Politicizing the calender

Bob Harris guest posting on This Modern World feels strongly that Bush is politicizing terror to win this November. He's been informed that September has been declared "National Preparedness Month." Not only does is occur right after the Republican Convention (listen for the plug during speeches), but mysteriously close to the election. When have other "National Preparedness Months" occurred in the past? They haven't. Oddly, it is the first one in the 36 months since September 11th.

The idea, obviously, is to throw a large amount of focus, possibly for weeks on end, on the only issue on which Bush outpolls Kerry. And of course this will come on the heels of the GOP convention. So where the Democrats' post-convention media got blitzed with terror warnings based on years-old intelligence, the Republicans' afterglow might well be favorably extended, implied message being:

"Why, with George Bush and enough shovels, we'll all be just fine."

Bob then points out a calendar he found showing planned events for the month:

On 9/11 itself, there's a "NASCAR race in Richmond" listed. This would be the "Chevy Rock 'N' Roll 400" at the Richmond International Raceway. Obviously, a NASCAR race has nothing -- nothing -- whatsoever to do homeland security. It is, however, a GOP-friendly event in Virginia, a battleground state where Bush's lead is within the margin of error.

Hmm. There are two other NASCAR races in September: one in New Hampshire, the other in Delaware. Both are solidly in the Kerry camp. And, gosh, nothing is scheduled. Apparently non-swing state voters just don't need to be quite so, ahem, "prepared."

Look, I'm a cynical guy. I haven't commented much on whether Bush politicizes terrorism to boost his campaign. I agree on this one with Kevin Drum that it is a mixture of both. Drum seems to hint it is a 50/50 balance. These are the kinds of things that make me not so sure.