If Bush had been president during the Civil War ?

[kentuck]

Would you have supported him? If he had done away with the "habeus corpus" and declared war on some states that believed in "states rights" , would you have supported him? Then in the middle of the war, when he gave his Emancipation Proclamation, would you have accused him of making up new reasons for war in the middle of the conflict? Just a thought...

[oldtime dfl_er]

1. This is sort of a parlor game

Bush couldn't have existed in those times, and certainly couldn't have been a successful politician. An interesting thought but really not valid.

www.cafepress.com/showtheworld

[tmooses]

2. If Bush was president during the civil war, after Fort Sumter he

would have attacked Mexico and their WMD's.

[patricia92243]

3. Attacking Canada would be better- more spoils of war :(

[hatrack]

4. You mean, president of the CSA?

I mean, I can't see him as president of the United States . . .

[paulk]

5. since he's a "Texan"

he would have been president of the Confederacy.

He would have appointed all his cronies to high positions. The South would have lost the war within six months.

;-)

[LiberalFighter]

23. He probably would had been executed by the South for being a coward

[agincourt]

6. I don't think he was educated and articulate enough,

back then to get elected as president. All he would have been was some platation baron's spoiled rich son going to parties and making new slaves to sell. There would be no US now if men like him got in power back then.

[Paladin]

7. GWB Has Been Favorably Compared To Churchill.....

...by that great Democratic loyalist, Zell Miller. So who's to say?

But seriously: if his last name wasn't "Bush," GWB might have gotten all the way to the vice presidency of a small independent oil company in Midland, Texas. No further.....

[agincourt]

8. I don't think Zell Miller would have lasted very long either.

His extreme disloyalty back then would have got him shot in short order. Or he might have found a duel not to his liking.

[Dave Sund]

17. Miller would have fit in well

With the Democrats of those days. The Southern Democrats.

[Jack Rabbit]

9. If Bush had been President during the Civil War

If Bush had been President during the Civil War, Dr. Rice would be calling him "Master George" today. She would still be doggedly loyal to him, but it wouldn't be a matter of choice.

To be honest, I would have had reservations about some of the things Lincoln did, such as suspending Habeas Corpus, and I would have pointed out that the Emancipation Proclamation didn't free a single slave. While I think a war (for want of a better word) on terrorists is necessary following the September 11 attacks, I don't believe Bush has waged an honest war; he has dishonestly used the September 11 attacks to create war profiteering opportunities for his corporate cronies. Consequently, I cannot and do not support Bush's approach to fighting terrorism. On the contrary, I regard it as criminal and as at least as great a menace to humanity as terrorism itself. If he had waged a war to "abolish slavery" in the same spirit he wages one to "democratize the Middle East", I wouldn't have supported that, either.

Your premises assume that Bush would have conducted the war exactly as Lincoln did. That is very unlikely. Bush and Lincoln are very different personalities. Lincoln was a strong character; they didn't call him Honest Abe for nothing. He believed in his cause and his ability to see it through. Bush is weak and deceitful. His cause has less to do with fighting terrorism (or promoting democracy or whatever) than it has to do with his personal sense of entitlement. Lincoln was born in modest surroundings and knew that he had to earn everything he accomplished. Bush was born to wealth and power and believes that the world owes him a living and undivided affection.

That has a lot to do with why Lincoln succeeded in his task and Bush is failing in his. It is why Lincoln's Birthday is a holiday in many states and Bush will end his days rotting in a cell in The Hague.

[kentuck]

13. Yes, it is a hypothetical...

But if Bush had the same policies as Lincoln with the habeus corpus and the Emancipation Proclamation was also part of the hypothetical - not that Bush would have done differently from Lincoln - which he most certainly would have - but would you have supported Bush if had the same policies as Lincoln also?

[Jack Rabbit]

14. That's begging the question

I think for Bush to have done what Lincoln did, he would have had to have been Lincoln, not Bush.

Let's turn the question around: Would you support Lincoln in the WoT if he were conducting it exactly as Bush is? Of course not.

