Bye George, They've Got It

It's about friggin' time. With two weeks left till the midterm elections, the Democrats seem--and I emphasize that tentativeness--to have cemented their apparent lead in popular polls and are geared to regain the majority in at least one of the two Congressional houses. According to the latest poll in AOL, 64% of the population--or at least of the AOL subscriber respondents--prefer the Democrats to the Republicans. That would appear to be enough to tip the balance and reconfigure the political landscape that was created by the Republican's 1994 surge.

Not that the Reps aren't trying, with increasing desperation, to avoid the humiliation. Campaigns are getting nastier, such as the local California congressional contest in which the Republican sent out threatening letters to Hispanic voters, or in New York, where Hillary's opponent is hurling lame accusations about cosmetic surgery. Of course the Democrats are hardly angelic during this process, though they are not as likely to attempt the Big Lies as the Reps, who had such success with the Swift Boat calumnies.

The Cynic in me still awaits some last-minute October surprise, and Bush is certainly working on it. He has actually, amazingly, backed away from the great "Stay the Course" idiocy about Iraq that impresses no one anymore, not even Laura or the dog. His sudden devolution into flexibility is no more convincing that Arnold Schwarzennegar's retreat into moderation and conciliation with the California Democrats. But we know Arnold still has to sleep with a Democrat, so some of that might stick. George is simply posturing to try to allay the disgust of so many independents who mistakenly believed that he was our Protector-in-Chief.

Aside from softening the Iraq stance, though, the Reps have practically nothing going for them, even as the Stock Market hits new highs. Most high-end investors who've profitted this year trend Republican, anyway. The Reps also have the temporary glut of oil and the resultant plummeting of gasoline prices to wave to the electorate. This may help with a few who have short-term memory. On the other hand, the real estate market is flopping, trapping those who bought unduly high prices and those who still can't afford entry purchases.

The real problem is that the Republicans, after twelve years of arrogant power grabbing, are so awash in endless scandals that they cannot scrub themselves enough. The Foley affair, trivial as it is, is another reminder of Congressional hypocrisy, and elicits an ick response that could figure in the voting. Abramoff's name keeps on reemerging in some context, as in the revelation that he's spoken to the White House countless times despite Executive denials. DeLay is gone, Hastert is on the bubble and Frist has his own dirty laundry. Vice President Cheney has become the spokesperson for Pragmatic Evil, which he calls "the dark side," and everyone but everyone hates Rumsfeld. And L'il Kim in North Korea has the bomb. Swell.

With all of this, the Democrats no longer need to promote any agenda (which is good, especially since none of them have a clue how to extricate gracefully from the quagmire in Iraq). The Administration and its fawning congressional lackeys have become identified in the public consciousness as hopelessly incompetent. All the Dems need do now is emphasize that fact and position themselves as the anti-Republicans. And to this end, they have finally devised a clear campaign slogan that may have the same impact as the Republican's simple "Contract with America" of 1994. This is thanks to a book recently published by James Carville (and where has he been?) Increasingly we see signs that say "Had Enough?" That seems pretty straightforward and all-encompassing. It underscores the fact that the Republican malfeasances have become so rife that they aren't worth enumerating any more. There simply has been too much to bear. Time for a change.

One hopes this bare-knuckles approach will be fostered by the clever Rahm Emanuel (brother of Ari Emanuel, the model for Jeremy Piven's agent character on "Entourage'). After the disastrous Donna Brazile-led campaigns of earlier this century, which promoted such pabulum slogans as "Hope Is On the Way" and "Together We Can Do Better," now we have something short and pointed. It speaks directly and unambigously to the disgust the population has for a regime that has taken us far back to the past and championed ignorance over science, emotion over rationality, and greed over compassion.

So devoid are the Republicans now of any persuasive ideas that they are down to their last card, the Fear Factor. They have recently produced a campaign ad parading images of Bin Laden and ending with the slogan "These Are the Stakes." This is a direct echo of the Daisy/Bomb ad that Lyndon Johnson aired once, in 1964, to devastate Goldwater. Ah, those were the good old days when the Dems could be as shameless as the Reps are now. But will the public continue to buy the nonsense that only Republican leadership can prevent Bin Laden and Al Qaeda from blowing up a shopping mall or a stadium? Hard to believe, since it's the Republicans who let Bin Laden get away.