Do not fear the new thugs among our opponents; they are the same as the old thugs.
So the American Fascist Party is starting to show its colors. Its VP candidate wants expanded powers, apparently because Cheney was insufficiently assertive. Its Presidential candidate is running scared now, and is willing to send his surrogates to attack our man full bore because he, well, once met someone associated with a crime he was never prosecuted for - when Obama was in the 2nd grade. They hallucinate that Senator Obama is a friend of terrorists, and they aim at the our Sum of All Fears.
Their thugs are a little scary at moments. Apparently today they were acting the full Nurnberg rally game, shouting for assassination, calling Obama a terrorist. Apparently Palin Youth is riled up, fired up and absolutely horny as hell. From what I have seen at RedState and from anecdotal reports, it's all about the Mom-Sex. And her decision to share a cute little wink at these 19 year olds has nothing to do with it.
We have never had a form of fascism to my knowledge that used a female sexual surrogate to bring out the thugs. Maybe I am wrong. Evita Peron in Argentina was more of a mother figure and it would be unfair to equate Peronism with fascism. It's an odd mix of the Madonna/Whore/Earth Mother/Moose Slayer thing that I just don't get. Then again, I dig "hippie nerd chicks," not folksy proto-fascist powerbrokers. So their mileage may indeed vary.
But in the end, these new thugs are the old thugs. Be not afraid.
They will not do us in. They did not do in the spirit of the brave women and men who endured untold abuse at lunch counters, in school doorways, on Southern streets, in churches. Even when they took the body, their souls - whatever souls we children of mortal flesh may be said to have - live here now, and have led us to this day.
Consider your reasons to stay strong.
Obama has Axelrod and Plouffe - the ultimate wartime consiglieri.
Be not afraid.
Obama is politically a LOT stronger "chessplayer" than Dukakis, smarter than Kerry and perhaps as smart as Gore, perhaps more so. And he outsmarted both Clintons in a long, tough fight, and that's a very difficult away game to win.
Be not afraid.
Remember Reagan? Reagan was infinitely more popular among independents than is Bush II, who is about as popular as pustular gonorrhea, and much more so than McCain as well. Reagan was objectively a much better president - and more moderate president - than Bush II. John McCain, you are no Ronald Reagan, and the demoralized, fearful conservatives ready to throw themselves off of the tops of their the roofs of their K Street Project McJob offices know it.
Smell the fear of the nasty, disillusioned conservative Rush-heads and Hugh-balls and Savage-savages with a massive sense of privilege and no backbone. Smell the fear in this end of the zoo, but do not let these violent thugs make you fear. Be not afraid.
The economy in 1988 was in decent, though not great, shape. The "Black Friday" event of October 19, 1987 was scary but it was a year before the election. Our current woes are more easily tied to the Republicans, and they are severe.
Be not afraid. This is not 1988. This is not 2000. This is not 2004, okey-dokey?
Thinking of Palin vs. Quayle: Quayle was a lightweight but had been in Washington before; he had a bad debate with Bentsen but it didn't amount to much. Bentsen's performance in that debate was so-so and forgettable except for the zinger; people will remember our good man Biden's tearing up for decades. Quayle also handled the general media better than Palin is doing with her nasty little attacks on Katie Couric's "ethics".
Do not believe the mooseshit. Be not afraid. Be bold like a pride of roaring lions. We are winning.
Obama has an unbelievable fundraising advantage over McCain, due both to success by Team Obama and by McCain's fateful choice to take the federal funding. Alea jacta est; the die is cast on the craps table and McCain lost all his chips, while Obama's in the backroom playing world series poker and dominating the table. And dear Thor don't get me started about the ground game domination.
Be not afraid.
Obama is stronger now at this point in the election than ANY Democratic presidential candidate has been in the last 40 years save one: Clinton in 1996, when he was an incumbent during fair-average economic times. When the sprund the "ur-Swift Boat" on Dukakis, we didn't know the game at all. We know it better now, and but they have gotten smarter too. But we don't have a C student as our man. We don't have a 894/899 anchorman wannabe as our man. We have a genius, a Pentium 2008, cubed.
Be not afraid.
Dukakis, Clinton, Gore and Kerry did not represent an epic change in U.S. history. Toni Morrison called Clinton the "first Black president" in the context of the ad hominem wingnut beat-down he took (and that Obama is taking), but Clinton was indeed not a "brother", even if Obama might like his dance steps as he joked on Oprah. Team Obama is multi-racial, multi-ethnic and cross-class in composition but among African Americans the anticipation of an African-American president is overwhelming. Voting for Obama is personal and existential for many voters of all backgrounds, the sort of thing aunts and uncles will tell their nieces and nephews about twenty years from now.
Be afraid, John McCain. You have traded your repute and dignity at Faust's price, and your lies and fascist stokings will erase the glory, the pain and the courage of your many deeds for unit and country. We will remember McCain the slanderer, McCain the bitter luster of power for the sake of the crowd's roar and for the sake of power itself. Do your medals look you in the face, Senator? Does your mirror reach out and slap you at 7:30 in the morning when you shave?
No presidential election is paradise. But for a community so dry, so thirsty for hope as we have been, we can see why believers believe in the miracle of drawing water out of a rock. Our proto-fascist opponents (I speak here not of all supporters of Senator McCain, just the thugs) mock us for our occasional dip into religious imagery, offering their own mockery for the hopes and dreams of seeing not just a new president, but a new America. A re-newed America. While I as a secular rationalist am among the least likely to take a religious perspective on matters, when I see my fellow Kossacks responding in prayer to the realization of the Sum of All Hopes, I must note: even if prayer is not the right thing to do, the folks praying for victory now are praying for the right thing to be done.
Be not afraid, my fellow Kossacks. Smell the sweet fragrance wafting up from the valley below. We are now seeing the Promised Land, and I hope to see ya at the bottom of the mountain on November 4th.