President Bush Plans for a Third Term???

Makalakumu

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At first I thought this was an April Fools joke, but...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/01/gwot_cha/

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) and the office of the White House Counsel are preparing a draft document laying out the President's wartime authority to remain in office past 2008, The Register has learned.

The scheme is described as an emergency "continuity presidency," made necessary by the extraordinary circumstances and unique challenges of protecting the United States from the threat of international terrorism.
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"The world changed on 9/11," a confidential DoJ memo obtained by The Register explains, "and no Administration in US history is better suited to adapt productively to those changes than this one.

"The Attorney General supports the basic framework in the White House Counsel's draft proposal for a future Executive Order establishing a Continuity Presidency, with two provisos: 1. There must be at least the appearance of a time limit, which the AG believes might be satisfied by tying the duration of the Continuity Presidency to the duration of the GWOT [global war on terrorism]; and 2. The House and Senate Majority Leaders and the Chairpersons of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees must issue a written certification that they have approved the plan.

"AG does not believe that the plan will succeed unless those conditions can be met. Suggest you liase with [the White House office of] Legislative Affairs and get their sense of the liklihood that the key Members will work with us."

The memo is signed Christine McIntyre, Special Assistant to the United States Attorney General, and is addressed to Philip Van Zandt, Special Assistant to White House Counsel Harriet Miers.

A second memo leaked to The Register, this time from DoJ Assistant McIntyre to Jock Mahoney, Special Assistant to US Solicitor General Paul Clement, and to Philip Van Zandt at the White House, anticipates an immediate Supreme Court challenge to the scheme, and offers a few suggestions for defending the Administration's action.

"We will be attacked on the basis of Article II Section 1, and on Amendment XXII," McIntyre writes. "Thus it is absolutely crucial that the anticipated Executive Order for a Continuity Presidency make no mention whatsoever of a 'Third Term.' This will eliminate appeals to Amendment XXII, and leave us free to focus our attack on Article II Section 1 alone. Thus, the Executive Order has got to be framed as a necessary - and Congressionally authorized - extension of the President's Second Term, so that we can base our arguments on the Joint Resolution and Article II Section 2.

"Above all," McIntyre warns, "we must emphasize that the 2001 Joint Resolution, in which Congress empowered the President to 'use all necessary and appropriate force ... to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States,' and Article II Section 2 of the United States Constitution, give the President ample authority to issue an Executive Order for a Continuity Presidency for the duration of the GWOT, to exercise fully his mandate to protect the American people from harm.

"We must also press the national security angle hard and emphasize that the United States would be endangered severely by a change of government at this time. America cannot afford to give the terrorists such an opportunity."

Coup de tat or hoax? Hypothetically, I could envision a situation where the US is only one terrorist attack away from a dictatorship...:idunno:
 

OnlyAnEgg

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Going to the link at the top of your post, I see the words 'April Fool'.

A frightening joke, at best.
 
OP
Makalakumu

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I saw that too, however, like some stories in the Onion, they aren't always that far fetched...
 

OnlyAnEgg

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But, The Onion is pure satire. There's always an element of absurdity that can be found fairly quick.

What was wild about The Register's story is it was not at all absurd. Just scary.
 

Xue Sheng

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Yup, first 2 words in red "April Fool"

This is not the first president that had to leave office during wartime.

And I seriously doubt the democrats would go for this nor to be honest do the republicans want a president to sit to long and gain to much power.
 

Ping898

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Upnorth - Though I too see this as an April Fools, I see what you are saying. I think that with the way things are going we aren't that far from a line where we could fall into a pseudo-dictatorship. I think that there needs to be better checks and balances than we have right now, cause with the people in office currently those checks and balances aren't working. Extremely evident I think by all the things this president has done with no one really looking over his shoulder, like the wiretapping, the indefinite detentions, legal or not, needed or not, these are things that seem to just have been done, kind of a "ask for forgiveness not permission" kind of presidency IMHO.
 

Phil Elmore

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A Bush third term? This is leftist paranoia and nothing else. I don't like George W. Bush. I didn't like his father. I think they're both weak presidents and history will remember them accordingly. The absurd level of hysterical hatred for W is out of all proportion to either his actions or his failings, however. To hear left-wing pundits talk about him, you'd think he was drinking the blood of infants on the white house lawn.

Get over it, already. He'll be out of office the next time we have a presidential election and you can fixate on somebody else.
 

Cryozombie

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Phil Elmore said:
To hear left-wing pundits talk about him, you'd think he was drinking the blood of infants on the white house lawn.

He is... I saw him do it. 30 of them... all in one gulp.

But hey, it's not like he is eating interns.
 

bushidomartialarts

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Technopunk said:
He is... I saw him do it. 30 of them... all in one gulp.

But hey, it's not like he is eating interns.

and that was just for breakfast.

i've been amused for a while now at how incredibly hateful both sides are getting. the demos think W is a demon straight from hell. when clinton was in office, the republicans spent all kinds of energy trying to get him impeached, indicted, beheaded.

can't we all just get along?

funny article. sad thing is, i'd bet a couple gajillion dollars that somebody in that administration has run a feasibility study on doing just exactly that.
W may be a slackjawed nitwit, but his handlers are the guys who became billionaires while winning the cold war. smart, motivated and ruthless dudes.
 

Kane

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I really don't think I'll vote for Bush again if he was to run a third term, I'm not sure.

But to be honest what was ever wrong about running a third term? If the people wish it why not let the country's favorite president run again (any president)? What was so bad with FDR running 4 terms? IMO the tradition is outdated and we should repeal that amendment limiting a president to two terms. The two term limit is useless.
 

BlueDragon1981

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I don't entirely agree with repealing the term limit...but I do agree the people should be able to choose....so why can we vote on laws in a national election...

anyway....if that joke were true I would move...maybe to Australia.
 

Jeff Boler

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One of the biggest problems of the left, is their apparent inability to distinguish fact and fiction. Just the thought of giving the Onion ANY credibility, scares me.

I believe some proper medication is in order at this point.
 

elder999

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It's not so crazy...

seen here and elsewhere......

but the Democrats started it…..”Hillary for life,” anyone?:rolleyes:

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) introduced bipartisan legislation today to repeal the 22nd amendment, which states that “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.” Representatives Berman (D-CA), Pallone (D-NJ), Sabo (D-MN) and Sensenbrenner (R-WI) joined Hoyer in sponsoring the resolution.
Representative Hoyer released the following statement regarding the resolution:
“I introduced today a joint resolution to repeal outright the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution. The 22nd Amendment requires that no person who has served two terms, or who has served more than two years of another President’s term and their own elected term, be permitted to serve another term of office.
“The time has come to repeal the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, and not because of partisan politics. While I am not a supporter of the current President, I feel there are good public policy reasons for a repeal of this amendment. Under the Constitution as altered by the 22nd Amendment, this must be President George W. Bush’s last term even if the American people should want him to continue in office. This is an undemocratic result.

 

still learning

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Hello, Wouldn't this be nice? No Presidental elections to worry about?

Our life will be the same? .......Aloha
 

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