I was on the bus the other day on the way in to work, talking with an acquaintence. I know from some remarks this person has made in the past that she is a Kucinich liberal, i.e. is to Teddy Kennedy as Kennedy is to Reagan. As we were discussing some of the increased security precautions we had noticed at the downtown train stations - uniformed officers, bomb-sniffing dogs - she made a remark along the lines of, "They're just trying to keep us scared".
I was reminded of that exchange as I read today's Bleat:
As Teddy Kennedy said in his convention speech: “The only thing we have to fear is four more years of George Bush.” It’s really quite simple, isn’t it? We live in a manufactured climate of fear ginned up by war-crazed neocon overlords. There is no threat. The only thing we have to fear is Bush, who sits as we speak in the Oval Office sucking the marrow from Whoopi’s shin-bones.
If so, I wonder why anyone agreed to the stringent security policies that characterize this year’s conventions. Why the bomb-sniffing dogs? Why the snipers? Why the metal detectors, the invasive inspection of bags? Is it all an elaborate defense against Bush crashing the party and setting off a bomb belt, shouting God is Great, y’all!
No, they’re fearful of something else.
Damned if I know what, though. Damned if I know.