Peter Beinart pens an excellent column in this week’s TNR. He discusses how Bush/Rove have tried to frame the campaign almost strictly on the fuzzy concept of “character” – just as they did four years ago vs. Gore. Why not? It worked then why change a thing, and they have nothing else to run on. As Beinart states, “An actual debate about the wisdom of Bush's foreign policy--particularly in Iraq--is precisely what his campaign's character strategy is designed to prevent.”

Bush/Rove deal in images, fiction, and illusions. It’s their job to get Americans to enter and embrace their fantasy world. They achieve this goal by playing on human emotions, not intellect. Fostering fear and hatred will trump logic and reason every day of the week in this country (sadly).

Beinart points out that “[Zell] Miller wasn't urging Americans to reelect Bush because Iraq has been a success… He was urging Americans to reelect Bush because the president believes Iraq has been a success.” Again, urging the ignorant to enter into the "Bush Funhouse," to check their brains at the door and simply accept the drivel being fed to them. “Today, just as before the Iraq war, the Bush camp dismisses facts that intrude upon its favored view of the world… If Democrats dare point out where reality diverges--that the Iraq war was based on a colossal factual miscalculation and that few Iraqis still see it as a moral enterprise--they are savaged for not believing in America.”

And Republicans don’t have a problem with the demonization for those who choose to dissent (or to think!). Instead, they applaud and endorse that ignorant phrase, “if you’re not with us, you’re against us.” This spoken by our great uniter of a president.

Meanwhile, 80+% of the civilized world is rooting against the reelection of our current leader. I guess they’re all just big, fat, stupid, commie idiots – correct, right-wing loonies?!