If you could go back in time and stop ONE event, what would you stop?

[ck4829]

A. Operation Ajax - CIA backed Coup that crushed Iranian Democracy and put repressive Shah in power

B. Ronald Reagan's Presidency

C. Bill Clinton's Impeachment (Or any of the events that were linked to it)

D. **'s Presidency

Remember, you can only pick one.

[RufusEarl]

1. Easy for me, the 2000 appointment of Bush

[Patsy Stone]

14. Hands down winner! n/t

[lonestarnot]

63. tripple hands down dog winner!

[WiseButAngrySara]

79. Ditto. The only reason I checked out this post was to respond the 2000

selection. It was the beginnimg of the death of Democracy, and the erosion of our constitution. SCOTUS bastardized themselves, and continue to do so, and this administration "Serves at the Pleasure of the President" who thinks that he is Royalty. He has forgotten, and his administration has forgotten, that THEY SERVE AT OUR PLEASURE.

[CottonBear]

2. B. That would take care of C & D.

Carter could have handled the blowback form A during a second term.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

3. None Of The Above. I'd Stop The Majority Rule Of Both Houses Of Congress

by the repukes. That in my opinion has been the most dangerous event of all you listed above.

[RufusEarl]

34. That's a very good point!

While i'm at it maybe someone call explain to me why the minority party haven't the ability to hold hearing and have subpoena power?

After all they are elected officials, and should have all the right the majority party have. If this were in affect, then Dem's could bring real charges against Bush.

[derby378]

4. Without a doubt, D

And I'd stop it by directing the SCOTUS to decline hearing the case of Bush v. Gore after the Florida Supreme Court allowed the recount to resume.

[Fridays Child]

22. Yep. D.

[Norquist Nemesis]

5. B. n/t

[Burried News]

6. The crucifiction of Jesus.

[sdfernando]

7. I'll take E

It's not on your list, but I'd stop GHW Bush from marrying Barbara!

[Kingshakabobo]

42. I would go back a little further to Barbara's mother. You have to...

kill the head vampire.

[Rocknrule]

8. 9/11

Not only would 3000 people and 2 towers still be here, without it, Bush would never have been able to pull all the shit he has, including being "reelected"

[Village Idiot]

28. Choosing "D" would have worked.

Then * and the neo-con nitwits wouldn't have been able to pull off the Pentagon / WTC bombings...

[Peter Frank]

36. Agreed...

Do you believe the official version of events? -- http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=125

[peacetalksforall]

9. Kennedy's assassination - perhaps the King and Robert K

assassinations would not have happened. 'They' were on a power roll of successes with a playing field of many insiders keeping their mouths shut. They became unstoppable.

[Yollam]

11. Definitely.

And prevent the births of the scum who killed them.

[Dunvegan]

21. Stopping any of those assassinations is my call, too.

That's when the coup de etat began.

Save any of those three and all history would have been different for the ruling class.

[Burried News]

30. Good choice and for me personally more meaningful than the one

I chose.

[VOX]

45. On the nose. JFK's murder changed the course of U.S. history...

I'm not big on conspiracies, but with every passing year it seems clearer that JFK's murder can be viewed as a watershed for the right wing's coming to power.

With JFK gone, there would be no end to the Vietnam conflict (but rather a stepping-up of U.S. involvement), and billions of $$$ in contracts for the military-industrial complex. RFK met the same fate, which resulted in deeper involvement in S.E. Asia, Nixon's rise to power, etc.

MLK's murder, IMO, was carried out to de-legitimize the movement for equality, and to shift the focus instead on the more "frightening" revolutionaries, i.e., Black Panthers, etc. -- more red meat for the right-wing base to bristle against.

It's still shocking to know that, in the modern U.S.A., the three most distinguished and charismatic liberal leaders of their time were blown away in a mere 5-year span.

[puerco-bellies]

69. Agreed, this is what I would choose

This is how the house of Bush earned their "chops". In one of the Nixon tapes he praises GHW's willingness to do anything for the conservative cause. He then mentions GHW's part in "that bay of pigs thing" which was Nixon's code for Kennedy's assassination.

