Okay, this is the election-day scenario I now expect:

[SheilaT]

A week or less before election a major terrorist event in this country, very dramatic, possibly with at least 100 deaths, somewhat like the Madrid train bombings. At first, because this occurs in such close proximity to election day, there will be talk of postponing the election, but "cooler heads" will prevail, and Americans will go bravely to the polls, re-electing President Bush and returning a strong Republican majority to Congress. A grieving, but unbowed President Bush will vow to fight the terrorists to the bitter end, no matter what it takes, knowing that patriotic Americans everywhere will willingly endure necessary sacrifices to defeat the evildoers every where.


Sound plausible?

[Lancer]

1. Don't count on

too much grieving from Dubya. After all, it was he who said in December 2001, "it's been a good year for Laura and me."

If the pre-election bombing scenario you outline does play out, as it very well might, I hope the cooler heads will include a majority of the electorate, who will be thinking "fool me twice. . ." on the way to the polls.

IMHO

[Mad As Hell]

2. Absolutely.

Using their vast army of private contractors with plausible deniability.

[chikin]

3. All too plausible, in fact...

The outcome could go the other way too, although I see that as being less likely. The attack could spark a backlash against Bush and the current administration with the populace thinking that Bush's anti-terrorism policies simply aren't working and that the administration's foreign policy is seriously flawed and increasing the likelihood of attacks. (Yes, you actually have to convince some people of the obvious.)

Kerry would have to play it very carefully though--he couldn't come out immediately and blame the administration's failed foreign policy for the attacks, as that would likely to be viewed as an opportunist political statement, something 'inappropriate in such a time of crisis' (this is what the media and RW hacks would repeat ad nauseam). Rather, he'd have to mourn with the country, then continue to push the point home that his administration would do everything possible to ensure that these sorts of attacks would never happen again, the subtext in his statement being that his foreign and domestic policy would be significantly different from Bush's and thus minimize the hostility towards the country by the rest of the world.

Still, sounds eerily possible...

[AFSCME girl]

5. From one new DUer to another...

welcome to chikin :bounce: This is so cool to see all these new
DUer's!!! :toast:

[AFSCME girl]

4. Unfortunately.........

it sounds all too plausible :scared: Thank you SheilaT for shining light on this possible scenario. If this situation does occur, I hope Lancer's endgame plays out and voters will be thinking "fool me once, .............." We need to take our country back! :mad:

BTW, A big DU welcome to Lancer and Mad as Hell! :toast:

[SheilaT]

6. And think about this, also:

Remember how in 2002 certain races -- Max Cleland's is the most obvious -- suddenly turned around by never-before-seen percentage points in the very last minute, so that instead of winning comfortably, he lost by much more than is fully plausible.

The same thing could happen this year. Part of the expected hype will be (after this attack) that Americans aren't like the cowardly Spaniards, and they'll rally behind their brave President. Also expect Kerry to be hammered as a wimp of a liberal who lied about a few scratches to get out of Vietnam five months early.

If Kerry does not roar right back (as he should be doing all along) about his willingness to fight for his country, that his early release took place on his SECOND tour in Vietnam, if Kerry doesn't fight back and fight back hard, Bush & Co will own this issue. He should be stressing (among other things)that Bush, Cheney, and a host of other pro-war Republicans never served day one in the service.

But I digress. What worries me is that it won't really take very much to steal the election. We need polling, constant polling, especially in the last few weeks. There needs to be exit polling. And don't ever tolerate anyone saying the exit polls were wrong in 2000. They were absolutely correct. It was the stolen election that was wrong.

What I worry about is that some people here go off in what to me are foolish speculations about plane crashes and other dastardly deeds. The people who plan to steal this election are not so crude. Remember, they came to power in a coup and have no intention of giving up to anything so silly as a free, fair, and honest election.