Bush/Cheney 2008!

This thought courtesy of Andrew Cohen, on the WaPo's legal blog Bench Conference, a daily must-read for anyone interested in our nation divesting itself of the scourge that is Alberto "Al" "Judge" Gonzales.

You often see meatheads comparing the GWBush administration to the Third Reich. This comparison was first suggested to me several years ago by someone that, at the time, I considered a good friend. But because, at that time, the analogy seemed very shaky (and it came during that several months-long period following 9/11 during which my reason and logic (and that of most of the country) was temporarily suspended, or at least heavily dampened), I was offended and somewhat enraged by it.

While I still don't think the evidence was there back at that time, I am starting to see some merit in this suggestion. And so today a commenter on Bench Conference again made the comparison, and another commenter quickly put the wingnut in his/her place by stating: "On 20 Jan 2009, President Bush will smile and applaud at an event Hitler never even considered allowing: the swearing-in of his successor."

Which got me thinking that given the GWBush administration's long and varied track record of subverting the rule of law, what is it that makes anyone think that they won't take the same approach to the 22nd Amendment?

I can easily imagine a scenario in which some "emergency" arises wherein elections must be suspended for reasons of "public safety" or "national security", allowing (nay, dictating!) that the president remain in office until the crisis has passed (which, like the current War on Terror crisis, may, in fact, be never).

This becomes even more plausible when one considers the extent to which GWBush and his cohorts believe that their policies, and their actions (ANY actions) in support of of those policies, are directed by a supernatural authority (i.e., God) which speaks directly to (and only to, apparently) them. For a long, well-detailed (and shocking) discussion of this belief on the part of GWBush, read this piece in The New York Times Magazine by Ron Suskind.