Posted by Naftali Bendavid at 10:24 a.m. CDT
For months, the message of Republicans, who face a strong Democratic challenge in the November elections, was that Democrats have no shot at retaking Congress. GOP leaders insisted that Republican candidates, organization, message and money would carry the day.
Most still say that publicly, but with polls and pundits increasingly suggesting Democrats could in fact seize the majority, at least in the House, Republicans have taken to warning their supporters about the consequences if that happens. It’s an approach that recognizes the reality of a possible Democratic takeover, and tries to turn that to the GOP’s advantage by painting a picture of how scary that could be.There is already a quiet “Speaker Nancy Pelosi” campaign, warning that if the Democrats control the House, the liberal San Francisco Democrat would become speaker and will set the agenda.
There is talk of Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), who would be the presumptive chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and has spoken of impeaching President Bush. And there are warnings that a Democratic House would spend two years investigating and subpoenaing the Bush administration, much as the Republicans did to President Bill Clinton.
Now comes a somewhat creative device for hammering home those points—a fake newspaper, “America Weakly,” that purports to be the issue of Sept. 7, 2007, after a Democratic takeover of Congress. One headline reads, “Dems in, Taxes Up, Patriot Act Out.”
In the Republican nightmare portrayed by the paper, impeachment proceedings are beginning, the Supreme Court is deadlocked at 4-4 because Congress is blocking a Bush’s nominee and Hollywood figures are running rampant in Washington.
Okay, it’s not up to the level of such fake news icons as The Onion or The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, but it’s clever in its way. Check it out:
