It is said, that the American people LOVED George Washington, and begged him to run for a third term. He refused, feeling that they had only just ESCAPED a monarchy, and setting a precedent for decades under the same person would be dangerously close to, if not synonymous for, monarchy.
This later became the 22nd Amendment. It forbids any presidents from more than 2 terms.So then how do we explain this?
and the good part...
images from here.
Are they REALLY that afraid to put an ending date on his presidency? LEGALLY, unless the Republicans push any Amendments through... the ONLY way for that to read is "2001-2009" That's the legal two terms.
And don't get me started on the flight suit. He does not DESERVE to wear one, he was a coward in his youth and he is a coward now. To be remembered by future generations as a "war president" supporting his troops bravely in his flightsuit is beyond dishonest... It's outright propoganda!
I'm thinking about 2009, a "long term war" in Iraq, and political dissenters being spied on and possibly discredited or blackmailed using the information, and Bush canceling elections because a change of policy would be a "victory for terrorists"... Is anyone else going to have nightmares about this?
We can have hope! Perhaps it's undated because a fortune teller predicts impeachment.
I don't think that Bush would have a chance if he went up against Bill Clinton. Hell, look at his poll numbers now, he might not have a chance in the Republican primary.
He wouldn't need to run again for a third term if he just turned the office into a dictatorship. How many futuristic movies have we seen where the Prez just puts himself up as President for life?
I don't think it can go down that road, and I don't think Clinton should be allowed to run again either. If that were the case, we all know Richard Nixon would crawl out of his grave and make a go at it, and that's just opening unnecessary wounds.
Either way it's not going to happen, because the next race is going to be just as heated and divided as the last two, and it might even include a minority or a female, or both and all three!
Or we could have President Shwarzenaeger, then we'll all be in trouble, because we'd have to spend so much recharging his batteries!
Pretty much a non-issue if you ask me. Nobody is trying to imply that Bush may be president past 2009, from anything I've seen. I would bet that no respectable publication has ever put the ending date to a presidency before that president has left office. Of course the main reason is that there are many things that could cause a president to leave before his term ends. Ever heard of William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, FDR, JFK, or Richard Nixon?
I think it's in bad taste to release such idolizing pieces while the man is still in office.
After he steps down, we can dedicate things to him(if we want to) but not WHILE he's in office.
Haha, yes, thats something I can agree to. President Bush's presidency seems like one big photo op sometimes, doesn't it?
Richard Nixon!
Ah yes! All Bush's administration learned their mafia skills from Tricky Dick and that's why they're gonna be run out of dc on a rail!
THEY BROKE THE LAWS OF OUR LAND NUMEROUS TIMES
IMPEACH IMPEACH IMPEACH IMPEACH
If he gets the chance to drop some nukes on China, or turn Iran into a glass parking lot, he will.
Okay you guys are getting all riled up over nothing... What if tomorrow bush had a heart attack and died? Then he wouldn't have ended his term in 09 but o6.
Can you name another president who has dedicated monuments to himself while in office?
Please provide links if you do.
At best, it's tacky.
Uh oh...Poseiden chick,
Maybe with your comment there, you just qualified for NSA spying on your emails and your phone lines. See...it's like this--YOU may not have intended any harm, but ONE word, just ONE word in that post could be enough that your name could be put into the "Terrorist" category. YOU could now be officially on their watch list.
YOU could be spied upon without a warrent--all from your one post.
Still think if you do nothin' wrong you got nothin' to worry about in warrantless spying.
That would have been a better post if it were meant to be a joke, but then you took a seriouse tone at the end. If you really have nightmares about a third term, you are paranoid to the point of needing help. Come on now, there is no need to be making such grandiose allegations.
heysupercoolyella,
I hear we made need your bush support to prevent a draft too. And don't worry. Ignore the talk about Iraq lasting for 20 years or more--just go for it! Enlist--show your true colors! (or are you yella like bush and cheney and rummy and.....
heh, i heard on fox news "are we going to war with iran? more on that next"
Someone save this nation
Well, maybe someone should explain why this particular amendment is waiting to be ratified?
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.J.RES.24.IH:
So the Governator can become the Presinator?
Yesterday, Senator Salazar read George Washington's Farewell Address on the Senate floor. A timely excerpt on the separation of powers:
It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositaries, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield.
When was that made, though? If it was made before the 2004 election, it's obvious why it's blank.
Good question. I believe it was recent. Maybe I'll look it up if I get a chance.
He would not get elected to a 3rd term because their are too many people angry at him. Plus this was before he ran in 2004.
~Christine Morgan~
Like others mentioned earlier, leaving the ending date blank opens the possibility of having a number bigger or smaller than 2009. But really, it is more of a stretch get nervous and think that they are planning on filling the space with a date beyond two terms. It is pretty much the common practice to leave the ending date open till it actually happens. I mean, what would happen if they filled in the 2009 and President Bush gets assassinated tomorrow? They'll have to fill in the original and cut again--more work!