# Would you care if Bush died? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 16, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989 "2006-09-16T20:20:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989/21 "2006-09-17T00:59:56Z")
The only thing better about having Cheney as president is that he’s as charismatic as a lump of turds. He wouldn’t be able to blow smoke up anyone’s ass like Bush does with his “Aw, I’m just a regular fella just like you” song-and-dance routine. ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989/22 "2006-09-17T01:10:14Z")
I very rarely care when \*anyone \*I don’t know dies. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989/23 "2006-09-17T01:24:41Z")
I don’t like Bush or his policies, and I think he’s the worst President in my lifetime, but I don’t think that’s necessarily worthy of death. In my fantasy world, he’d just wake up tomorrow and talk Cheney into resigning with him. (Who would that leave as President? I’ll have to go look that up to see if anyone else in my fantasy world will resign as well.) And he definitely looks like a chimp. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989/24 "2006-09-17T01:44:51Z")
Would I mourn him? Nope. Would I pissed off if he were assassinated? Hell yeah. He may be a gooberhead of a president but he’s _ **my** _ gooberhead president. And I’d be scared to death with Cheney in the Oval Office. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989/25 "2006-09-17T01:45:19Z")
Posting this deliberately without reading any responses, or for that matter past the subject line in the OP: Yes. He’s a horrible president, in my view, but nonetheless he is the duly elected president of my home country, to which I freely and publicly give my allegiance. His death in office would be traumatic for the nation, and I do not wish trauma upon my nation. Furthermore, on a more cynical level, his death anytime soon might well lead to a quasi-canonization not unlike that given Jack Kennedy, which would help extend his legacy–something I do NOT want to happen. If President Bush died today, it would help the candidacy of whichever neocon chose to run for office in his wake, delaying the moderate wing of the Republicans from taking back the party and leaving us with even more crap from the religious right. So yes, I would mourn Bush for both patriotic and pragmatic reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989/26 "2006-09-17T01:46:01Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] I want Bush to live forty years after leaving office so that like Hoover, Johnson, and Nixon, he has plenty of time to see how history will remember him. [/QUOTE] I agree. If he kicks the bucket now, it’s pretty much guaranteed he’ll go to his grave thinking he did the right thing with Iraq. I would like at least the chance, slim that it is, that someday his mind will weigh heavy with the thoughts of the tens of thousands that died in his unnecessary war. I know, I know, but I can dream at least. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989/27 "2006-09-17T01:47:21Z")
Wait a second–we’re excepting him being attacked by genetically engineered, etc. winged howler monkeys who then put their master in office as God-King, right? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989/28 "2006-09-17T01:50:02Z")
[QUOTE=Kat] I don’t like Bush or his policies, and I think he’s the worst President in my lifetime, but I don’t think that’s necessarily worthy of death. In my fantasy world, he’d just wake up tomorrow and talk Cheney into resigning with him. **(Who would that leave as President?** I’ll have to go look that up to see if anyone else in my fantasy world will resign as well.) And he definitely looks like a chimp. [/QUOTE] Dennis Hastert. Then the president of the Senate whose name I am blanking except that it isn’t Frist or Clinton or McCain. Then Rice. (And at that point I’d have to go ahead and release the howler monkeys–quite resentfully, as it would be a non-evil use of my resources.) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989/29 "2006-09-17T01:51:35Z")
I want him to live long enough for one of Jenna or Barbara’s kids to ask, “Grandpa, are those awful things about you in the history book true?” ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989/30 "2006-09-17T02:04:44Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] Then the president of the Senate whose name I am blanking except that it isn’t Frist or Clinton or McCain. [/QUOTE] The President of the Senate is Cheney. The President _pro tem_ of the Senate is Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who fits where you state. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989/31 "2006-09-17T02:27:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Then the president of the Senate whose name I am blanking except that it isn’t Frist or Clinton or McCain. Ted Stevens. And you’re right; he’s no Frist or Clinton or McCain. ---
**Author:** ![mrrealtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@mrrealtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrrealtime)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989/32 "2006-09-17T02:30:45Z")
It would be a tragedy if the president was killed by accident somehow. It would be horrible if he was assasinated, akin to the attack on the twin towers, it would be a blow not only to America, but to every civilized person on earth. It would be great if he was replaced by a more qualified and intelligent individual. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989/33 "2006-09-17T02:35:21Z")
