# Dubya Wishes He Was A Dictator; It Would Be Easier **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 19, 2000, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-wishes-he-was-a-dictator-it-would-be-easier/46384 "2000-12-19T18:24:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RTA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-wishes-he-was-a-dictator-it-would-be-easier/46384/21 "2000-12-20T17:22:11Z")
When I heard Bush spout that soundbite, I involuntarily slumped my shoulders and shook my head. W must stand for “What an ass”. The story pretty much sank without a ripple, and I was surprised to see that. I guess those who prattle on about the media’s alleged liberal bias don’t have much to say any more, seeing as how the media didn’t pounce on him right then and there like a pack of starving wolves. They should have. Luckily for him, everyone is exhausted after the election and focused on the holidays. Any other year and we’d still be dealing with what I think is clearly one of the worst and most ill-timed gaffes in US History. “Just a joke” they say; well, I sure didn’t hear anybody laugh at his rapier wit. You could practically hear the crickets when he trotted out that winner. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-wishes-he-was-a-dictator-it-would-be-easier/46384/22 "2000-12-20T17:28:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Soup \* > **If a class act like Colin Powell beat Gore, I may not have been as upset.** IIRC, Powell has already publically stated that he will never run for the President of the United States. He didn’t give a reason why, but I suspect he’d be worried about being assassinated by some ultra-conservative nutball… ---
**Author:** ![Ptahlis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a8b319/32.png) [@Ptahlis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ptahlis)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-wishes-he-was-a-dictator-it-would-be-easier/46384/23 "2000-12-20T19:01:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > \*\* > IIRC, Powell has already publically stated that he will never run for the President of the United States. He didn’t give a reason why, but I suspect he’d be worried about being assassinated by some ultra-conservative nutball… > \*\* He has publically said that his wife did not want him running for elected office, and that as long as she felt that way he would not do so. This was back when his name was being floated in the media as a possible Dole running mate. Given the intense media scrutiny, I can’t say as I blame her for feeling that way. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-wishes-he-was-a-dictator-it-would-be-easier/46384/24 "2000-12-21T08:57:58Z")
> [@](#): > > I imagine that a dictatorship is a hell of a lot easier. After all, why waste time on trying to achieve consensus when you can have the secret police get rid of the problem??? Y’know, that’s exactly what Dubya said. Anyone who says otherwise is selling something. > [@](#): > > The story pretty much sank without a ripple, and I was surprised to see that. I guess those who prattle on about the media’s alleged liberal bias don’t have much to say any more, seeing as how the media didn’t pounce on him right then and there like a pack of starving wolves. They should have. Or maybe the media’s smart enough to recognize a non-issue when they see one. > [@](#): > > “Just a joke” they say; well, I sure didn’t hear anybody laugh at his rapier wit. You could practically hear the crickets when he trotted out that winner. You want our leader to be a stand-up comedian? Oh no, he’s not always funny! Horrors! ---
**Author:** ![SterlingNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@SterlingNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SterlingNorth)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-wishes-he-was-a-dictator-it-would-be-easier/46384/25 "2000-12-21T09:16:27Z")
Yeesh, guys! I think you are getting all riled up way to early. I, on the other hand, would have waited until he said this… > [@](#): > > And it was Republican Bush who opened his first-ever meeting with Senate Democratic Leader Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.) by saying bluntly, “ **I came here to ask for one thing: I hope you never lie to me.** ” > [The Washington Post – Dec. 20, 2000](http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28897-2000Dec19.html) Now, I’d say “What a ass!” “I’m a uniter, not a divider!” :rolleyes: Gee with a first day like that, I’d understand why dictatorial control would be so enticing! ---
**Author:** ![RTA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-wishes-he-was-a-dictator-it-would-be-easier/46384/26 "2000-12-21T18:25:46Z")
I assert that it IS an issue. (Reading it is one thing, having heard his delivery of it is something quite different.) I continue to maintain that the only reasons the press decided to drop it are that people are weary of the election news, are only thinking about Christmas, and are trying with gritted teeth to give him the benefit of the doubt, at least until he’s actually sworn in. For W to even conceive of tossing around the D-word in such a cavalier fashion so soon after such a rocky outcome to an unusual election, this demonstrates a shocking lack of judgement and zero sensitivity to the American people’s quite legitimate concerns that the fortunate circumstances of aggressive partisanship installed him to be the empty-headed puppet figurehead of the big-money right. And really now: if he thinks at all, **what was he thinking** when he said that? And no SPOOFE I don’t want the President to be a stand-up comic, you miss the point entirely. I want the President to be smart, wise, and competent; too bad I’m S.O.L… But so long as I’m thinking of stand-up comics, W _does_ actually remind me of one in particular: Andy Kaufman, doing his sheepish and awkward “foreign man” bit (“It vould be easier for me, if I vas deektator … tenkyouverymuch …”) No doubt there will be plenty of opportunities to crucify him over other shockingly foolish utterances, and I look forward to seeing every last one of those foolish utterances trudgingly spun by our resident W apologistas. Being a W apologista is something that will soon become a weary calling indeed, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-wishes-he-was-a-dictator-it-would-be-easier/46384/27 "2000-12-21T23:35:45Z")
I don’t think Shrub meant it to be nasty-it WAS funny. I could laugh about it. It’s just poor timing, that’s all. He said it at the wrong time…it would’ve been better if he said it later. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-wishes-he-was-a-dictator-it-would-be-easier/46384.md?page=1)