[mzmolly]

10. The Holocaust

is the first thing that comes to my mind.

[sandnsea]

Red Line Agreement

Way back in 1910 or whatever. That's the catalyst that has set most of the 20th century bullshit in motion. Should have done something, anything, different than divying up oil between England, France and the US.

[eyesroll]

12. None.

Don't fuck with history. What's done is done.

If I had to pick one, though, I'd pick D, because it's the most recent and would have a smaller ripple effect.

[Selatius]

13. Ronald Wilson Reagan's presidency

He was the devil. All three of his names have six letters. (666)

I'm not saying that I condone the destruction of democratically elected governments at all, but given that I am only forced to choose one, I choose that which I believe to do the most good given the circumstances.

The tax rates were cut from 70 percent for the top .5 percent down to something like 47 percent. You don't stoke an economy by destroying the mechanism that ensures money flows through the economy easily.

[NMDemDist2]

15. SCOTUS stopping the Florida re-count in 2000 n/t

[sam sarrha]

16. i would go back and give Abraham his Schizophrenia medications.. and he

wouldn't have hallucinated god and angels and the world would would be free of both Christianity and Islam

[Burried News]

29. Wish I had thought of that. I agree the Abrahamic Tradition has its'

problems - a man on the brink of murdering his son has terrible significance.

Ahhh, hooey what did Freud know. :sarcasm:

[sam sarrha]

71. all the people these days that hallucinate god telling them to kill their

children are Schizophrenic.. Mohamed is a direct blood line from abraham, and schizophrenia is genetic

the prophet had spells and 'Channeled' ..yes folks, 'Channeled' ,what the Hindus would call a Demi-god, demi gods are trouble makers.. always messing with people and starting wars

[blm]

17. A - because it set into motion almost all other world events and the

near-complete destruction of trust in the integrity of the United States as a symbol of democracy in the Muslim world.

[Webster Green]

18. D. The 2000 coup

The day democracy died...

[salvorhardin]

19. I think I'd prevent the Welch brothers from going into the candy business

I think a lot of evil could have been thwarted if James and especially Robert hadn't had an excess of money.

[Minnesota Libra]

20. Reagan's Presidency because........

.....that would have changed the whole tone of American politics.

[ellenfl]

23. b. i also think that would have stopped c & d. eom

[Carni]

24. D-- you have to be kidding?

Is anyone saying anything but D?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

25. My option is D

Though I think if the Shah hadn't been installed, things in the ME would be much different.

[PFunk]

26. My choice would be B...

Ronnie's election was the thing that started the whole conservative movement. AND indirection the DLC's creation.

[Norquist Nemesis]

55. Well said. n/t

[PATRICK]

27. Has to be D

Simply because preventing any of the others would not have necessarily stopped something else along those lines from happening because the forces involved would have found a way. Bush is such a imminent crisis and with the direst implications for the future that all the others pale in comparison even if the RW was to keep steamrolling with the help of fairy tale globalists and Third Way something or others.

This is especially damning since the way Bush has outed and ruined the arguments and plans of the RW has given humanity a clean chance to get it all confronted. Sacrificing this knowledge because the lesson is so dangerous in itself just goes to show how plain bad Bush is.

But we have learned, have confronted the outed conclusions of RW and 'pragmatic" policies, and still are no closer to becoming a sane race capable of surviving its own work. it was always going to be a slow imperfect growing up period, but Bush has condemned billions- or everyone- to a foolish distracted death
while he reaps personal gain.

[Orangepeel]

31. I wouldn't.

I know it is a hypothetical question, but I would choose not to use the power. Like that Ray Bradbury story about the butterfly -- you never know what could be worse.

Better to worry about fixing the present and ensuring the future, rather than changing the bad in the past.

[Uncle Roy]

32. E. Hitler's first birthday... (nfm)

[mrcheerful]

33. The born again movement, that would have ended everything evil.

[Shrek]

35. For everyone who picked D

Just remember . . .

