# President Bush wants to become a dictator? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 26, 2004, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-wants-to-become-a-dictator/247226 "2004-05-26T19:46:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-wants-to-become-a-dictator/247226/61 "2004-05-29T17:32:39Z")
Next I’m sure the newspapers will say that if Bush is elected, “murder, robbery, rape, adultery and incest will openly be taught and practiced.” Recent trend? No: Google that above quoted phrase with “Thomas Jefferson.” ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-wants-to-become-a-dictator/247226/62 "2004-05-29T20:11:52Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > Next I’m sure the newspapers will say that if Bush is elected, “murder, robbery, rape, adultery and incest will openly be taught and practiced.” Do you guys EVER get tired of playing that bullshit “liberal media conspiracy” card? ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-wants-to-become-a-dictator/247226/63 "2004-05-29T20:35:40Z")
_Did_ you Google for that phrase or did you just assume that any anti-Bush comment was a result of a bullshit liberal media conspiracy? I’m merely pointing out that hyperbolic end-of-the-world scenarios have been part of dirty politics for _centuries_ in American politics. My only point was to observe that threatening the voters that Bush (or Clinton, or Reagan) is going to become a dictator, eat babies, execute gays, start WWIII, and so on, is not a new trend in American politics, not new at all. If you bothered to look at the original quote you would find it stated in the elections of 1800 (!) against Thomas Jefferson. That’d make it a bullshit _conservative_ media conspiracy, wouldn’t you agree? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-wants-to-become-a-dictator/247226/64 "2004-05-29T20:44:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Just to clarify, the claim that I am talking about is not your one for the numbers of the London Afghanistan protest but the original claim here: > > Quote: > Originally Posted by Sam Stone > > The ‘goodwill’ after 9/11 lasted exactly three weeks, when the first bombs started dropping on Afghanistan. Then there were worldwide protests (HUGE ones - as big or bigger than the protests against the Iraq war). Well, to be fair I must say that I didn’t realize the Iraq protests were quite that large, if indeed 1.5 million people marched in Italy alone. That would clearly be larger than the protests against the war in Afghanistan. So I’ll retract that claim. Nonetheless, the original point remains, which is that the ‘goodwill’ that America enjoyed was not destroyed by the Iraq war, but largely evaporated once the U.S. went on the offensive. Just do a Google search for “Afghanistan Invasion Protests”, and you’ll see what I mean. Protests against the U.S. broke out around the world when the war in Afghanistan started. Large protests. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-wants-to-become-a-dictator/247226/65 "2004-05-29T20:44:54Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Do you guys EVER get tired of playing that bullshit “liberal media conspiracy” card? You’re kidding, right? Any True Believer worth his salt has those two words tattooed backwards on their forehead; first thing they read every morning while brushing their teeth. Besides, what else do they have left by way of justification and/or excuse? ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-wants-to-become-a-dictator/247226/66 "2004-05-29T22:41:43Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Let’s deal with the three cases you cite: > > FDR: He may well have run for as many terms as he could, had he lived longer. Sure, some of his programs were unconstitutional and they were thrown out. Sure, he considered packing the Supreme Court. But in the end, he didn’t try packing the Court and he may not have run for a fifth term had he survived the fourth. > > I stand by my original assessment. 8 of the 9 justices at FDR’s death were his appointees. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-wants-to-become-a-dictator/247226/67 "2004-05-30T00:23:05Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Do you guys EVER get tired of playing that bullshit “liberal media conspiracy” card? Gotta love this kneejerk. “Someone referred to newspapers in a discussion of politics! They must be The Enemy!” ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-wants-to-become-a-dictator/247226/68 "2004-05-30T00:29:22Z")
> [@furt](#): > > Gotta love this kneejerk. “Someone referred to newspapers in a discussion of politics! They must be The Enemy!” And that’s answer to **Blowero’s** point, _how_? ---
**Author:** ![iamme99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/57b2e6/32.png) [@iamme99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamme99)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-wants-to-become-a-dictator/247226/69 "2004-05-30T00:40:41Z")
Well, according to Aaron McGruder in the Boondocks comic strip: “A vote for George Bush is a vote for photos of butt-nekkid men on my television” 😃 [![](http://picayune.uclick.com/comics/bo/2004/bo040529.gif) ](http://picayune.uclick.com/comics/bo/2004/bo040529.gif) ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-wants-to-become-a-dictator/247226/70 "2004-05-31T11:28:04Z")
Aww man, Aaron hit it again, turning a Republican shibboleth against them! ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-wants-to-become-a-dictator/247226/71 "2004-06-01T02:02:25Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I can remember at least a couple of posts from Dopers claiming that Bush was going to cancel the elections. And **Stoid** can be counted on for a couple of hysterical “The world is coming to an end” threads every time the Republicans win a national election. \*\* Yeah, remember the threads I did in '80 and '72? Classics! > [@](#): > > \*\* > > I hated Clinton, but not to the degree that Dopers hate Bush. Well, you did get gypped on that score. We have such an embarassment of riches when it comes to things to hate him \* for, \* and you had to find a way to pack all that hate into The Blowjob, and that took alot of creativity and work. Compared to that, we’re on easy street. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-wants-to-become-a-dictator/247226.md?page=3)