Republicans Bank on Fear in This Election

By Rachel Maddow, The Washington Post

03 November 14

 

know it wasn’t planned this way, but there is a certain genius in how we snug Election Day up against Halloween on the calendar. We scare each other for fun and profit on the last day of October every year, but then in even-numbered years, we keep going. We scare each other on the first Tuesday thereafter, too, rolling right from our night of haunted houses and zombie costumes into a national election that’s being directed like the shower scene from “Psycho.”

This year, the closing argument from the Republican side is a whole bunch of ghastly fantasies: Ebola, the Islamic State, vague but nefarious aspersions about stolen elections and a whole bunch of terrifying fantasies about our border with Mexico. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) still hasn’t explained why only he knows about the “at least 10 ISIS fighters who have been caught coming across the Mexican border in Texas.” Ten fighters from the Islamic State are in custody in Texas, but only Hunter knows about it?

Once and would-be future senator Scott Brown says it’s polio that’s sneaking across the border. Polio, or maybe whooping cough. Or Ebola. Or the Islamic State! Whichever. Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), another Senate candidate, says Mexican drug cartels and the Islamic State are colluding to mount a sneak attack on Arkansas. Boo!

In the Colorado governor’s race, Republican Bob Beauprez says his opponent, Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper “is threatening to set a mass murderer free”! Life in prison without the possibility of parole is a weird definition of “free” but, hey, it’s election time.

And in the conservative media, there is even more to worry about. Conservative blogs lost their minds recently over a surveillance video showing a Latino man delivering completed ballots to an elections office in Maricopa County, Ariz. Ballot stuffing! Blatant fraud! Caught red-handed!

Actually, delivering other people’s ballots to elections offices is perfectly legal in Arizona. Even Republicans have asked Arizonans to bring their early ballots to campaign events this year, so they could be collected and dropped off at polling places. But when the person doing the same thing was Latino, the blogs made it seem like the guy was hiding under the bed, ready to grab your foot if you got up in the night.

On the other side, Democrats want to keep control of the Senate, so their best fear pitch is that if Republicans take over, things in Washington will suddenly get worse. That’s a little hard to take as we coast into the closing days of what is literally the least productive Congress in the modern history of Congress. It’s hard to imagine how much worse things could get.

The oldest Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, has already explained that part of the reason she’s not retiring is because no one she would see as an acceptable replacement could possibly be confirmed in the current Senate, even with Democrats in charge. Yes, the Senate might become an even worse place for the president and for Democratic priorities if the GOP takes over, but Congress is already such a pointless and inhospitable environment for even normal, day-to-day legislative responsibilities, it’s hard to make the case that the Democrats’ current Senate majority is somehow the “good old days” that will be missed if the Republicans win.

For all the end-of-the-world clamor around this year’s elections, you’d never guess that the economy is growing at 3.5 percent, unemployment is below 6 percent and gas prices are way, way down. Even Halloween candy was cheap this year. But good news, schmood news. This year, we’ve decided to be miserable and afraid.

Once all the votes are cast and counted, it will be interesting to see if telling voters to be afraid sent more of them to the polls or kept them home, hiding under the covers. My guess is the latter: Fear, like guilt, is an emotion that creates more upset than action. The feeling of being afraid doesn’t usually lead to rational efforts to address the things you’re afraid of. At least, that’s what Washington has banked on this year.

For all the fearmongering ads, for example, Congress has done nothing to improve the nation’s response to Ebola, other than a House oversight committee hearing where Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) went on and on for the TV cameras about something he called “Eboli” that he said was from Guyana.

For all the politicking on the threat posed by the Islamic State, Congress decided to neither debate nor vote on the U.S. military fight against the group in Iraq or Syria. As the president announced expanded military deployments in the region, Congress canceled its remaining workdays in October and November, until after the election. Congress thinks it’s more advantageous to run ads about how scary the Islamic State is than to face the real threat of actually taking a vote on what to do about that threat.