Without it, there wouldn't be a DU! Do you want that on your conscience?

:P

[never_get_over_it]

37. No question its D

and I believe those remaining extreme court justices, Scalia, Thomas and Kennedy should be impeached and removed from office. Katherine Harris should be in prison not the freaking Congress. George Bush and his administration and any of their appointments to any office any where should be removed. Unfortunately this would never happen but a girl can dream can't she

"...Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's Presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the Nation's confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law I respectfully dissent" Justice Stevens Bush v. Gore.

[BR_Parkway]

38. George H W Bush orgasm approximately Oct 6, 1945 - one simple

little thing that could have made such a difference today

[dysfunctional press]

77. how about just keeping poppy from climbing over his dying buddies-

to bail-out over the pacific in ww2...?

it would solve A LOT more problems than just ding-dong's current dictatorship-
bay of pigs, iran-contra, raygun's presidency, and on and on...

[leeroysphitz]

39. The first instance of cellular mitosis...

Going back a ways, I know, but think of all the trouble that could have been avoided. :P

[Initech]

40. Kennedy's assassination - that would have taken care of all of the above!

[abluelady]

41. I'll Take C

Then D would be moot.

[ProfessorGAC]

43. The Lincoln Assassination

Somehow i think things would be very different if he was around in that second term for reconstruction.
The Professor

[Nederland]

70. Good one

Would have been interesting to see how things went.

[DetroitProle]

44. Um yeah but how?

If I were to go back in time to try to stop Bush's presidency, what could I do? Stand on a streetcorner screaming, "I'M FROM THE FUTURE AND IT ISN'T PRETTY!"

Easier event to manipulate: Go back to Vienna where Adolf Hitler is wandering around as an unsuccessful painter, and kill the bitch.

[wrate]

46. I'd stop the bombings of Nagasaki and HIroshima. n/t

[Dem2theMax]

83. That was my first thought as well. nt.

[yourout]

47. I would have went back and taken out Prescott Bush.....

That would have cleaned up the list quite a bit.

[Oilwellian]

48. I would go back and make sure...

Barbara Bush did nothing but swallow. :D

[Salviati]

49. B or other:

Go back to 1933 and have the conspiricy exposed by General Smedley Butler fully investigated and have those who conspired to overthrow the government tried and executed for treason. Maybe if we had put those facists on notice back then, we wouldn't be having these problems now.

[windy252]

50. I'd pick

D. *'s residency.

[Lisa]

51. I'm going to go with A. (Operation Ajax)

I just finished re-reading "All the Shah's Men", an account of the machinations that led up to the coup. It was not only terrible for the Iranian people, but it was a crucial step in a rather ugly side to US foreign policy, which we see being played out today.

Some good friends of mine lived through the Shah's regime, and fled the country before the Revolution. They lost a number of family members who were "disappeared" by the Shah's secret police ... a secret torture prison was later discovered, buried deep below the local elementary school. It was horrific. And other friends and family perished in the Iran-Iraq war.

If hog-tying Kermit Roosevelt (the main CIA agent who planned the coup), throwing him on a plane, and taking him back Stateside would have helped prevent any of these from happening:
--loss of a change to develop true democracy in the Middle East
--torture/deaths of thousands of people during the Shah's dictatorship
--rise of Islamic religious fanaticism and anti-Americanism (the US was held in such high regard after WWII that many Iranians couldn't believe that the CIA had backed the coup ... they were certain that Britain must have tricked them into it ...)
--deaths of a million people in Iran/Iraq war (many of them children)
--continued support of Saddam Hussein by the West ("my enemy's enemy is my friend")

... give me a pair of handcuffs and a time machine, and I'd do it! (I wouldn't do anything to Kermit on the plane ride back ... after all, it wouldn't be right to punish someone for something you managed to prevent him from doing ... but I probably wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to find out whether he was ticklish. And I'd eat the wonderful pastries my Iranian friends share with me at work, and not offer him a single crumb.)

