Predicitons of the Republican wild card - the foiled terror plot at the Super Bowl.

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Reflecting on the Super Bowl and the opportunity for corporate America to make their millions, not just on the 30 seconds of fame and whatever surprises might be in store for those half-time past-times, but also the promotion and tie-ins. Fueled not only by recent threats from bin Laden, but also by the game’s location in the city with the largest population of Muslims in the country and its proximity to Canada, rumors abound about the possibility of terrorist activity at the game. So here are the tie-ins.

My bets aren’t on the Steelers or the Seahawks; my bets are on the plots of political operatives out to protect Bush rather than the country, not on al Queda plots coming to a stadium near you very soon brought to you courtesy of Bud Light.

Remember the color-coded terror alerts? How about the high alert for the New York City subways a few months ago? That was just one more of the numerous threats that turned out to be a non-threat or a mistake or a rumor, and no more (better safe than sorry, the message went). All of those warnings disappeared when instead of a public that was growing wary of the cry wolf syndrome attention turned to the suspicious correlation of terror alerts with the release of political news that didn’t bode well for Bush. Once the public got wise to that trick, the alerts magically disappeared. Rove is now in desperate need to get out of the spotlight and put on a white hat, not just for himself, though surely that’s a factor, but also for his boss whose low poll numbers don’t do anything for Rove’s own security.

So what’s on the political plate? Polls indicate that much of the public doesn’t like the secret spy tricks and even some Republicans are getting pushback for it. Standard Rovian reaction to bad news in the past has been to pull out the terror card. After all, that deck has been stacked from the beginning. We haven’t captured or killed most of the 52 marked cards, but Rove is still in the game and has proved himself to be a good poker player. With Republicans still in the wheeler/dealer seat, they can still shuffle the deck and play the wild card.

So here’s my own crystal ball on the next Rovian dog trick: They will march out lots of glossy pictures of the big guns, the Cadillac in Homeland security now surrounding the stadium and infiltrating the streets of Detroit to keep everyone safe (including Condi and Rummy). Show how the ‘new improved’ Homeland Security now is spending our tax money wisely and is protecting US when we most need it. (Tie-in #1) Then, when Sen. Spector drops the shoe and contemplates calling for a prosecutor to investigate the NSA spy scam, the gumshoes will come out of the closet. A press release (Tie-in #2) will enter the news, perhaps secretly released with no sourcing, or perhaps an announcement judiciously released by McClellan at a White House press conference, will give us homeland shock and awe about the twisted tale of a foiled terror plot to disrupt the Super Bowl.

Any details were not supposed to be released; after all it was top secret information. Of course, the feds will name a special prosecutor to investigate the perpetrator/traitor who dared to help the enemy by running some details. Then they’ll admit, surprise, surprise, that after all, the NSA program of course really has been doing this behind the scenes all along to protect the public. And, dear public, if it hadn’t been for the spying, they never would have been able to catch the bad guys and prevent the mass murder of thousands while they enjoyed that all American game of tackle your enemy (“Hit em again, hit em again; harder, harder.”)

You can fill in the rest of the story – it doesn’t much matter what the details will be as it unfolds. It’s the timing that will be interesting, if anyone cares to notice. We already know that they will refuse to release any details because of national security; they may even find a couple of token Muslims to arrest to round out the photo op (caught on camera as they try to cross the border from Canada).

What’s wrong, among other things, is that people with any imagination can now write the script. We can pre-empt the story but the question is can we pre-empt the news so that the real story of the parallel universe, like the parallel pentagon, can find the light of day. Can the American psyche wake up from the nightmare on Main Street or would we rather live in Oz?

Authors Bio:
Lynne Glasner is a freelance writer/editor based in New York City. She has edited numerous books, fiction and nonfiction, many on political subjects. Her essays have appeared in Commondreams, MediaChannel.org, and Huffington Post as well as OpEd News.