Follow the Light, MoDo

Maureen Dowd in today's NYT:

Here's how bad off the Democrats are: They're cowering behind closed doors, whispering that if it should ever turn out that Republicans are behind this, it would be so exquisitely Machiavellian, so beyond what Democrats are capable of, they should just fold and concede the election now - before the Republicans have to go to the trouble of stealing it again.

[snip]

In this vast left-wing conspiracy theory, Mr. Rove takes real evidence on W.'s shirking and transfers it to documents doomed to be exposed as phony (thereby undermining the real goods), then funnels it through third parties to Dan Rather, Bush 41's nemesis on Iran-contra. A perfect bank shot.

It's an idea that's been floating around the blogosphere for a while now, but MoDo gives it a national stage. And although presented in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek manner, there's no doubt that she considers the possibility to be very real.

The upshot?

The administration has been so dazzling in misleading the public with audacious, mendacious malarkey that the Democrats fear the Bushies are capable of any level of deceit.

The much deserved paranoia we bloggers have been feeling for so long is finally getting the national airing it deserves. However, I'd say that paranoia is the wrong word. What's the correct word when your worst fears are not baseless?