Here's why we HAVE to win it this time, everybody...

[regnaD kciN]

Sorry if this sounds too paranoid or :tinfoilhat:-like.

Every time advocates for one side or the other lose a hard-fought presidential election, they console themselves with the thought that "we'll get 'em next time," and regroup for four years hence. We did it in 2000, we did it in 2004.

But, if somehow McCain comes back and/or the Republicans steal it, are we going to get that chance in 2012?

I had an uncomfortable flash of intuition this evening -- call it a "waking dream" -- of what might happen if we don't win this time.

FACT: John McCain is, if anything, even more of a neocon than the group we have in the White House now.
FACT: John McCain is impulsive and known for his hot temper.
FACT: John McCain has already joked (sung, actually) about "bombing Iran."
FACT: The favorite in the upcoming Israeli election, Bibi Netanyahu, has also said Iran must be "dealt wtih."
FACT: Any attack on Iran is going to unleash Hezbollah to stage attacks on America.
FACT: One of the current administration has already warned us to "kiss our civil liberties goodbye" if there's another attack.
FACT: We now have "directive 51" calling for the imposition of martial law in times of national emergency.

What my intuition was telling me was that, should McCain somehow attain the presidency, the odds are good that either we'd attack Iran or -- more likely -- give the green light to Netanyahu, after his election, to do so on our behalf. This would be almost certain to invite reprisals by Hezbollah, not just against Americans abroad, but against the U.S. mainland itself. Hezbollah is, if anything, better organized than al-Qaeda, and would have a vested interest in showing themselves capable of striking at America even more strongly than their Sunni rivals. We might reasonably expect one or more attacks right here, of the type that might make 9/11 look like small change. I'm talking about biological weapons released over a major city or two (or ten), a "suitcase nuke," nerve gas in a major subway system, an attack on a nuclear power plant that could contaminate and essentially wipe out an entire large city, etc.

And, should that happen, what would notoriously short-fused McCain's reaction be? Especially when surrounded by the same old neo-con crowd that filled the White House during Rumsfeld's heydey, one that can see such at attack as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to cement conservative power so no election can undo it? I don't think it's too much of a stretch to imagine them urging him to strike a blow at "enemies without and within," imposing directive 51, suspending the Constitution, and starting to lock up "enemy combatants." And I don't think it's too much of a stretch to imagine McCain taking their advice.

I'm not saying that such a regime would come looking for everybody here on DU (although, conversely, I'm not saying that they wouldn't, either). But I could easily see many prominent liberal political and organizational leaders being "disappeared" to some new Gitmo such that, when the time finally came to reconstruct the political system, our side would essentially be leaderless, demoralized, and disorganized, with no one to challenge the Republican neo-con (and theo-con) hegemony.

I guess what I'm saying is that we don't need people warning us that "the polls are tightening!" as a way to get us to give our all for the next week. What the polls say makes no difference. But, if there's even one chance in a hundred that McCain could gain the power of the Presidency, that's one chance too many. For our sake, we have to do everything we can to win this time around.

Because, if not, we may never get a second chance.