Kerry campaign- Take on Bush's Fear-Mongering

[liveoaktx]

getting people out of cowering in the ditch to being lifted up to a "Nothing to fear but fear itself" state that appeals to people's strengths instead of their weaknesses.

It's not merely that Bush is trying to scare people into voting for him.

And it's not simply that he did little to nothing himself to protect this country (he can't be allowed to get away with the Iraq/911 hoax, among other items such as his failure at 911, no OBL, shortage on homeland security, and more)

It is that people need to be lifted up to feel hopeful past their worst fears to believe in a better future, rather than dragged down into a negative hole, too scared to act like true freedom-loving people.

[StClone]

1. Damned Al Quada they want BUSH!

The SOB's released that freaking tape to influence the election in Shrubbies direction. Between real fear of them and the clumsy BushCo scare tactics there is enough fear to affect the vote in my opinion!

[liveoaktx]

2. Bush is appealing to negative emotions-Kerry could go for the positive

Some of this stuff people are arguing about re: Vietnam war records, on both sides, just seems like so much flak.

The real question, to me, is HOW DO WE WANT TO LIVE? Do we really want to live in daily fear, with orange alerts, and some guy coming on the tube to whip us up into a nebulous dread? (Especially when we are either quite impotent on a personal level to stop something like this or it could turn us into suspicious snoops and spies against our neighbors). Do we want someone scaring us into giving our rights away? Do we want to go around the world bullying people and killing them over there so that they might not come over here and get us?

It's baloney. But there needs to be some backlash against this-because Bush is appealing to the worst in human nature, instead of the best. I believe most people don't want to be cowed, but would like to see themselves as courageous-I want Kerry to tap into that.

[CrispyQ]

3. I think lots of the repubs have no issue with living in fear . . .

...it gets their juices flowing. They've become automatons, mindless consumers who have lost touch with the real joy of living. They no longer have any genuine feelings & this is the first time they've felt something in a long time, so they cherish it, & even though it is fear & negativity, it finally makes them feel alive.

[AnnInLa]

4. Wes Clark last night on C-Span, made the same point

One of the best speeches I have heard lately. He was at a university, I can't remember which one, but when asked if America could ever really be safe, he responded thusly: (OF COURSE we can be safe. All we have to do is devote the resources and intelligence and determination that we already have in this country. We must decide if we are going to live in fear forever or make our country safe, then DO it. In conjunction with other countries of the world, we can make the WORLD safe.) I would love to see Kerry take up the slogan, "There's nothing to fear but fear itself." Then talk about spending the resources we are using in Iraq to make our country safe. That would be a positive response to terrorism, not a negative one---it would give the electorate positive expectations for our country. However, I agree with the above poster who said that a certain part of our citizens actually enjoy living in fear, and the "Who's Your Daddy" psychological factor is hard to overcome. They just love to feel as if big-daddy-bush is keeping them safe in this confusing world. They crave to feel secure, at all costs, no questions asked.