Kerry's Fear-Mongering Is Disconcerting

It took me nearly two years to forgive Al Gore for the utter debacle of a campaign he ran in 2000. Aside for the massive blunder of distancing himself to an overwhelming popular president, it seemed that the Gore campaign was outmaneuvered constantly by Karl Rove and the Republicans.

Remember, though, he did win the popular vote so he did get some things right. One of them was the constant pressing of populist themes pitting the common man versus "The Man". These themes such as medicare, social security and jobs are winners in places like Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan West Virginia and Pennsylvania. States that will be crucial to victory on electioon day.

But, since the debates ended last Wednesday, the Kerry team has began to weave a strain of fear-mongering that is stolen right out of the Bush playbook.

Basically, fear is all that the Bush is running on from Dick Cheney threatening another terrorist attack if Kerry wins to Bush linking Kerry with Osama bin laden by using the same line for both, "You can run, but you can't hide."

Why now is Kerry dressing up for Halloween as George W.? He's in Ohio and Florida telling people that a vote for Bush will lead to their teenage sons being drafted. He's also warning people about a "January surprise" where the Bush adminstration would try to privatize social security.

There is great substance to what Kerry is claiming, but do we need to lower ourselves to dirty Lee Atwater-esque Republican dirty tricks?

Please stay with the populist themes. It won Gore the popular vote even with a bumbling campaign team. With Kerry's more savvy bunch the Democrats can win both the popular vote and the electoral college.