Recollection

A few weeks ago I suggested that we all need to carefully assess the big "issue of the day" to ensure that we haven't fallen for another ingenious, diabolical Rove ruse. He’s the master of using misdirection to manipulate the press into discussing issues that favor Bush while ignoring those that expose his incompetence.

Consider the extensive use of the bogus terror warnings in 2003-2004. Every time something negative about Bush –or positive about Kerry– erupted, BAM, the terror alert was there. Sometimes it was simply a vague threat from a lone lunatic and other times it was a revelation about terrorists that had actually been apprehended months previously.

It didn’t matter. The point was to get the media babbling about terror and ignore stories that hurt the Bush ‘04 reelection campaign.

In my original post on this issue, I was talking about the huge non-story involving the NY Times that Rove concocted to take heat off Bush.

Now, Rove has worked his magic again.

Know what we should be talking about today? How Ned Lamont –a political unknown who had virtually zero name recognition six months ago and who should never have stood a chance against a three-time incumbent Senator– campaigned against the president and the failed Republican Congress and WON.

That’s the big story. As polls have been showing, the Republican party is done. They’ve controlled everything in this country for four years, and they have failed miserably.

They could lie about it for a while, but now the writing on the wall grows starker every day.

Off the top of my head, we have:

Katrina victims still suffering, high school kids unable to get Pell grants, seniors unable to get affordable prescriptions, the working class paying more in taxes to compensate for huge tax cuts to the filthy rich, Americans losing jobs due to corporate-written trade agreements that send American jobs to foreign soil, families suffering under the vicious new bankruptcy laws, average Americans struggling with the unchecked usury of credit card companies, parents who simply cannot afford health insurance for their families, the price of gas hurting consumers everywhere, daycare subsidies for single moms shrinking, and on and on.

Times are tough if you’re not a CEO or Republican lobbyist. Real tough.

Americans are finally starting to point at the Bush Republicans and say, “You’ve really screwed up. My quality of life is far lower than it was six years ago.”

There should be an avalanche of terrible coverage about Bush, his failed policies, and the vox populi turning against him.

That’s what we should be talking about.

Instead, by rallying support for Lieberman, organizing Republican donors for Lieberman, and refusing to endorse the Republican candidate (who has a severe gambling problem) and thus making Lieberman the de facto Republican candidate, Rove has beautifully changed the story.

Now we’re talking about the fractious Democratic party. We’re speculating about who is better for the war on terror. We’re talking about everything that Rove wants us to talk about.

And forgotten is the unthinkable upset just orchestrated by Ned Lamont who campaigned on the simple, correct premise that this country is sick of Bush and the failed Republican leadership.