This is the kind of cynical advice political professionals dish out. Dick Morris’ latest includes this gem:
But, as Rove and Co. realize, almost every election features an endgame Democratic uptick as downscale voters, who normally pay no attention to politics, begin to focus on the election. Like non-baseball fans who only pay attention to the national pastime during the World Series, these downscale voters only enter the process in the end. Since downscale voters tend to vote Democrat, this usually gives the party an edge as the election approaches. It was this last-minute move that erased a Bush surge in 1992 and closed the Bush lead over Gore in 2000.
To guard against this Democratic close, Bush needs to distract the country from Iraq, and North Korea offers the best way to do so. Americans are justifiably scared by the prospect of a nuclear North Korea and Bush’s efforts to assemble a global coalition to press Pyongyang have shown that Rice has learned how to play the game and win. But the president needs to bring the issue to public attention and use it to save himself from two years of subpoenas and hearings by making the next two weeks about Korea.
This should motivate Democrats and independent voters on how they vote. He’s essentially saying Bush needs to “distract” voters so that the GOP can retain control to prevent Congressional oversight. (FYI, Morris has a track record: he is usually wrong.)
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.