Fear, hate and prejudice

If there was ever any doubt that the Republicans have built their base and come to power using fear, hate and prejudice(FHP), those doubts have been erased with the most recent turn of the Social Security battle. When is became obvious they were losing the Social Security issue on the facts they pulled out the tried and true FHP card again. Paul Krugman explains today:

The slime campaign has begun against AARP, which opposes Social Security privatization. There's no hard evidence that the people involved - some of them also responsible for the "Swift Boat" election smear - are taking orders from the White House. So you're free to believe that this is an independent venture. You're also free to believe in the tooth fairy.

Their first foray - an ad accusing the seniors' organization of being against the troops and for gay marriage - was notably inept. But they'll be back, and it's important to understand what they're up to.

"What's the Matter With Kansas"

But before the anti-privatization forces assume that winning the rational arguments is enough, they need to read Mr. Frank.

The message of Mr. Frank's book is that the right has been able to win elections, despite the fact that its economic policies hurt workers, by portraying itself as the defender of mainstream values against a malevolent cultural elite. The right "mobilizes voters with explosive social issues, summoning public outrage ... which it then marries to pro-business economic policies. Cultural anger is marshaled to achieve economic ends."
[.....]
So it doesn't matter that Social Security is a pro-family program that was created by and for America's greatest generation - and that it is especially crucial in poor but conservative states like Alabama and Arkansas, where it's the only thing keeping a majority of seniors above the poverty line. Right-wingers will still find ways to claim that anyone who opposes privatization supports terrorists and hates family values.

As Krugman correctly points out this first Rovian attack on the AARP failed but there will be more. On the other hand people like Rove eventually go too far. We saw that early in our history when Hamiltion's Federalists went too far with the Alien and Sedition Act and the violent reaction to the Whiskey Rebellion. We probably won't see Rove killed in a dual by a modern day Aaron Burr but the Rovian Republicans may have gone too far when they attacked the popular AARP. Remember, old people vote. The Republicans in the House and Senate remember. As Krugman tells us, the Rovians will be back so we must not let down our guard.

Update
Yuval Rubinstein over at The Left Coaster comments on the Krugman op-ed and has this good observation:

I question whether Republicans in general are actually willing to engage in this political hari-kari solely for the purpose of eliminating the "underbelly" of the New Deal, as Stephen Moore refers to it. On the other hand, I have no doubt the White House is more than willing to do this, given that Bush will be safely ensconced in his Crawford compound when the proverbial excrement hits the fan. Fun times, eh?