Are There Any Safeguards Against An Insane President?

[BGrier]

In other words, can Bush start armageddon with just a phone call?

I'm getting worried.

[unblock]

1. if he's not mentally competent, he can be replaced

via the 25th amendment.

unfortunately, that would make cheney president....

[freetobegay]

7. Then after him Hasert, then Frist then...

Oh the madness!

[MikeG]

12. What if both POTUS and VP are loony?

[booley]

23. you are assuming

the people around him and that support him aren't just as nuts.

[Mari333]

2. He killed 17.000 Iraqi people and 700 soldiers

that means he can kill the rest of us.
Hes insane
email your congress and senators. NOW..I just did
throw the bastard out

http://capwiz.com/rollcall/home/

[Malva Zebrina]

10. He is , indeed, insane--of that I am convinced

and everything around him is corrupt and equally as insane.

Karen Huges, Rove, Any CArd, Rumsfeld and Pickles.


We do not even need to "think about it".

This is the most insane and corrupt adminstration and has been so from the get go when they did not allow all the votes to be counted but instead ruled, as a one time ruling only, that the state of Florida's Supreme Court ruling was to be stopped and the Supreme Court of the United States, was the one who would throw that ruling down the memory hole and rule in favor of a stupid idiot of a marginally sane man who had never done a thing in his life for his country.

I, honestly, do not know where to go from here.

[BOSSHOG]

3. We have a lot to overcome since his base is insane as well

and believe he (and they) are doing the lord's work.

[keithyboy]

19. This is the real point!!

Look what happened in Germany under Hitler.

[Fridays Child]

4. Impeachment. Oh, wait a minute...

...that's reserved for the exclusive use of insane congresses against good presidents. Silly me.

[Zorra]

5. Democrats? n/t

[NNN0LHI]

6. Here. This should set you mind at ease

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/nuclear-football.htm

The Nuclear Football

It follows the President where ever he goes and is never more that a few steps from his side. It is carried by a military officer who must undergo the nation's most rigorous security background check - the "Yankee White". It contains a secure SATCOM radio and handset, the nuclear launch codes known as the "Gold Codes" and the President's Decision Book - the nuclear playbook that the President would rely on if he would ever have to decide to use nuclear weapons. Its real name is unknown but it is popularly known as "the football".

The concept of the football came about in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis. President Kennedy was concerned that some Soviet commander in Cuba might launch their missiles without authorization from Moscow. After the crisis, Kennedy ordered a review of the U.S. Nuclear Command and Control system. The result was the highly classified National Secuirty Action Memorandum that created the football.

The White House Communications Agency which oversees the military unit in charge of the Football, was created with personnel from sections of the Defense Communcations Agency, composed of units fo the Defense Communications Operations Unit (responsible for communications and emergency power engineering) and the Defense Communications Support Unit. To work in these units, a candidate must pas a special seucirty investigation, called "Yankee White." The criteria include U.S. citizenship, unqeustionable loyalty , and an absloute absense of any foreign influence over the individual, his family, or "persons to whom the individual is closely linked." The aide who carries the Football come from the four military branches and are ranked Lt.Colonel, naval Comander, or Marine Major. They must be knowledgeable about all aspects fo the overall SIOP, as well as the various options available to the President for implimenting the war plan.

more

The Nuclear Football, on display at the Smithsonian Institute. The Football is a specially modified Zero-Haliburton suitcase with a leather satchel with zippers and pouches for documents and a secure radio

[BGrier]

9. Martin Sheen's Character In "The Dead Zone"

I think the parallels between that character and Bush grow stronger everyday.

So we have to trust the persion in charge of the football? Small comfort.

[indie_voter]

8. We have an insane administration

The democrats really failed us by allowing these loons to set the agenda with no debate.

I won't even begin my rant against the media.

[DemoTex]

11. Insane President, insane VP, insane SECDEF, insane ATTYGEN.

Powell was semi-sane, but they drove him nuts too. Folks, we are in deep shit. Deep, deep shit.

[skooooo]

13. So what's new?

I mean where did this latest expression of angst come from? DId you all watch 60 minutes or something?

