The Poet's Eye
commentary by Lightning
Rod
the Poets' Eye is skeptical
without being cynical, innocent
without being naive and
critical without being
judgmental
October
Surprise – Osama bin Tapin'
for
release on 10-30-04
It's
the Friday morning before the most important presidential election of
my memory, and my memory is long. I've been biting my nails for two or
three days now expecting the October Surprise. I don't know whether to
anticipate an attack from an internal radical group or whack individual
like Tim McVeigh or to expect some spectacular event orchestrated by the
fear-meisters in our own government, or if bin Missin will turn up at
Guantanamo Bay to turn himself in. Maybe we'll drop a few bunker busters
on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Part of the neo-conservative orthodoxy is the concept of the "Big
Event." A sinking of the Maine or a Pearl Harbor or 9/11 or the Burning
of the Reichstag is what you need to galvanize the public into buying
the insecurity ticket. Then anything is possible. It's an instant mandate.
If you will recall, before 9/11 the Bush administration was on shaky ground
when it came to the topic of legitimacy because of the quasi-democratic
way in which they assumed power. But after 9/11 they had a mandate. This
writer is not prepared to suggest that the fanatics in our own government
were responsible for the disasters, but they certainly reaped great benefits
from them.
Why do I feel like I'm watching a disaster flick? You know what is going
to happen when you walk into the theater. You know the ship is going to
sink or the building is going to catch fire or the earthquake or asteroid
is going to bring graphic tragedy. But still you are perversely fascinated
and your fingers wiggle in the buttered popcorn.
That's the way I feel about this election. I don't know exactly how it's
going to turn out but I know there will be fire and explosions, clouds
of smoke and women crying. The thrill is in the gory details. You know
our democracy is going to fall, you just don't know how.
It's three days till the election. America stands poised to commit the
Great Democratic Act. We are going to choose our leaders. I hesitate to
mention that our leaders have already been chosen for us. It will either
be Bush or Kerry. You will not notice a large difference in the price
of gas on November 3, no matter who is 'elected.'
For those that are hopelessly addicted to reality TV, I must reassure
you that this series won't be over on November 2. It may run well into
the next season. By the time all the provisional ballots are counted and
the legions of lawyers have shot their wads and the media-whores have
made their predictions, some judge will decide between tweedle-dee and
tweedle-dum.
Still we have no October Surprise, unless you want to count the missing
explosives in Iraq or the video of the nut-case Arab-American actor boasting
about the streets of America running red with blood. The missing explosives
are old news. We knew long ago that the weapons stockpiles had been looted
just like the rest of the country because our forces, though superior,
were too widely spread. And I don't know what to say about the "Al
Quida warning tape" that the White House leaked through Matt Drudge.
It has come to a sad state of affairs when we up the terror alert every
time some nut like Lyndon LaRouche releases an infomercial. So, these
aren't real surprises. A real October Surprise these days needs major
body count.
That's why I'm biting my nails.
------
postscript: Since I wrote this, the bin Laden tape has been released.
I wonder how much Karl Rove had to pay him to record it?
Lightning
Rod
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