Election Day Doomsday Scenario...

[kentuck]

This bailout does nothing to stop the fear of a major crash. More people start withdrawing from their money markets and 401K's and there is a major run on the banks. The economy and the stock market crash big time, just before the election in November. There is widespread panic.

The elections are postponed. George W Bush and Dick Cheney "agree" to remain in power until the situation is stabilized. The gas shortages - that are now overtaking the South - spread throughout the nation. There are riots in the streets in several major cities. The government brings in the National Guard and declares martial law in these cities. Is it possible that something like that could happen?

[Taverner]

1. Yes, just look at Argentina's recent history

Also look at Weimar Germany

[MercutioATC]

2. Can't we go ONE election without the "elections cancelled/postponed" cries?

It just ain't gonna happen.

[kentuck]

5. How foolish to suggest such a thing...

Of course it ain't gonna happen. The people would not permit it.

[MercutioATC]

7. No, "the people" are sheep. They wouldn't lift a finger...

...it still ain't gonna happen.

[shadowknows69]

11. Yeah, the fact that the President has the power to do it now is nothing to worry about

And pissing on Posse Comitatus and bringing combat troops to our soil is to "help" us.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. My dad has been saying for years that this could very well happen. He has

bought more guns just in case people go nuts and he needs to protect himself.

[DebJ]

4. not without an armed revolution following.

[phaseolus]

6. I'm thinkin' George can't wait to retire

... and spend the rest of his life on his ranch, clearing brush & waiting to inherit his share of his dad's multi-brazillian dollar fortune.

Which, incidentally, is why I think he was so big on repealing the inheritance taxes for good. I can't remember a single mention in the media of what he stands to inherit when H.W. dies...

[kurt_cagle]

10. How big a fortune, though?

Carlyle Group has effectively collapsed, Halliburton is reeling from mismanagement and will likely be looked at really hard under an Obama presidency, Blackwater's fortunes are tied very much to Bush's. He won't be a pauper, but I suspect that George is likely not going to be anywhere near as rich as he must have thought when he started this whole process.

Speaking engagements? Um ... yeah. Those should keep him in the dough ;-)

[Nevernose]

13. And how much is in the Seychelles?

And the Caymans, Argentine, Switzerland, Hong Kong, etc.?

And, for that matter, how much of AIG, Lehman Bros, and the rest are in tidy little accounts next to the Bush family's?

[torbird]

8. Never happen.

Does anyone really believe that a public that hates Bush's guts and blames him most of all for the crisis will be docile and receptive to an offer by him to stay in power indefinitely?

I mean, really. Really? That's insane.

[dchill]

12. I don't see any indication that the "deciders"...

will care whether the public is "docile and receptive" - they've got camps for that.

[elocs]

9. What if before any of that happens that Bushco gets sucked into a parallel dimension?

You can put all of your "what ifs" along with a buck you might get a cup of coffee.

[ThoughtCriminal]

14. If I had a dollar for every time someone predicts...

:eyes:

In 2000, freep-heads were predicting Clinton would cancel the elections and become President for life.

Yes, they're evil, they're corrupt, and they cheat. But they do not have the necessary backing to pull off keeping Bush in office. Republicans running in 2008 do not even dare mention his name in their campaign and would claim Bush was a Democrat if they could get away with it. Bush/Cheney probably could not find a platoon worth of backing in the Pentagon and the last Bush supporter in the CIA is Stan Smith. The corporate backing wants scrap the old packaging and market the new McSame.