What Happens To Presidents

[Nordic]

And it just occurred to me the other day that perhaps this incident was Obama's "Bill Hicks Moment":

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/popup?id=8224440

NYC Freaks Over Air Force One Flyover

Photos of the flyover that caused widespread panic in Manhattan are released.


A Boeing 747 that can be used as Air Force One and an F-16 fighter jet fly unusually low en route to Manhattan. The photo-op, for some New Yorkers, evoked memories of the 9/11 attacks. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he was "furious" that he was not notified of the event that was authorized by the White House's military office director, who later resigned because of the controversy. (DOD)

[Luther Blissett]

DrVolin will want to extend this far into the past with his theory of Dynasts and Drifters, and he's probably right.

Glad I have a source for this again.

Well that was a bit overstated... maybe..... I was going on personal experience with a college I am very familiar with and who does the work on their new cop vehicles, who paid for them and who pays for the work being done on them....Homeland Security

I have some evidence that could possibly support the thesis.

[mentalgongfu2]

This thread got me thinking again about Obama's rise to power and the 2004 Senate race. I've started a Data Dump thread on it; if anyone else wants to contribute please feel free.

It's here: http://www.rigorousintuition.ca/board2/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=36783

[8bitagent]

The documentary Man From Plains convinced me that Jimmy Carter might be one of the only modern presidents who turned out to be a decent human being.

I do think there are real power struggles between the President and other branches, such as the firing of Mcchrystal.

[Nordic]

This thread got me thinking again about Obama's rise to power and the 2004 Senate race. I've started a Data Dump thread on it; if anyone else wants to contribute please feel free.

It's here: http://www.rigorousintuition.ca/board2/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=36783

The revelations, too, regarding the NSA and jow Obama was being spied on even then. But what is more interesting to me is the connection between the spying and the dropping out if his opposition, Senator Ryan. Yes a sex scandal. Surprise surprise. Very convenient how Obama skated to victory unopposed.

[mentalgongfu2]

I hadn't thought specifically about NSA spying and its possible relation to the Ryan sex scandal, but that is a thought worth exploring. The whole story has intrigued me for a long time... I followed much of it in real time, as far as the local publications go, but it wasn't until around or shortly after the 2008 election I really began to see it as an integral part of understanding who Obama may be & the apparatus he may represent, that helped put him into power. If anything, I guess there must be multiple "Bill Hicks moments," each one less surprising than the last. A couple of the otherwise innocuous-sounding quotes from Senate candidate Obama in 04 read to me like someone who knows politics plays dirty and isn't afraid to jump in the mud. l think by then he must have had a fair understanding of what he was getting into, but it's certainly possible that he or any other president could be further cowed into a particular course. Forgetting for a moment the electronic surveillance aspect, having bodyguards around, even if necessary for a public figure like the president, easily can make someone a prisoner of the very people sent to guard them.

[8bitagent]

‘America has no functioning democracy’ – Jimmy Carter on NSA
http://rt.com/usa/carter-comment-nsa-snowden-261/

[stillrobertpaulsen]

To Hunter's original query...Bill Hicks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XswMr65GIfU

Thanks, this thread needs that link. Cuz that's the real answer: the MIC since '63. Well, that's the year they solidified their stranglehold on the Presidency anyway, they've been running things since 1947, with the creation of the National Security State (CIA, Operation Gladio, etc.)

[Joao]

‘America has no functioning democracy’ – Jimmy Carter on NSA
http://rt.com/usa/carter-comment-nsa-snowden-261/

Carter with a one-two punch (or mild slap, at least):

Carter: Unchecked contributions 'legal bribery'
Posted on Wednesday, 07.17.13
By RAY HENRY, Associated Press

ATLANTA -- Former President Jimmy Carter said Wednesday that unchecked political contributions are "legal bribery of candidates" and denounced a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made possible unlimited spending by outside groups, including corporations and labor unions.

"It's accepted fact," Carter said during a speech in Atlanta. "It's legal bribery of candidates. And that repayment may be in the form of an ambassadorship to someone who has raised three or four hundred thousand dollars to help a candidate get elected."

Carter spoke at a forum where an agency of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe released its report on last year's U.S. election. The U.S. government invited the European agency to observe the process.

He said the U.S. Supreme Court made a "very stupid" decision by removing limits on independent campaign spending by businesses and labor unions, which the court found was a constitutionally protected form of political speech. The Democrat said that he and his Republican opponents used public financing to run their general election campaigns in 1976 and 1980.

Carter more generally criticized the amount of private contributions flowing into political campaigns.

"I would say that it's almost impossible for a candidate, like I was back in those early days or others even, to be considered seriously as a candidate to represent the Democratic or Republican parties as nominee if you can't raise $100 million or $200 million from contributors, many of whom know that they are making an investment in how they are going to be treated by the winner after the election is over," Carter said.

Carter said that while elections in the United States once set an example for the world, the country's reputation diminished in 2000 when the U.S. Supreme Court intervened in a Florida vote recount, effectively deciding the election in favor of Republican George W. Bush. He also criticized GOP-led state legislatures for changing polling hours in ways that Carter said were meant to frustrate likely Democratic voters.