[Bozita]

14. Look at the House Republicons. They're every bit as nuts

very deep, deep shit

[wasichu]

15. The Constitution.

The seperation of Powers was designed to place checks and balances on each other.
Unfortunately, some Senator placed their career ahead of their DUTY by trusting that moron Bush.
It was their Job to NOT TRUST the Executive Branch regardless of who it is and they should be impeached and imprisoned along with Bush.

[indepat]

17. Agree about the culpability of the rubber-stamping Senate

[Jacobin]

16. Only if he gets a blowjob from an intern

If that happens, then all hell breaks loose, all networks televise the scandal non-stop, impeachment proceedings begin, and there is hell to pay.

Ordinary delusions of grandeur, starting wars on false pretenses, stealing hundreds of millions from the treasury to start a war without telling congress......that's okay.

[i_c_a_White_Ghost]

18. this kind of thing is exactly what our founding fathers

feared the most. They basically set it up to where checks and balances no longer apply and they are free to reign.

Now with religious zealots running the show we are all in deep dodo!

[SarahB]

20. I can imagine there's a lot of grave spinning these days.

:(

[skooooo]

21. Wait wait....see if more Repug congressmen

bail on Bush...

Can we even last 'til November?

[chookie]

22. The example of Nixon

Nixon appears to have had a kind of personality disorder, which unfortunately played a part in wrecking his presidency.

In addition, he could NOT handle alcohol, even in small amounts. After 2 drinks, he was totally plastered.

In addition, at the advice of a friend who saw it as a cure-all, he began to take the drug Dilaudid. This drug has all kinds of incidious side effects, and in combination with alcohol, seems to have been responsible for periods of psychosis while Nixon was President.

His staff was aware of this very serious problem. His chief of staff, and his national security advisor, had both secretly advised the Joint Chiefs *not* to take any order for military action from him without consulting with them first. Kissinger told of getting phone calls at 3AM or so from a raging, ranting Nixon, slurring out that we needed to bomb such and such a place IMMEDIATELY! Kissinger would say, I'll get right to it, Mr President, and turn over and go back to sleep. Most of the time Nixon didn't remember these calls, and when he did, he would sheepishly approach Kissinger and say, uh, Henry, you really didn't do what I ordered you to, did you?

Scary stuff. But at least it tells us that people close to Nixon had him under control for the most part.

Trouble is -- I think the only sane guy around His Chimperial Highness is Powell, and Powell has no influence over the wacko. No one seems to be trying to control George when he gets nuts -- in fact, some of them appear to be egging him on.

That Karen Hughes shows up, after the Clarke and Suskind books, and before the announcement that Bush is supporting Israel's right to use overwhelming force against the Palestinians, and as he is beginning to admit that his war on Iraq was part of the "comprehensive plan he was preparing to eradicate terrorism forever" rather than "swatting flies" -- and NOW that George W is using God on his counsel of war rather than guys with Shinseki, Zinni, or even his own dear Dad -- you GOTTA wonder what the HELL is going on.

[Disturbed]

24. Insane?

GW Bush is not insane. He is a person with stunted emotional and mental maturity perhaps a person of 6 to 10 yrs. old and his IQ is border level moron. Is he a dangerous? HELL YES!!!!

Cheney is not insane or stupid but he is evil.

[keep_left]

25. Someone on this list once mentioned this...

and I think the consensus was, in paraphrase: barring any miraculous transformations of the political opposition or the media, things would have to get to a pretty FUBAR level of totally-out-of-control. If that happened, and it looks more and more like we're well on the way to that FUBAR future, our allies and their intelligence services would probably begin operations to reverse the course. We're talking totally deniable, black ops/wetworks type stuff, if necessary.

There's no conceivable way that our allies would tolerate a completely insane executive branch to threaten humanity. Noam Chomsky has given some pretty damning talks about the kinds of things the PNACers are up to, including plans for a sort of super-Star Wars with space-based weaponry. The info is all on the web (US Space Command), out in the open. But the "mainstream" media silence is deafening. Chomsky's bottom line--and this is basically a quote--is that history is replete with examples of leaders who were willing to push to the edge of destruction for narrow, self-serving agendas. It's up to us to do something about it.