# We're Pretty Much Fucked, Aren't We? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 12, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-pretty-much-fucked-arent-we/372446 "2006-09-12T18:37:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-pretty-much-fucked-arent-we/372446/141 "2006-09-15T17:21:58Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] Oh, what bitter slander of The Leader! You make it sound permanent! No such thing! The President, as supported by the authoritarian…_authoritative!_, excuse…legal and Constitutional scholar Mr. John Yoo…envisions a _temporary_ state where the Executive branch assumes more control and gravity than would be true in peacetime. Naturally, the very _instant_ the War on Terr is concluded, the President will yield such power. History abounds with examples of men who yielded dictatorial powers willingly when the conditions that made them necessary have been resolved. There’s Cincinattus, for instance. And then there’s…a whole bunch more! Too many to list here, but lots and lots! So don’t give me any of that “cite!” shite! If you really loved freedom, you wouldn’t need a cite! So long as we don’t hand such powers to a scoundrel or a fool, the Republic is pefectly safe! [/QUOTE] George Washington might be on that list. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-pretty-much-fucked-arent-we/372446/142 "2006-09-15T17:28:04Z")
[QUOTE=col\_10022] George Washington might be on that list. [/QUOTE] Washington never **had** the absolute power. Some wanted to give him close to that but he turned them down. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-pretty-much-fucked-arent-we/372446/143 "2006-09-15T19:09:48Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] Unlike out beloved Leader, who operates entirely based on the massive public support he enjoys. Remember the first election, which he won by a slim negative plurality? How he reflected realisticly on that, and promised to govern from the center. Niether do I. [/QUOTE] Note that I was responding to “mandate from their supporters”. I didn’t include the last three words in my actual response, but that’s what I meant. I wasn’t being critical, I was just saying that the Dems will feel empowered, as well they should, even if they win the House by only one seat. Can you say “subpoena”? (Bush: Can you say “executive priviledge”?) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-pretty-much-fucked-arent-we/372446/144 "2006-09-15T20:23:12Z")
Understood and accepted. And yes, I can say “Subpoena”! Boy, can I ever! Its the word the can opener says on the way to the Can O’ Worms! And of course I expect the Bushiviks to say “Executive Privilege” or some other unitary executive buzzword. I expect, in my dastardly way, to equate that to a Fifth Amendment pleading. _Subpoena! I just said a word called “subpoena”! Say it loud, and there’s music playing! Say its soft…and its almost like praying! Subpoena! I just said a word called “subpoena”…_ ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-pretty-much-fucked-arent-we/372446/145 "2006-09-15T20:37:13Z")
Which, of course, puts the light of stark contrast on the upcoming proceedings. The word that fills my heart with anticipatory glee is a leaden bell tolling doom for our enemies (assuming you realize that they _are_ your enemies as well as mine…) They will do anything…and I do mean _anything_… to prevent this from happening. You ain’t seen nothing yet, so dust off your posts about how unseemly and partisan this all is getting to be. A patch or two, they’ll be quite serviceable. Swift Boats? Swift _Armadas_!! These guys fight dirty when they’re _winning_, when they think they’re losing, it’ll be Katy Bar the Door and Nobody Gets Out Alive! For a radical and natural born shit-disturber like myself, its a prospect we view with sanguine aplomb. Those of you who like your politics as mild as custard and as prim as Ms. Grundy…might want to stock up on chamomile tea. The trajectory of the shit is about to intersect the locus of the fan, and a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, whacka-do, whacka-do. We might just save our country. And if we don’t, we’ve pretty much said it: “Go ahead, fuck us harder!” Oh, almost forgot! _ **Sic 'em!** _ ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-pretty-much-fucked-arent-we/372446/146 "2006-09-15T20:46:21Z")
:: bats eyelashes :: Aw, you recovering Texans are so _cute_ when you’re excited! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-pretty-much-fucked-arent-we/372446/147 "2006-09-16T00:47:11Z")
I’d rather be baiting a hook and draining a longneck, don’t like being riled up, look forward to the day I can stop. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-pretty-much-fucked-arent-we/372446/148 "2006-09-16T04:24:49Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] I’d rather be baiting a hook and draining a longneck, don’t like being riled up, look forward to the day I can stop. [/QUOTE] Something to look forward to, yes. But will that day eventually arrive? Or have we passed a tipping point? I waver between hope and despair. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-pretty-much-fucked-arent-we/372446/149 "2006-09-18T04:09:45Z")
[Ties to GOP Trumped Know-How Among Staff Sent to Rebuild Iraq](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/16/AR2006091600193.html) Shocking, I know. > [@washington post](#): > > The decision to send the loyal and the willing instead of the best and the brightest is now regarded by many people involved in the 3 1/2 -year effort to stabilize and rebuild Iraq as one of the Bush administration’s gravest errors. And in an error-ridden administration like this one, that’s saying a lot. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-pretty-much-fucked-arent-we/372446/150 "2006-09-18T05:34:11Z")
Funny thing is, that story has been out for months, first read about it when it was happening, it was noticed, stories were written and then…nothing. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-pretty-much-fucked-arent-we/372446/151 "2006-09-18T13:43:01Z")
But when the story first began crawling from under that particular rock, the approval ratings on the war and Our Glorious Leader weren’t in the toilet. With the rats fleeing, stuff like that is going to get a replay, complete with second-guessing the refs, methinks. :dubious: Just how many metaphors did I scramble in that kettle of fish, anyway? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-pretty-much-fucked-arent-we/372446.md?page=7)