[BurtWorm]

52. Approval of the West Palm Beach butterfly ballot in 2000.

I'd have history make a ballot that put Gore clearly at the top.

[SammyWinstonJack]

53. "B"

[Swamp Rat]

54. The birth of Prescott Bush

:)

[warrior1]

75. ditto

[sakabatou]

56. D

and 9-11

[HuckleB]

57. A...

None of the rest would have happened without it.

[FiveGoodMen]

58. The canonization of the Bible.

... okay, D.

[DanCa]

59. The rise of the Religious Right within the repuke party (nt).

[eggman67]

60. The Great Compromise

on slavery at the founding of our nation.

[mandyky]

61. Stop GWB's presidency, but by

stopping his gaining the governorship of Texas because THAT is where it all started!

[in_cog_ni_to]

62. Bush being installed as prez by the SCOTUS.

:grr:

[Rocknrule]

64. Poppy's condom breaking

:evilgrin:

[laruemtt]

65. D, without a doubt. then there'd be no 9/11.

[Joanne98]

66. B

[Dervill Crow]

67. D, most definitely.

The world would be a much better place if President Gore had been inaugurated.

[stlsaxman]

68. F. That wife swapping party that Prescott and Adolf attended.

'nuff said...

[SeattleGirl]

72. D: **'s Presidency, hands down.

A, B, and C together don't hold a candle to D!

[theophilus]

73. IF I could stop it, I would prevent WWI from happening.

I think that would effectively stop the influenza pandemic, Russia's collapse and resulting communist takeover, the Holocaust, WWII, the Cold War and probably a lot of other bad things. WWI was a truly horrendous mistake that has continued to take life in the hundreds of millions. The "cousins" could have probably sorted out the problem but Kaiser Bill was a real looney and the countries had tired of the monarchy and good ol' nationalism "won" the day. Yuck.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

74. Good thinking!

World War I was on of the stupidest wars ever in the world's history of stupid wars, and no good came of it.

[Arkham House]

90. We Have a Winner

The shadow of this insane war has enveloped everything that's followed...Communism, Naziism, the millions of lives thrown away for nothing in the war itself. Abolish this, and the world the past century might not be the nightmare it's been...

[dysfunctional press]

76. E. the anal conjugation that resulted in **'s zygote.

e.(which also eliminates "D." by default)
then b.
then a.
then c.

[stepnw1f]

78. Kennedy's Assassination

Because a foul odor comes from back then and still lingers.

[Jade Fox]

80. Taylorism

If you don't know what it is, you'll have to look it up. I'm too tired from living it all day to try and explain it.

[T Town Jake]

81. Other - the Supreme Court ruling in the 1880's that defined...

...a corporation as a "person," with "real" rights just like real people have.

Much of our current difficulties can be traced back to that ruling, IMO.

[Gabi Hayes]

82. why not go all the way?

big bang?

[Fleshdancer]

84. I can't belive Bush makes me long for the days of Reagan.

I'll take the Cold War over the Third World War ANY day.

The funniest thing about your poll by the way is that it completely skips over Bush Sr. Not that it would make a difference with the results of course...those 4 years are somewhat easy to forget even with the Gulf War.

[NoodleyAppendage]

85. Emperior Constantine's conversion to Xtianity.

A close second and third would be stopping the firey destruction of the Library at Alexandra and destroying all knowledge of carbon-based combusion power.

JB

[Obamarama]

86. Daddy Bush from going anywhere NEAR Babs' dried up vagina.

[Blue Belle]

87. E. Barbara and George Bush from ever procreating in the first place.

If I can only pick one thing...

[liberaltrucker]

88. Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg

Caused us to lose the goddammed war.
:sarcasm:

:rofl:

[MrMickeysMom]

89. Here, I'll give you a hint...

(heavy breathing)... "Oh, Barbara, ugh!.... I"m gonna come!"

(sighing).... "yes, right, get on with it, I don't want to waste my beautify mind in this position anymore!"

:bounce:
:eyes:

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[AlGore-08.com]

91. D, D, D and D

Do I get another choice? Then I choose D.