Joel Chandler Harris’s Brer Rabbit escaped from Brer Fox by repeatedly pleading “Please, Brer Fox, don’t fling me in that briar patch.” When the fox did so, Brer Rabbit made his escape.

I remember elementary school, when the girls would chase the boys threatening to kiss them and give us the cooties. We pretended to be afraid, but we always found a phantom rock to trip over so we would get caught…and kissed.

These reverse psychology games are out in full force as the the Republican right is begging us to try to censure George W. Bush, all in an effort to psych us out and let him keep his new dictatorial powers. Just take a look at David D. Kirkpatrick’s piece in the New York Times.

Republicans, worried that their conservative base lacks motivation to turn out for the fall elections, have found a new rallying cry in the dreams of liberals about censuring or impeaching President Bush.

…”Impeachment, coming your way if there are changes in who controls the House eight months from now,” Paul Weyrich, a veteran conservative organizer, declared last month in an e-mail newsletter.

The threat of impeachment, Mr. Weyrich suggested, was one of the only factors that could inspire the Republican Party’s demoralized base to go to the polls. With “impeachment on the horizon,” he wrote, “maybe, just maybe, conservatives would not stay at home after all.”

…”This is such a gift,” the conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh told listeners on his syndicated radio program on Monday, saying the Democrats were fulfilling his predictions.

…Conservative Web sites and talk radio programs have lavished attention on the impeachment resolutions in California and Vermont for weeks, and for three days the Republican Party has sent radio hosts news bulletins suggesting Mr. Feingold’s unpopular censure proposal actually revealed the true intent of his party.

It might be true that an effort to censure Bush will enable some GOP operatives to rally demoralized supporters. But the more impeachment and censure are discussed on the radio, television, and papers, the more people become aware that it is an idea that is being seriously considered by a lot of people. And that can only mean something is seriously wrong with the President and his performance. For too long we couldn’t get anyone to mention the word ‘impeachment’. Now, we can’t get people to shut up about it. This is progress.

There is no defense against the charges Feingold has levelled against the President. So, the Republicans have decided to pretend that they welcome an attempt to censure Bush. ‘Please, please, throw us in the briar patch’ they say, trying to convince us that only by pursuing the truth and justice will we allow them to escape unscathed in November. This attempt at reverse reverse psychology should be transparent to everyone. Unfortunately, they are psyching out a good number of people on the left.