They're playing the 'fear' card. Take it with a grain of salt.
Fear has promoted Bush and kept him in office; or rather Bush and the people around him have carefully stage-managed the real or perceived dangers to the American people - way of life - democracy - you name it. Howard did the same in Australia. So far Rudd has resisted, but it is only is a matter of time, it is too convenient a button to press to get the people 'on side'.
Of course, if you get enough people stirred up, you might even give your enemies ideas they would otherwise not have, so something like this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. We are ruled by people who think the great general voting public are idiots.
The only remedy is to learn to think for yourself, discuss issues at home, around dinner, with your kids, your friends, get yourself educated, or we'll all finish up in some Orwellian nightmare.
