Will the GOP's Appeal to Our Lizard Brains Finally Fall Flat?

by Arianna Huffington

On "Face the Nation" this morning, Ken Mehlman summed up what the 2006 election is going to come down to: will the GOP succeed one more time in tapping into voters' lizard brains and have them once again cast their ballots based on fear rather than on a rational review of the facts?

Here are the reasons Mehlman gave for voting Republican:

"If you believe this November that it's important we have tools like the Patriot Act, like the program that has made sure there's surveillance of the enemy, like interrogation of people like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, if you believe there ought to be missile defense. If you believe all these tools that we've had that keep us safe at a time we're at war, Republicans have been in favor of those tools. Unfortunately, most Democrats have been against them."

The Republicans' strategy was even more clearly revealed in the Republican National Committee ad called "The Stakes." The furor over the race-baiting Harold Ford ad has distracted attention from "The Stakes." But if you haven't seen it, you must.

Over a soundtrack of a ticking time-bomb we see images of Osama Bin Laden, Al Zawahiri and other terrorists, along with quotes. After a few seconds, most of the quotes disappear, leaving on the screen a few phrases, which grow larger. Here they are:

"kill the Americans"

"inside America"

"suitcase bombs"

"nothing compared to what you will see next"

All standard issue RNC fear-baiting, but what's new about this particular ad is that the dots are never connected -- Democrats aren't even mentioned, nor is there any argument about why the GOP would be better at stopping these things.

Why is this? One reason is that Republicans believe they've already connected these dots sufficiently -- that if they succeed in scaring the electorate, people will naturally vote Republican.

But another reason is that by making any sort of political connection in the ad, by making any logical appeal about what we're supposed to do with our fear, the GOP would be activating the rational part of the viewer's brain. And what's served the fear-peddlers best has been pure lizard-brained response.

That's what the "conservative revolution" has come down to. Fear is all they've got left, and they're going to ride it as far as they can. Which, hopefully, is November 6th.

So this is a watershed election. It is the last time the country will be able to cast a vote on George Bush, and on what he represents. It's not just about Iraq. It's about whether we want to live in a state of perpetual fear. But what's becoming clear is that the most overwhelming fear these days is being felt by Bush and the RNC -- they're terrified about what will happen to them if Americans decide they no longer want to live in fear.

Has the GOP's fear-mongering strategy run its course? We'll find out next week.