by blondie 61 Replies latest members politics
The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that the Bush administration has discussed possibly delaying the November presidential election if there is a new terrorist attack.
I wonder how long they would be delayed?
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=A41ADD95-19AA-405F-AE96EBE4E548F781
If Martial Law were to be declared, indefinatelly. Essentially if such an unprecedented action were to occur, all bets are off. But the check and balance to that are the states themsevles, which tend to be forgotten of as individual nearly-sovreign entities now. They depend on a stable federal government for interstate commerce as well as defence. The states determine what delegates they send to the electoral college to elect the president, (not really the popular vote, of course, and here is another reason why that can be a boon), so essentially the executive branch of government has no say-so to prevent an election.
The Pres is CiC of the Armed Forces, so declaring martial law to forstay an election is by defacto a military coup. Again, in the original United States, before Lincoln turned it into a military dominated hedgemony, the states themselves had a good measure of control over their own soldiers, and an individual's loyalty often lay as much to his state as to the country. (John Brown, for instance, was hung for Treason against the State of Virginia, not against the USA).
I don't think Bush is THAT lousy of a fellow to use the Osama puppet to stave off an election, especially one he has a very good chance of winning.
This is a big nothing. Government must plan for doomsday in case some terrible happens. The military planned an invasion of Iraq during the Clinton years, just in case they were ordered to invade. Planning does not always translate into action. Bug
This is a bunch of hype being spread from the left...Bush is NOT seeking a way to delay the election...even if there is an attack.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. officials have discussed the idea of postponing Election Day in the event of a terrorist attack on or about that day, a Homeland Security Department spokesman said Sunday.
The department has referred questions about the matter to the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, said a spokesman, confirming a report in this week's editions of Newsweek magazine.
Bush's national security adviser Condoleezza Rice tried to put an end to the controversy Monday evening.
"We've had elections in this country when we were at war, even when we were in civil war, and we should have the elections on time. That's the view of the president. That's the view of the administration," she said. "No one is thinking of postponing the elections."
Newsweek said the discussions about whether the November 2 election could be postponed started with a recent letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge from DeForest Soaries Jr., chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
The commission was set up after the disputed 2000 presidential vote to help states deal with logistical problems in their elections.
There are all sorts of wierd contingencies.. for some time the US had a plan on how to invade canada (during the 1920s and 30s) called War Plan Red for some reason. Caused a huge embarassment when it came out. (not to mention the US has invaded Canada twice before and got their butts kicked each time)
This is a big nothing. Government must plan for doomsday in case some terrible happens
I agree Bug. I think 'doomsday' is the operative word here. If I remember correctly there are plans on how to run the country in case of asteroid impact. There would be serious legal and constitutional problems if Bush were to delay the election even if there were a terrorist attack.
If I remember correctly there are plans on how to run the country in case of asteroid impact.
For a long time there was no funding for a program to detect near-Earth asteroids, and come up with a viable plan for how to possibly deflect a doomsday-asteroid. But they have at least started a very cool program that awards a cash prize to anyone who finds a new one with their telescope. It's like prospecting, only using your backyard telescope. so we got that going, anyway. The rest of the world, as usual, sits and complains.
There are all sorts of wierd contingencies.. for some time the US had a plan on how to invade canada (during the 1920s and 30s) called War Plan Red for some reason. Caused a huge embarassment when it came out. (not to mention the US has invaded Canada twice before and got their butts kicked each time)
Canada is the single biggest threat to American Security...EVER...haven't you seen the show QUICKSILVER?
Yeah, if Bush delayed the elections that would be all the extreme right needs to launch a libertarian revolution. Fallujah on the LCB, the ATF, the DEA, and of course, the DMV...
CZAR
Well, eh, if we we're ya know to be culturally conquered by the Candians I guess it would be pretty bad, eh? I mean tradin in Coors for Molson. There'd be a lot to be upset aboot.
