Wake Up Call?

Marvin at The Ivy Bush links to this piece of journalistic hackery by Terence Hunt. Like Marvin, I was struck by this bit:

Now, analysts say, the events in Spain might embolden terrorists to try the same tactics in the United States to create fear and chaos.

"That's an amazing impact of a terrorist event, to change the party in power," said Jerrold Post, a former CIA profiler who directs the political psychology program at George Washington University.

"The implications of this are fairly staggering," agreed political psychologist Stanley Renshon of City University of New York. "This is the first time that a terrorist act has influenced a democratic election. This is a gigantic, loud wakeup call. There's no one they'd like to have out of office more than George W. Bush."

What stone have these people been sleeping under? I'm sure the IRA, Hamas, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Hizbulluh, and the PLO will be startled to hear that terrorism has finally "influenced" an election. They'll wonder what they've been doing all these years.

Granted, a terrorist attack occurring with such ferocity in such close proximity to an election does tend to focus the mind. And it's tempting to ascribe, as Jerrold Post does, the outcome of the election on the terrorist event itself. But there are alternative theories as Mark Kleiman thoughtfully points out. Personally, if I were going to identify a root cause for the changing of Spain's ruling party, I'd look to the Popular Party's attempts to deceive the Spanish electorate.

But what is particularly galling about the experts quoted in Hunt's story is the assertion that "This is a gigantic, loud wakeup call." To whom? I don't find it all that surprising that one's enemies might try to meddle in the internal affairs of a country.

And beyond the question of "who" the wakeup call is for, exactly what is the receiver of the wake-up call supposed to do now that he has been awakened? Does Bush, fearing he will be voted out of power, suspend our elections and declare martial law? Does Kerry, recognizing the supposed power of terrorist activity to change the party in power call in his own terrorist attack? Does the electorate, trying to outguess what the terrorists supposedly want, "do the opposite" to keep the terrorists from winning?

The notion that this was a wake-up call is a sign that someone has been asleep too long.