Scoop’s Views

It seems Sen. Joe Lieberman (Independent-Connecticut) is firing up President George W. Bush’s dusty old propaganda machine used to make Americans worry more than necessary about a potential terror attack.

In the case of Lieberman, a guy who’s unsuccessfully sought a seat in the White House in the last two presidential elections (2000 and 2004), using fear tactics in hopes of boosting support for the candidate he is supporting on the November Presidential ballot: Sen. John McCain (Republican-Arizona).

It wasn’t enough that in the days following the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, various Dubya pundits make almost daily press briefings that additional attacks were imminent. People were worked into a frenzy, armed with duct tape and plastic sheeting to cover windows, and some people, truly paranoid because of Dubya’s propaganda machine, went out and bought protective (gas) masks, military-style pre-packaged meals (MREs), and all sorts of other things that people hadn’t considered since the 1960s when the Cold War’s threats of nuclear annihilation were felt in schools, homes, and in society at-large.

During the final months of the 2004 presidential campaign, Dubya and cronies fired up that old terror attack propaganda machine again, warning that if the "right" president — the strongest candidate, as it was implied — wasn’t elected (re-elected, Dubya and cronies), then the U.S. would likely see many more terror attacks soon after the election. If you bought the Dubya rhetoric, the "right" person was (re-)elected in 2004.

Now that McCain and Sen. Barack Obama (Democrat-Illinois) are facing off in the final four months of the 2008 presidential race, Lieberman wants to make sure the guy he likes most is elected, even if it comes down to issuing propaganda statements about terror attacks.

Why do I call Lieberman’s statements propaganda? If specific information about terror attacks existed, would that information be released through Lieberman? No, they’d come from some official at the Department of Homeland Security. Perhaps Dubya would make a public announcement from his desk on live TV. Or, as in the past, a press conference would be held, and at that time, some non-specific details would be released to the public. The announcement — nay, warning — certainly wouldn’t come from the lips of Joe Lieberman making comments designed to do little more than create fear in people.

Lieberman, and if his comments are supported by McCain, who, at this point, hasn’t denounced Lieberman and his comments, have stooped to a new low, though they haven’t yet stooped to Dubya’s personal best for lows, but we still have just four months left before the election. It could become quite a colorful campaign season full of lies, double-talk, and forked-tongues. It just might be time to buy hip waders.