The same old Republican strategy

How do Republicans hope to hold on to power this November? Once again, as in '04, it's all about terrorism and turnout, says the Times (via Drum). That is, their Rove-directly strategy will be to scare the crap out of voters while simultaneously working to turn out the right sort of voters, those who have had the crap scared out of them on terrorism and those deeper in the base who vote according to their Republican-oriented values. So we'll hear a lot about terrorism and a lot about same-sex marriage and other such wedge issues of the evangelical right.

Drum: "Over the past 30 years the Republican Party has gone from Gerald Ford to Ronald Reagan to Newt Gingrich to Dick Cheney -- i.e., from conservative to reactionary to crazy to batshit insane -- and Rove's 'two T's' are further evidence that they have no intention of rowing this back. They're obviously getting more desperate in the face of possible electoral defeat this November, but other than that they're just doubling down on the same old strategy of cultural bloodletting in the service of economic plutocracy."

It's worked before -- in fact, it's been working extremely well since 9/11 -- so why not in November? Because, one hopes, Americans now know better and want a change in leadership in Washington and around the country. Because, one hopes, they know how Republicans have screwed things up and how Democrats offer a sensible, trustworthy alternative. Because, one hopes, they're ready to send the message that enough is enough.

Yes, one hopes. As uncharacteristic as it may be, I'll stick with the optimism this long weekend.