`06 warning.....Rove never met a fear prop he didn`t like.

In thinking about the `06 mid-terms, I`m trying to tamp down my mini-euphoria before it gets the best of me. Reality cautions against certain assumptions, a blow-out Democratic Party win being one of them. With the possibility of impeachment proceedings blowing in the wind, you can bet Rove will upgrade Bush`s pit stops to full-fledged fear mode.

Rove`s willingness to degrade Jack Murtha`s military record and replace it with "cut and run" is but one example of how he`ll stop at nothing. I fully expect a steady stream of fear mongering, echoed by each of Bush`s cabinet members. By election time, Americans will be once again whipped up into a fear frenzy, worrying that we must fight "them" in Iraq so we don`t have to fight "them" in Omaha.

Enter September 11th. There will be no mention of the August 6, 2001....bin Laden determined to stike....PDB, just constant reruns of the little Republican megaphone hero standing on the pile of rubble. See this devastation? That`s what will happen to your town if Democrats win.

We must demand a stop to the politics of fear and substitute slogans with guidance that leads America out of these dark days. Government has a role in fighting terrorists, but that shouldn`t include stripping us of our freedoms or creating a constant state of anxiety. Truth is the best prop, far better than what we`ve had....half a decade of raw fear.