MB Civic

“ In the year 2000, during the Bush-Gore election campaign in the united states, the Republican party was accused of using foul means to influence voters. The Democrats alleged that, during a republican party political broadcast, the word ‘RATS’ appeared on the screen for exactly one-thirteenth of a second during a sequence in which other elements of the word ‘DEMOCRATS’ moved in and out of vision. They were saying, in effect,  that their opponents had used  a subliminal message to influence viewers. The Republicans defended themselves by maintaining that this was pure chance- even though the word ‘RATS’ was also in a larger typeface than ‘DEMOC’ and the adds had cost them a mere $2,576,000. This particular battle became forgotten amid the wider, and much more publicized, furore over the issue of the miscounted votes favoring Bush.”  passage taken from ‘The human mind’ by Robert Winston. (Bantam Books)

 Clearly most people would not have believed that Gore and his party were indeed ‘Rats’ back in 2000, except perhaps David Ike and his conspiracy theorists. But today in 2006 I don’t feel disinclined to call the Democrats- ‘Mice’. As I watched Kerry in 04′, for some unknown reason, every time he was on TV, the song ‘A little mouse with clogs on’ would start to play in my head. Where the hell are the lions, the Tigers, the Bears? Who are we to rely on at this time of sheer disillusionment to bring us hope and  excitement preceeding 2008/09 ?