Expecting an October Surprise

Since we are living in the age of Karl Rove, we ought to

expect an October surprise. That term comes from the title of a book
describing then-candidate Ronald Reagan’s deal with the Ayatollah Khomeini,
in which Reagan offered Iran strategic missiles if they . . . . .

Since we are living in the age of Karl Rove, we ought to
expect an October surprise. That term comes from the title of a book
describing then-candidate Ronald Reagan’s deal with the Ayatollah Khomeini,
in which Reagan offered Iran strategic missiles if they would refrain from
releasing the American Hostages before the November 1980 Presidential Election.

So what might our surprise be? We need not expect anything
so dramatic as the above. Indeed, one likely strategy will be the continued
fall of gas prices. On this point, we need not believe that there is a
“conspiracy” to keep prices low ‘till after November. Why should their be? Oil and related
industries donate almost exclusively to Republican candidates. They are
perfectly capable of acting according to their interests without holding Da Vinci
Code-type meetings in some big dark room.

Another October treat might be increased saber-rattling
against Iran and North Korea,
hoping to provoke a response, which Bush could use to say we must stay the
course.

Conversely, we read just this morning about Bush finally
seeing the light regarding policy change in Iraq. Oddly enough, Democrats seem
to get no mileage with “flip-flop” accusations. Witness California’s Governor behaving like a Born
Again Democrat just before the election. Strangely, we in California regard that not as a cynical
piece of stratagem, but as the genuine transformation of a man who’s seen the
error of his ways. Somebody shoot me now.

What we can surely expect is 11^th-hour
mudslinging against key Democratic candidates, charges that are too outlandish
to be true, but will require time-wasting repeated denials. Remember Republican
strategist Lee Atwater’s deathbed confession in which he tells of an important
meeting with then-candidate Bush Sr.: I
can make you President, but you’re going to have to hold your nose. He then
went on to spread rumors that candidate Dukakis’ wife had spent time in an
insane asylum. Dukakis wilted under the slam. Our candidates must remember that
the current Republican team eagerly endangered the lives of CIA operatives and
their field contacts, in order to extract political revenge. They should expect
the worst.

Finally, there’s straight-up day-of-election cheating. Click here to read
Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s account of the array of dirty tricks the Ohio
Republicans used to manufacture those much-needed 120 thousand votes. If we
smell a rat, we can’t just fold our hands in the name of civility and say we
tried.

This is just be beginning. I’m sure there’s plenty more 🙁