It's 1996 All Over Again

Only this time it won't only be the Chinese Communists trying to elect Democrats, notes Jed Babbin:

A lot can happen in three weeks, and it will. The steady stream of "October surprises" from the media (more scandals, mostly media-contrived) will be poured out on the front pages and television screens. The parties will use every buck in the bank to buy radio and television ads, the Dems trying to nationalize and the Republicans trying to localize (each trying to do what the opponent should). And the highest-paid campaign brains will work day and night to electrify voters in what may turn out to be a low-voltage election. But other hands are at work.

It's a low-risk, high-stakes game for foreign powers and players. America's enemies want President Bush's power reduced and before an election they can stir the pot to do political damage without risking much of a response. Most presidents, and George W. Bush perhaps more than most, want to avoid major problems blowing up in voters' faces.

To damage Mr. Bush -- and perhaps install a Democratic Congress that would thwart his every move -- our adversaries need to create doubt in voters' minds and time their plays to be close enough to the election to prevent an effective response. To say that terrorists and adversary nations want to hobble the president with a Democrat Congress is not to say that the Dems are in league with bin Laden or Kim Jong-il. They're not. But those who would benefit most from Congressional actions such as hobbling the NSA terrorist surveillance program or reducing funds for the Iraq battle aren't America's friends. Who benefits most from blocking the appointment of conservative judges who reject the application of European law to American cases? It's not the ACLU: it's nations that sponsor terrorism and want it to be a matter for the Justice Department to handle, not the Pentagon.

Foreign powers and terrorist groups have, for longer than any of us can remember, tried to influence American elections. In 2006, we haven't had another Hurricane Katrina, so the bad guys need to score points in Iraq, the UN and wherever else opportunity can be created. Their record in the 2002 and 2004 elections was about as good as Mark Brunell's Washington Redskins. Despite rising violence in Iraq, videotaped messages from Osama bin Laden, French posturing and the usual Russian gambits, nothing seemed to move American voters to conclude the Democrats would do a better job of conducting foreign policy. Since the North Korean missile tests in July, there has been a steady stream of challenges to the president, but none were clearly aimed at the election until the NoKos' now-verified nuclear test. Now the usual suspects will be working overtime.

The Democrat Party and America's enemies---two toxic tastes that go great together.