If Bush were to declare martial law tonight

[DavidDvorkin]

How many top Democrats would step up to denounce him and call for his removal?

Any? Or would they all cave?

I won't even bother to ask the same question about Republicans.

[michaelwb]

1. And the press

And sadly, the press would no doubt praise his bold leadership.

[Doctor_J]

2. Let's not forget the media

Matthews:"It takes a strong leader to make a bold stroke like this during war time. I wish he would put on his flight suit again"

Faux News:"This was the only move the Resident could make given the unruliness of the Democrats"

Brian Williams:"I know that the Resident wrestled long and hard with this decision before locking down the country".

[IndianaGreen]

8. Dude, you got these guys pegged!

They all follow the same script, and you just gave us a preview of it today.

:applause:

[ugarte]

3. Lieberman would say he's the Commander-in-Chief...

ergo it's our duty to just shut up.

[0007]

14. Perhaps Lieberman will don a flight suit and go on a cruise with

junior?

[Donna Zen]

4. Whoever spoke up

would be met with a Democratic chorus of: s/he doesn't speak for me! Uh...unless the polls show otherwise.

[Warren Stupidity]

5. When the trucks come to your town

and take away the dissidents, how many of those who are left will speak up? How many mothers of the disappeared will be as brave and persistent as the women of Argentina? Are we ready for this moment at all? Do we have what it takes to resist fascism?

[IndianaGreen]

6. The DLC and Holy Joe would chide us for opposing Martial Law

Russ Feingold and John Conyers will be taken to Guantanamo, never to be seen again.

[SONUVABUSH]

7. Don't give

the MF'er any ideas, I'm sure the thought has already crossed his mind!

[Cerridwen]

9. What truly sucks, is that I thought of this same scenario as the

reason for his speech tonight. Some mumbled justification for implementing martial law.

He'll probably tie it to spying on american citizens, i.e., the illegal and unconstitutional spying on american citizens has resulted in intel that suggests 20,000 u.s. citizens are gathering in some 5000 locations in order to commit acts of terror. In order to avoid the chaos and distruption of these terrorist events, I have decided to declare martial law nationwide.

When I was a kid, late 60s early 70s, it never crossed my mind that my government might be my worst enemy. Sometimes growing up sucks, too.

[ticapnews]

10. It wouldn't really matter...

If Martial Law were declared what Democrats said wouldn't matter. Anyone who spoke out against it would be awarded a one-way ticket to Gitmo, or some secret military prison already constructed in this country (don't tell me it hasn't occurred to anyone else) for re-education or disposal.

If Martial Law were declared there would be no more polls, no more elections, no more need for Congress, except to rubber stamp the president's agenda (we're pretty much already there).

I think the odds of him declaring Martial Law tonight are about the same as him announcing that he will resign the presidency at noon tomorrow...

[DavidDvorkin]

11. Maybe it would matter

Even the Nazis backed down in some places in Germany when the local community resisted loudly and openly enough.

In this country, I think what would make the difference would be the military. Would soldiers obey their oath to defend the Constitution, or would they be too cowed or too brainwashed to resist illegitimate orders?

[ticapnews]

12. This is one of my fears

I live in a Navy community. The Brunswick NAS is one mile from my house. The soldiers around here know that, despite my bumper stickers and voting habits, I am no more a threat to the country than my dog. But this base is closing and the soldiers are leaving. More and more, the soldiers are being separated from the people. You also have soldiers around the world listening to Rush et al day after day with (until recently) no differing voice. All they heard was how much we liberals hated them and hated the country.

When the time came to break up the Tiananmen Square student uprising the soldiers from Beijing wouldn't do it, so the government brought in soldiers from Mongolia who had no qualms about turning the Square red with the students' blood. I fear that even if some of our soldiers refuse to follow those orders, there are other soldiers who will do so.

[DavidDvorkin]

13. Soldiers from other areas

That's a common tactic in dictatorships, I think. It works well in countries where different areas have really different ethnic communities, so that soldiers from elsewhere don't consider those they're shooting at as being the same as them, or even human.

Is America that divided? I don't know.

That tactic has been used before here, at least in the case of union-busting. In the early days (around 1900?), blacks were brought in as scabs. They needed the work badly, and it helped separate and create hostility between blacks and the white working class, who might otherwise have been allies. (If I'm remembering my Zinn correctly.)

So maybe something similar would work in this case. I hope not. I have the increasing, uneasy feeling that we might be about to find out. As the hours go by, I'm beginning to think that my original subject line should have been, "When Bush declares martial tonight".

[kentuck]

15. Well, if he were doing it to protect the American people...

I guess it would be all right.. <sarcasm off>