Check out the new post by New Republic blogger Ryan Lizza. Turns out W is using scary images of dark-skinned men, obviously meant to be terrorists, in the new anti-Kerry commericals. The message: If you should be so foolish as to vote Democratic, then those awful non-white people will come and getcha.

We've seen this before, of course. These tactics always give us the Willies.

When Bush the elder ran for president in 1980, his commercials (am I the only one who recalls them?) showed the candidate giving a speech interrupted by a dark-skinned "Iranian student" snarling his hatred of the Great Satan. The student ranted for a few seconds until the former DCI put the upstart in his place, to loud audience applause. You will recall that Iran was the big bogeyman back then.

Even to my young and naive eyes, the "Iranian student" in this long-ago commerical looked as though he came straight from Central Casting. The whole incident seemed far too perfect -- and therefore perfectly unconvincing. It reeked of greasepaint and stagecraft.

Primitive fear-mongering. It's a Bush tradition!

So is hypocrisy. Bush sr. may have stood tall against a dusky "student" as a 1980 presidential candidate, but that did not stop him from later conducting clandestine negotiations, as a vice-presidential candidate, with the Iranian government. The goal then was to keep the American hostages in Tehran until Ronald Reagan took the oath of office.

This "October Surprise," formerly the stuff of rumor, has been confirmed by French intelligence head Alexandre de Marenches, Russian prime minister Sergei V. Stepashin, Israeli secret agent Arri Ben-Menashe, former Iranian president Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, former Israeli prime minister Yitshak Shamir, and a number of others. Indeed, George H.W. Bush's participation in an "October Surprise" in 1980 may be the one topic on which all of these very different men agree. After a certain point, one has to cease placing a question mark next to the issue.

Which means we should pay very close attention as Bush the younger employs a similar strategy.

The new commerical for W announces "John Kerry's Plan: Weaken Fight Against Terrorists." Right, right. That's his plan. Hey, it's the first bullet point, right there at the top of the page. Didn't you see it? I presume you got your copy of this document at the meeting...

For some reason, W's ad neglects to mention the subsequent steps of Kerry's scheme: "Burn any non-cooperative churches," "Sacrifice all first-born children to the dark god Moloch," and "Announce victory of Communism."