[QUOTE=mrrealtime] It would be horrible if he was assasinated, akin to the attack on the twin towers, it would be a blow not only to America, but to every civilized person on earth. [/QUOTE] It would? I wouldn’t be happy about it, but unless you’re talking about the inevitable “let’s kill someone” response, I don’t think it’d be a blow to me. It depends on the way he’s killed, really. If he is assassinated, i’d probably not be all that happy, just on the basis that assassinations aren’t good. If he died through some amusing accident, that could be funny. Falling into a vat of beer, that kind of thing. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989/34 "2006-09-17T02:39:17Z")
[QUOTE=Frank] The President of the Senate is Cheney. The President _pro tem_ of the Senate is Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who fits where you state. [/QUOTE] You know, if it gets to him, we’re all fucked. The last thing we need is Senator “The Internet is Not A Truck, It’s a Series of Tubes” Ted “Bridge to Nowhere” Stevens with even more power. Actually, I like doing that with politicians names. We should do it more often with all the stupid things they say. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989/35 "2006-09-17T02:40:06Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] I don’t want him to die. In the short term, I don’t want Cheney in office. In the long term, I want Bush to live forty years after leaving office so that like Hoover, Johnson, and Nixon, he has plenty of time to see how history will remember him. [/QUOTE] Did it ever occur to you that if the mess in Iraq does eventually stabilize (IMO, if the US finds the resolve to stay the course they started for the next 10 or 15 years instead of running away), and that that in turn helps stabilize the ME (as it would), that 40 or 50 years from now Bush will be seen as a very good president, maybe even a great one? I don’t particularly care about Bush one way or another, and personally I’d grade how he’s handled the war at somewhere between “poor” and “fair”, but the thought of how the appeasement assholes, partisan cowards and lunatic lefties would react to that course of events fills me with joy and keeps me warm at night. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989/36 "2006-09-17T02:47:22Z")
[QUOTE=Weirddave] Did it ever occur to you that if the mess in Iraq does eventually stabilize (IMO, if the US finds the resolve to stay the course they started for the next 10 or 15 years instead of running away), and that that in turn helps stabilize the ME (as it would), that 40 or 50 years from now Bush will be seen as a very good president, maybe even a great one? I don’t particularly care about Bush one way or another, and personally I’d grade how he’s handled the war at somewhere between “poor” and “fair”, but the thought of how the appeasement assholes, partisan cowards and lunatic lefties would react to that course of events fills me with joy and keeps me warm at night. [/QUOTE] Well hell, if we’re in Iraq for another 15 years, we might just as well make them a state. And, no, that wouldn’t make Bush a great president, though it might make a future president great. Y’know, one who fixed the problem Bush created. Jesus Christ, **Weirddave** , have you no fucking sense at all? ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989/37 "2006-09-17T02:52:28Z")
[QUOTE=Weirddave] Did it ever occur to you that if the mess in Iraq does eventually stabilize (IMO, if the US finds the resolve to stay the course they started for the next 10 or 15 years instead of running away), and that that in turn helps stabilize the ME (as it would), that 40 or 50 years from now Bush will be seen as a very good president, maybe even a great one? I don’t particularly care about Bush one way or another, and personally I’d grade how he’s handled the war at somewhere between “poor” and “fair”, but the thought of how the appeasement assholes, partisan cowards and lunatic lefties would react to that course of events fills me with joy and keeps me warm at night. [/QUOTE] Yes, there’s nothing I like better than dwelling in the thought of people I disagree with being wrong; sometimes I touch myself while I think about it. :rolleyes: Oh, and despite your hypothetical going from stable Iraq = stable ME, an incredibly naive remark, and forgetting that Bush has done things in his presidency other than Iraq that can be disagreed with, and assuming that the course taken with Iraq is the best, perfect, cannot-be-beaten plan, and assuming that stabilisation must be a good thing, I don’t think you’re an idiot. A partisan dick, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989/38 "2006-09-17T02:55:56Z")
[QUOTE=Revenant Threshold] If he died through some amusing accident, that could be funny. Falling into a vat of beer, that kind of thing. [/QUOTE] Perhaps [drowned in a butt of malmsey](http://britannia.com/bios/lords/geoclarence.html)? “Where art thou, keeper? Give me a cup of wine.” “You shall have wine enough, my lord, anon.” _Richard III_ Act I, Scene 4. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989/39 "2006-09-17T03:02:45Z")
[QUOTE=Weirddave] Did it ever occur to you that if the mess in Iraq does eventually stabilize …and that that in turn helps stabilize the ME (as it would), that 40 or 50 years from now Bush will be seen as a very good president [/quote] Did it ever occur to _you_ that your scenario is not derived from reality? Of course not, it’s too truthy. Vietnam and the rest of the mess in Southeast Asia did eventually stabilize. Johnson is not, however, seen as “a very good President” in that arena, now, is he? :rolleyes: No, friend, what it took for that situation to stabilize was for us to _get out of it._ Those who cannot remember the past, ya know. ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989/40 "2006-09-17T03:26:23Z")
I’d much rather he live a long, dwindling life so that he can go through all the wonderful changes wrought by dementia and alzheimer’s. For irony’s sake. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-care-if-bush-died/372989.md?page=3)