Terror warnings boost president's approval ratings

Us libruls have been crowing about Bush's fake terror warnings for months now. They are released every time some really damaging news about Bush is about to hit the news cycle. This WaPo article talks about an empirical study that documents the phenomenon:

A study released this week by a Cornell University sociologist found that nationally, Bush's approval ratings have jumped every time the federal government has issued a terrorism warning. The boost has even helped his ratings on unrelated issues, such as voter perceptions of his handling of the economy.

Here is a more detailed article specifically covering the research. The actual study (PDF) helps us to make our case using hard evidence. Bush is victimizing the American people for his political gain. Nice guy, that George.

Why haven't the Dems come out more forcefully with this issue when they know Rove is going to use it to bump Bush's approval ratings in the days leading up to the election? I'm not sure. They didn't want to sound like conspiracy theorists, but the Dems don't have the luxury of being able to get their surrogates on tv whenever they want - so this notion that Bush is using the terror alert system for political gain is just not well-known among the American people.

So, how will Rove scare voters in the days leading up to the election? Will he crash a plane? Will he detonate a bomb somewhere? Will the 'event' have to take place in a swing state, or can it happen anywhere? Will he actually have to kill someone or bomb something to achieve the desired lift? Probably not, but I wouldn't put it past him - so let's see how far Bush is behind in the runup to election day.

Here's my guess: Friday, October 29, 2004 - 4 days before the election. During the day - early afternoon - 1:23 pm. Dirty bomb scare. Washington, DC - Chicago - LA - New York - Houston. We're looking for a dark-skinned guy. He slipped over the border in Mexico with some cohorts. Keep your eyes open everybody. Stay indoors.

You heard it here, first.

The fake terror scare will have the additional benefit for Bush of suppressing Democratic votes. The massive police presence will intimidate voters. Cops toting shotguns will be out in force in all the swing states, in all the Democrat-leaning counties. In Florida, things will be the worst - or the best for Bush. Road blocks will check ID's. Troopers stationed at voting precincts will demand that people produce identification to vote.

That'll give voters all weekend to soak up the terror/fear thing. The GOP and their media shills will hit the airwaves starting that Friday afternoon and crow all weekend long about 'Bush is strong on terorrism, Kerry is weak on terrorism'. We'll get the stories about the American voters 'getting tricked by Osama into electing Kerry instead of Bush' - all that same jazz they did with Spain and Aznar. Ridge will be a busy guy with press conferences. Cheney will continue his very effective scaremongering.