The "October Surprise" is: There is none.

[Pale Blue Dot]

I have felt right from the beginning that Rove's assertion that there would be an "October Surprise" was a classic Rovian ploy. I believe that this statement was meant to "freeze" members of both parties away from confrontation and into support of the Torture bill. Consider:

1. What's the point of announcing that there will be an "October Surprise"? The whole point of a surprise is to be a... well, surprise, and in addition, in theory, the party planning the surprise needs to make it look as non-political as possible. Yet Rove announced that there would be an "October Surprise" in a way that was sure to fall into the hands of the media and the Democrats;

2. After Rove's "announcement", the "maverick" Republicans caved and the Democrats suddenly announced that they would run on the economy as their main issue.

So what was the point? Well, what did our imaginations have the surprise being? One possibility was an attack on Iran, which I dismiss. I don't think an Iran assault would give the Republicans any particular advantage, and in fact, may have served to motivate the opposition (us).

No, I believe that we were meant to believe that the "October Surprise" would be the capture of Osama Bin Laden.

Bin Laden is not going to be captured in October. Every reputable source tells us that the US has no idea where he is and no intelligence on the ground to help in the search.

But, what if lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, thought that he might be captured? What if they thought that the Bush administration would point to intelligence gained through torture to do so? Clearly, given how sheep-like the general population is, there would be a surge in support for torture methods in that case, if only long enough to get pro-torture politicians re-elected.

The announcement of the "October Surprise" was meant to scare Republicans and Democrats into supporting the Torture Bill.

We got played again. And Rove won. Again.

[savemefromdumbya]

1. I don't care about Rove

I'm sick and tired of him

[AIJ Alom]

2. Here's one for you. Osama did just really pass away and in October, US or

Pakistani troops will find him and claim that he died on carbon monoxide poisoning.

But Rove will not win, nor will we capitulate. Our job is to fight for what we believe in. Vote and get those that believe in our genuine nation to do the same.

[rurallib]

3. I think the "October surprise" was gas prices

And Bush has fucked things up so bad that the oil companies have put a brake on how much they are willing to "lose" for dear leader.
And legalized torture, too.

[Imagevision]

6. October surprise is more bombs are going off in Iraq then their reporting

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

4. If they actually had "Osama on Ice", they'd have used it in 04. That race

was close enough there's no way they would have held a card like that back.

[Horse with no Name]

11. They key phrase is "the race was close enough"

Had to be close enough to alter the vote.
Osama will be trotted out when the race ISN'T close enough.

[Imagevision]

5. Sure there will be, The WH. will release the Latest & Greatest from OBL

three days before the election, although Bushco will have to put a dampner on Iraq war reporting because quoting a recent general, IED'S have risen 50% above a year ago, even Woodward claims as many as 100 car bombs are going off daily but George is reporting 3-4 daily.

[gully]

7. We just witnessed it, today.

The votes on torture/wiretapping have divided us sufficiently.

[gordianot]

8. October surprise has become a cliche.

The question is lets not allow November to be a surprise for Democrats.

[valerief]

9. They'll close the internet. We've lost our right to legal representation.

It's now time to remove the tools of assembly. Next it will be sweatshops like in Asia, so the jobs can "come home."

It might soon be a good time to get high and stay high.

[hootinholler]

10. I thought it was going to be declaring martial law.

Thanks for the good news!

-Hoot