FEAR AND SMEAR TAKES A GHOULISH NEW TURN

Human Events, a far right propaganda rag, usually considered to be a hackish mouthpiece for Karl Rove, is warning Bush's most extreme devotees that if they stay home on election day, the Supreme Court could go... liberal. None of Rove's usual bullshit is working this year. It's suddenly inconvenient to warn even the dullest of Republican voters in the most backward regions that if Democrats are elected gays will run wild in the halls of Congress and in our churches. Bush's and Cheney's scare tactics about WMDs, tax increases, terrorists in the shopping malls all just seem to remind voters what an abysmally bad president Bush has been. Even Rick Santorum's bizarre ads showing Philly and Pittsburgh being consumed by mushroom clouds if he isn't there to prevent it, have just helped his opponent along the road to an historic landslide.

So Human Events digs up a writer with the charms of Rush Limbaugh and the brain power of Sean Hannity-- Sean Rushton (I'm not making this up)-- to spew out some nonsense that Supreme Court Judge John Paul Stevens may die soon and then what? Without Santorum and Macacawitz, there would be gay marriages? Between Foley and Hastert? Performed by Haggard? Forced abortions? An end to off-shore tax havens?

"For the past several weeks, there has been a rumor circulating among high-level officials in Washington, D.C., that a member of the U.S. Supreme Court has received grave medical news and will announce his or her retirement by year’s end... Normally, this news might be too ghoulish to repeat publicly. Nevertheless, with the election just days away, it is news that should be considered. It points out what could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance for the 20-year movement to recast the court with a constitutionalist majority. It would be a cruel twist indeed for conservatives to 'teach Republicans a lesson' next Tuesday, only to be taught a lesson themselves within months when new Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.) leads a Democratic majority against the most important Supreme Court nominee in decades. Conservatives whose mantra is 'no more Souters' should bear in mind Robert Bork's fate after the Senate changed from Republican to Democratic hands in 1986."

Precisely what most Americans want. But try to convince Hannity, Limbaugh or Sean Rushton of that!