How likely would it be for this scenario to happen?
Right before the election this Nov., the Bush people think they may not win.
They stage a terrorist problem, call on executive orders(totally legal) and suspend all elections and decalre martial law?
Even if the elections had to be delayed (though I can’t imagine a likely scenario to cause that), they would still happen.
If they did try it (unwarrantedly), the backlash from both sides would be so great that whenever martial law was rescinded, they’d be out of office in months, if not sooner.
Considering how bad their PR is now, it’d be absolute suicide to try and pull a stunt like this. There’s no way they could even do it-the Supreme Court and Congress wouldn’t allow it, and neither would the American people.
Er. No. Even as much as I hate Bush, Ashcroft, and their ilk, I would never believe them capable of something like what is stated in the OP, which has to be one of the most outlandishly ignorant ideas I have ever heard.
But why delay the elections? The idea would be to scare everybody into re-electing them. And American’s don’t stay scared (or interested in anything) very long. So they’d want to stage their event within a week or so of the elections, and count on the bounce to carry them back into the White House.
On a more calm note, I would not be surprised to find they’ve given OPEC the green light to run oil prices up to $40-50 a barrel. Then about a month before the election, George will get on TV, “order” OPEC to drop prices, and it’ll happen, almost instantly.
Gasoline will be 40 cents cheaper than it was, almost overnight, and a grateful public will duly elect George for his “forceful” management of the situation. Never mind that prices would still be 40 cents higher then they were in early 2004, and Big Oil & the exporting countries are still making a mint at our expense.
And there are some Dopers who know how to report posts to the Moderator instead of posting [not so)indirect insulting responses outside of the BBQ Pit.
I haven’t forgotten about you, rjung. You know better than to post insults outside of the Pit. Do not do this again.
The POTUS has zero control over OPEC. Imagine if LSLGuys theory were workable. The POTUS and/or his ilk would be able to control the oil prices in such a way that they would be getting kick backs from the oil producers left and right. I always thought that these guys secretely hated the US and more so the current POTUS. The whole middle-east thing and all. They only like us a little because we buy their oil. They certainly wouldn’t go into kahoots with GW in order to get him re-elected.