Never Mind Governing. We Have an Election to Run.

Last year was not a good one for BushCheney. The consequences of his baneful policies came back to bite him in New Orleans and Iraq. This year will be different. He will be focused on the one thing he does well. Elections. The Republicans will put governing on hold until they can shore up their control by whatever means possible, which means money (lots of it) and distortion. Already George W. Bush is out on the hustings smearing Democrats as unprepared to defend America. He and Dick Cheney are pumping the money machine hard, amassing a campaign war chest for Republican Congressional candidates. Cheney has spent 45 of this years’s 83 days hustling money. The money will go to distort Democrats as weak on defense, unprepared to protect America against the enemies of freedom besieging this nation. With enough money and control of the media, BushCheney may be able steal yet another election. That’s their plan.

Note that this plan does not address any of the real dangers facing America. Iraq will be resolved by a future president, not BushCheney. Rebuilding America’s economy, that can wait. Congress will be in session only 90 days this year. The rest of the time they will be campaigning and hustling money. That’s the Republican plan.

Here’s an example of how it works.

In Florida on Friday... Cheney portrayed the entire Democratic leadership as wobbly in the fight against terrorism.

"Leading Democrats have demanded a sudden withdrawal from the battle against terrorists in Iraq -- the very kind of retreat that Osama bin Laden has been predicting," Cheney said. "And with that sorry record, the leaders of the Democratic Party have decided to run on the theme of competence. If they're competent to fight this war, then I ought to be singing on 'American Idol.' "

Recent polls show a growing number of Americans questioning the competence of the Bush White House. Since the Hurricane Katrina disaster, Democrats have made the charge of incompetence the centerpiece of their attack on Bush, and many Republicans are worried that it is sticking. "The president and I welcome the debate, because every voter in America needs to know how the leaders of the Democratic Party view the war on terror," Cheney said.

And it has worked for over five years. Somehow these incompetents have convinced the nation that they actually have ideas and the capability to implement them successfully. The greatest con job ever pulled off.