HILLARY WAS CORRECT

The NY Post reported that Hillary Clinton said:

"It's a horrible prospect to ask yourself, 'What if? What if?' But if certain things happen between now and the election, particularly with respect to terrorism, that will automatically give the Republicans an advantage again, no matter how badly they have mishandled it, no matter how much more dangerous they have made the world," Clinton told supporters in Concord.

Several people in the liberal blogosphere wondered about the wisdom of saying making this remark. Benjy Sarlin at Election Central wondered if she was correct, Matt Yglesias thought it "was a disaster," Josh Marshall agreed with Yglesias and Ezra Klein thought it was a blunder. On the other hand, Kevin Drum seemed to get it.

Via D-Day, I learned a little more about the political psychology of fear in an article by John B. Judis and it turns out Hilary was probably correct. There is little doubt that another attack would remind many of their own mortality and that would probably lead them to vote GOP. Here's the relevant excerpt from the article, which is worth reading in its entirety:

Then, in late September 2004, the psychologists, along with two colleagues from Rutgers, tested whether mortality exercises influenced whom voters would support in the upcoming presidential election. They conducted the study among 131 Rutgers undergraduates who said they were registered and planned to vote in November. The control group that completed a personality survey, but did not do the mortality exercises, predictably favored Kerry by four to one. But the students who did the mortality exercises favored Bush by more than two to one. This strongly suggested that Bush's popularity was sustained by mortality reminders.

I don't know if in fact Hillary would be the best Democratic candidate to deal with this but it is certainly true that we need to bring this issue to conscious awareness so the political effects are mitigated.