La riposte des républicains : la peur, plus que jamais la peur

Face à la poussée d’enthousiasme général des démocrates pour la candidature d’Obama et, surtout, du message de changement et d'unité implicitement antagoniste de la politique de la terreur de Bush de ce candidat, les républicains devraient riposter par une accentuation de cette politique. C’est ce qu’en juge Mike Madden, le 7 janvier dans Salon.com. Pour lui, les républicains accentuent d’ores et déjà et vont accentuer leur message cherchant à susciter un sentiment de peur chez les électeurs, lié aux habituels thèmes privilégiés par Bush. Ils vont essayer de rassembler leur base électorale sur ce thème.

Après le choc de l’Iowa, les candidats républicains prennent des mesures d’urgence et tendent de plus en plus à se démarquer de la campagne démocrate. Le schéma pourrait donc devenir deux campagnes parallèles, sans connexion l’une avec l’autre, avec les batailles internes entre les candidats du même parti. Cette hypothèse de développement de la campagne des primaires, si elle se confirme, va conduire à un affrontement considérable lors de la phase finale où les candidats des deux partis s’affronteront (avec peut-être l’un ou l’autre indépendant). Il s’agit d’un cas caractéristique de “montée aux extrêmes”.

«The closer the New Hampshire primary gets, it seems, the more terrified the Republican presidential candidates want you to be. That way, you'll vote for the guy who scared you the worst, and not that guy who's going to preside over your death at the hands of jihadists. McCain, who wants to shift the conversation away from immigration and onto foreign policy and security issues, has Web ads like “Experience.” Rudy Giuliani – who never misses a chance to remind voters about 9/11 – is airing a TV commercial in New Hampshire called “Ready” that is even more alarming than McCain's “Experience.” Released just days after Bhutto's murder, it features footage of the late Pakistani leader, accompanied by a soundtrack of Middle Eastern music. “Hate without boundaries,” intones a narrator. “A people perverted ... A nuclear power in chaos.” Mike Huckabee – no foreign policy maven – answered a press conference question about immigration by invoking the specter of Pakistanis with “shoulder-fired missiles” sneaking across the U.S.-Mexico border. Fred Thompson got into the act at Saturday night's ABC News/Facebook/WMUR debate, proving that even campaigns that don't have the money to scare people with ads can still try other methods. “We could be attacked with a biological weapon and not even know it for a long period of time,” Thompson told viewers matter-of-factly. (Now enjoy your late local news.)

»Scaring people isn't a new campaign tactic, exactly, nor has it ever been limited to Republicans. Think of Lyndon Johnson's famous 1964 ad, “Daisy,” which showed a little girl happily counting petals on a daisy until she got nuked, presumably because Barry Goldwater started a war with the Soviets. President Bush certainly used fear in his 2004 reelection bid. Bush's “Wolves” commercial, by the same ad team now working for McCain, strongly implied that a President Kerry would allow your children to be eaten alive.

»But contrast the current Republican menu of ads with the commercials their Democratic counterparts are running – which focus more on healthcare costs or outsourcing (or, simply, corporate greed, in John Edwards' case) as the dominant threats to our way of life – and the terrifying tenor of the GOP messages stand out. And the themes running through the Republican campaign now signal what any GOP nominee is likely to use against a Democrat in the fall.

»Ask Republicans about the issue, of course, and they'll say the only danger in advertisements that focus on terrorist attacks is that they won't go far enough. “Whether we live or die is obviously the most important issue,” said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., an advisor to Giuliani's campaign and the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee. “The greater risk is to ignore reality.“»

Mis en ligne le 8 janvier 2008 à 09H25