Rove, being the master propagandist that he is, is not stupid enough to think that he will flip more than 1% or 2% of Democrats to vote for McCain. Instead, his tactics are designed to do one of four things – instill fear, divide the party, create cynicism, and create feelings of helplessness.

First of all, Republican propaganda is designed to make us feel inadequate – we are alone; therefore, there is nothing we can do to change things. I hear Republicans talk like this all the time – I am only one person; therefore, what can I do to change things in Washington or Jefferson City or Harrisburg or wherever? Let's just use vote fraud as an example – there has been a lot of talk about how Rove will hack all the voting machines and steal the election. Now, granted, we all agree that we have to do all we can to protect our voting machines from hacking, or do away with them altogether. But we fall into the trap when we start thinking that Rove will hack all the machines anyway; therefore, what can I do to change things? Rove will break into the machines and steal the election anyway.

Another tactic that Rove and the Republicans like to use is divide the party. The FISA bill was a perfect example of this – create a wedge issue where they knew that the Democratic leaders would break with the base. This is not a party where we walk in lockstep with the leaders. However, where we fall into the trap is when we feel that the Democrats will all cave in anyway or water down what we propose; therefore, we should we ever expend any effort to change things?

Then, there is the tactic of instilling fear. A classic example is the brazenness of Rove's and the Bush administration's attacks on our civil liberties. Torture, renditions, attacks on our civil liberties, spying on dissident groups, and other such attacks are all designed to create fear – the fear that the Republicans are so powerful that they can quash all resistance; therefore, why should we ever work to change things? After all, they are too powerful for us; therefore, we would be wasting our time.

And then there is the tactic of creating cynicism. That is another reason that Republicans like Stevens and Abramoff and Rove are so brazen in their corruption. It serves to create cynicism in both Democrats and Independents. After all, aided by enablers like David Brooks and various examples of false equivalence given by the same media that lied to get us into war with Iraq, people reason that Democrats do it too; therefore, why should we participate in the process? After all, all politicians are just a bunch of crooks. Then, when people like Barack Obama come along, people reason that he is just another crooked politician who is out to get our vote, and speeches like his 30-minute infomercial simply “prove” it to them. It wouldn't matter if Russ Feingold or Dennis Kucinich were the man in front of the TV screen; people who fall for this lie of the right would still think the same thing. They've heard it all before, they reason; therefore, why should they vote or participate in the political process?

So, how do we best combat this sort of thing? Rove is not dumb – if I were in charge of George Bush's 3rd term reelection effort, I would be looking at the Democratic sites and see what they are saying. When people start second-guessing Obama and freaking out over every single so-called “gaffe” that he commits, then that is when Rove pounces. Then, it is only a matter of time before it gets into the media and used as yet another example to “prove” that Obama is a Scary Brown Person who is not ready to be President. Everybody has to do their own job – Obama and Biden have to be themselves; Axelrod is in charge of getting the message out and getting us the ammunition, and we have to explain Obama's policies to average voters.

Let's just use Joe Biden's speech in Newark as an example. Did Biden commit some gaffe? No point in freaking out about it – it's not like we can go back into the past and make it as though it never happened. It is totally pointless to engage in handwringing and saying, OMG, Biden fucked up, we're going to lose this election!!! This morning's handwringing is this evening's news – remember, the media is not our friend; they are the same people who lied to get us into Iraq in the first place. Let's say that you think Biden didn't explain Obama's economic plans well enough. What is more constructive – handwringing? Or getting on the phones and calling people in Newark and explaining Obama's plans to them in a way that they understand? Handwringing plays into Rove's hands in two ways – the first is that it will make the evening news and serve as another example of Biden's foot in his mouth. The second is that it implies that the voter is too stupid to understand what Biden is saying; when we imply that, all that does is play into Rove's meme that we're all just a bunch of latte-drinking elitists who can't relate to the average Joe the Plumber.

Does that mean that we cannot criticize Obama or Biden at all? No – it all depends on tone and how well the writer backs it up. If someone has data proving that 5% of Americans flipped to McCain because of Obama's “spreading the wealth” remark, then that would be a constructive criticism. But if it is mere conjecture on their part, and they have no way of backing it up or expertise in polling, then it is not constructive at all. Just because events A and B happened in a similar timeframe does not mean that A caused B. It could be just as logical that Obama's internals showing an impending 5% drop in the polls triggered his decision to make the “spread the wealth” remark in an effort to stem the bleeding; in other words, B could just have likely caused A. Or, most likely, A and B have nothing to do with each other and the people going apeshit about it would never have voted for Obama anyway.

Everybody has to do their own jobs in these last few days. This is a site to get Democrats elected, not a site to engage in punditry. It's not our job to try and replace Chris Matthews or Wolf Blitzer or any of the other pundits out there. The problem with people like Joe Lieberman and Harold Ford and the rest of the DLC people was that they could never figure out when to stop being pundits and start being Democrats. We do not want to lower ourselves to their level; otherwise, we won't be crashing the gate and taking on the system, but simply continuing the same tired old beltway politics that got us into this mess in the first place.