[kentuck]

15. That's a good hypothetical also..

:)

[teach1st]

10. Reasons have to be real

Shifting reasons for the Civil War = Shifting reasons for the Iraq War?

The shifting reasons for the Civil War -- whether one is for or against them -- were based on reasons that existed, that is, they were based on reality. It took Bush some time before he stumbled upon a reason that was based on fact (Saddam is a bad guy).

I would not have supported the suspension of habeas corpus, were I the same sort of person I am now.

I don't know if I would have supported the War to prohibit seccession, but would have supported freeing Africans and others from slavery.

[Poiuyt]

11. What if Bush had been president during the Cuban Missle Crisis?

We wouldn't be here having this discussion.

[Jack Rabbit]

12. I'm afraid you're right

Nuke now; ask questions later, except there will be no later.

[enid602]

16. *

* would have arranged for Inuits and Eskimos to blow up the WH with sled bombs, so we could take over their source of whale oil.

[trof]

18. If W* had been president on April 12, 1861,

when Fort Sumter was fired upon by Confederate forces, he would have invaded Canada.

[Yupster]

19. Lincoln did blunder into war

in a Bushian display of f*&^ked up diplomacy. He really did FUBAR the crisis in a way that few men not named Bush truly could.

He also suspended habeus corpus, arrested legislators, closed newspapers, and even threw the top Democratic anti-war leader out of the country.

And this from a guy who got 40 % of the vote.

I'm no fan of Lincoln's.

[kentuck]

21. We can only believe what we have read from history...

And history tells us that Lincoln may have been our greatest president. But, was he really?

[Pharlo]

20. If Bush had been President during the Civil War,

The question should be 'Would there have been a Civil War?'

After all, I am sure that he would have argued:

1) Slavery is the will of God. Or, as he recalls from his Bible Studies, slavery is neither a crime nor immoral. Everyone has slaves. Why, to not have slaves is downright UNCHRISTIAN!
And since this country was founded on Christian values, to not own slaves is downright UNAMERICAN!!!

However, since some Southern states have seen fit to attack Fort Sumter it is necessary for the US to defend itself.

Britain is an ally, so we cannot attack Canada.

Also, there has been a rash of Mexican theives crossing the border into Texas and stealing horses.

Ergo, we need to attack Jamaica!!!

In short had GW been president in 1862, there would have been no US Civil War, just a US-Jamaican conflict which would have resulted in an appeasement of the Haliburton cotton plantation by allowing them to be awarded contracts to new land and slaves at US taxpayers expense.

[leftofthedial]

22. Your scenario also implies that we'd be citizens during the CW

so the answer is, those acts would be as controversial as they actually were at the time.

Your scenario also implies that the little bushturd would have behaved exactly like Lincoln. The problem with the bushturd is he is a treasonous and cowardly criminal and a policy incompetent and not a statesman-philosopher. The actual bushturd inserted into those crtical times would have made such a mess of things that most of your scenario probably would never have come to pass. If, on the other hand, the bushturd were to be transmogrified magically into a great leader by din of time travel, I'd likely support him.


Of course, the time travel might have turned me into a loyal Virginian who wouldhave hated him.

Very different time. Very different dynamic. Very different kinds of decisions.

[Contrary1]

24. Later on at the theatre...

John Wilkes Booth would have shared his bag of pretzels with Shrub.

[kevsand]

25. Lincoln, to my knowledge, never claimed

the Emancipation Proclamation or the later freeing of the slaves as a justification for the war. In fact, quite the opposite. He consistently offered the continuation of the Union as the sole casus belli. The Emancipation Proclamation was a tool, not an end.

[Zynx]

26. I would like to see Bush debate like they used to back then.

$100 says he can't even pronounce much of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. :evilgrin:

[Yupster]

27. One thing would be the same

Since they didn't have microphoes back then much of the crowd would listen to him and say "What the f*&k is he talking about", just like I do today when I hear him.

[Rambis]

28. Sir, Our American Cousin is playing:)

* would have been a drunk and addicted to laudanum.