Halloween is over, but the most deeply craven, vacuous political season in years has followed down its ghostly trail.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

An Election Day Carol

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog

03 November 14

 

n the early hours of Election Day, before dawn reaches the nation’s capital, Justice Anthony Kennedy is suddenly awakened by someone standing next to his bed.

“Get out of here or I’ll call the cops!” the Justice shouts.

“Don’t get bent out of shape,” says the ghost-like figure.

“Who are you?” demands the Justice.

“I am the ghost of Election Day Past.”

“Heavens!” cries the Justice. “Why are you here?”

The ghost does not answer but beckons the Justice to follow him.

He leads the Justice to Sacramento, California, the city where he grew up. The day is Election Day, 1957, the first time the youthful Anthony has ever voted.

“I look so happy,” the Justice says, his eyes welling up with tears. “Everyone does.”

“It was a time when people were eager to vote, a time when Election Day was a joyful occasion,” says the ghost. “A time before all the corruption.”

“What corruption?” asks the Justice, worriedly.

The ghost glowers at the Justice. “The corruption brought on by your decision in ‘Citizen’s United versus Federal Election Commission,' the ghost snaps. “You wrote the opinion that four of your fellow justices joined. It opened the floodgates to big money in elections.”

“I don’t understand…” the Justice cries.

“You decided that corporations are people under the First Amendment, and that independent campaign expenditures, even when made by giant corporations, don’t give rise to corruption or even the appearance of corruption,” the ghost says. “How could you have been so naïve?”

The ghost suddenly vanishes, and the Justice is back in his bed, trembling. He tries to calm himself. “Just a bad dream,” he says.

Moments later another ghost arrives.

“Who are you?” the Justice pleads.

“I am Election Day Present,” says the apparition, and you must come with me.

The ghost leads the Justice to a television set where he is forced to watch five straight hours of negative political advertising.

“Please stop! I can’t bear it!” cries the Justice. “Who is responsible for this?”

“No one knows. They don’t have to identify themselves,” says the ghost. “You wrote in ‘Citizens United’ that Congress would pass a law requiring disclosure of the sources of all campaign funds. But of course it didn’t.”

“But I … I … thought …” the Justice stammers.

The ghost towers over the Justice. “You should have known!” he shouts, and then vanishes as suddenly as the first ghost, leaving the Justice back in his bed.

“Oh help,” Justice Kennedy groans. “I’m having a very bad night.”

Moments later, two apparitions appear. They are very old and very ugly.

“Who are you?” the Justice cries, pulling his blanket over his head.

“We are Election Day Future,” say the two in unison. “Come with us.”

“Must I?” whispers the Justice.

The ghosts nod their heads, and lead the Justice into a palatial room in which a dozen people are loudly partying.

“Who are these people?” asks the Justice.

“The billionaires who now own America. They make all the decisions.”

“What … happened?” the Justice asks meekly.

“‘Citizen’s United,’ allowed a few giant corporations, Wall Street banks, and very wealthy people to buy American democracy. And once they bought it, there was no longer any need for Election Day. That’s why they party every year on this day.”

“Oh, no,” says the Justice, and he begins to weep.

“By the way,” say the ghosts in unison, “let us introduce ourselves. Charles and David Koch.” They shake the Justice’s hand, and then vanish.

Justice Kennedy is back in his bed, just as the morning light is beginning to peep through the curtains.

It’s Election Day, 2014. The Justice is overwhelmed with joy. He puts on his best suit, and goes to vote.

“Hello!” he happily shouts to everyone he sees at the polling place. “Isn’t Election Day wonderful?”

Then Justice Kennedy hurries to his office in the Supreme Court building where he meets with his law clerks.

“I’ve made a very important decision,” he says. “I’m going to join with the four dissenters to ‘Citizens United’, and we’re going to reverse that horrific case. ”

His clerks have never seen the Justice so overjoyed.

“I want each of you to take the rest of the day off, and be sure to vote!” he beams. Then he heads for the door and clicks his heels, before leaving for home. “Happy Election Day!” he shouts.