphed into.
John Stewart, on the Daily Show last night, asked Mark Roscoe, Bush campaign manager, about the October Surprise. He didn’t give one, but later on in the conversation, Roscoe let fly with a nice Freudian slip. Words to the effect that the Bush administration leads the nation AND the planet. The actual agenda is nothing short of - Global Rule. Yee haw, let’s get going on the real work of conquering the planet. Next, we take Mars (that last yuck is borrowed from Stewart)! Now that’s an October Surprise worthy of this administration.
Instead of the Big Bang of an October Surprise, I’m much more satisfied with the direction the Kerry campaign is currently, apparently, taking. I see steps, perhaps just baby steps, towards speaking the simple, honest Truth.
Allan Lichman, in the American Prospect, even suggests a clever set of tactical moves, for October, that are all about truth:
1. Kerry should appoint a shadow government. Through November 2, they would show, point by point, issue by issue, how a Kerry administration would change things for the better.
2. Kerry should jump-start his administration by releasing his first three executive orders, his first three drafts of legislation, and the first three treaties that he would negotiate abroad. He should issue a real alternative budget, lined up against the Bush budget, with cost estimates and deficit projections.
3. Kerry should emulate what Ross Perot did in 1992 and have a serious conversation with the American people about the issues. Hey, I thought those goofy pie charts were great!
4. Kerry should fire the hucksters. Can the pollsters, the admen and women, and the consultants, tear up their scripts, and advance our national debate by speaking forthrightly and concretely about what Americans should be accomplishing during the next four years.
Amen brother! Bring on the truth. Checkmate… in 4 moves (apologies to the Elvis Costello literalists).
Everything about this campaign is unprecedented in our lifetime. It could happen: truth in politics. Imagine Truth. Now that would be a very welcome surprise next month.
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