Is Bush America's Oliver Cromwell?

[jsamuel]

?

[Benhurst]

1. No, he comes closer to being its Charles I,

with his "Divine Right of Kings."

[NoPasaran]

2. Charles I

[jsamuel]

3. ah, but Charles I actually was a king, where Oliver liked to act like one

[NoPasaran]

6. Well, I cast my lot with Cromwell, the Parliamentarian dictator

Oliver Cromwell, the Parliamentarian dictator over Charles Stuart, defender of the divine right of kings.

[izzie]

4. Cromwell did get to want to rule in a mean way

I recall one law was people could not talk on the street in more than 4 I think. He hardly gave any freedom. All these men like him, came to mean something to our founders and one reason they were so sure we had to have no one part of the government with all the power.

[DavidDvorkin]

5. Cromwell was brilliant and successful

We're horrified by some of what he did, and he failed to establish a structure that could outlive him, but during his lifetime he succeeded in his goals, brilliantly, against great odds.

I don't see the similarity.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Cromwell had an exceptionally large brain

The brain of Georges Cuvier weighed 1,830 grams, more than 400 grams above average and 200 grams larger than any non-diseased brain previously weighed. Unconfirmed reports and uncertain inference placed the brains of Oliver Cromwell, Jonathan Swift, and Lord Byron in the same range

http://faculty.washington.edu/lynnhank/Gould.pdf

so that rules Bush out at once.

[jsamuel]

11. thanks :)

[kineneb]

8. No way. Bush is America's Bertie Wooster.

I was just over at the Project Gutenberg site, perusing the titles there and ran across the listing for P.G. Wodehouse. The adventure reminded me just how much like Bertie our Little Emperor is. And his Jeeves is the evil Cheney-bot, bailing him out of all sorts of mishaps.

Cromwell, for whatever his faults (and they were many) was intelligent; he was deluded by radical Protestantism.

Find lots of free classics on line here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/

A wonderful place for those of us who are "economically challenged".

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. Leave off Bertie Wooster!

He was a nice guy, completely opposed to fascism, or indeed any kind of responsibility for himself at all. Bush, if anyone, is Roderick Spode, of the Black Shorts.

"The trouble with you, Spode, is that just because you have succeeded in inducing a handful of half-wits to disfigure the London scene by going about in black shorts, you think you're someone. You hear them shouting 'Heil, Spode!' and you imagine it is the Voice of the People. That is where you make your bloomer. What the Voice of the People is saying is: 'Look at that frightful ass Spode swanking about in footer bags! Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?'"
—Bertie Wooster speaking to Spode in The Code of the Woosters

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roderick_Spode

[kineneb]

12. ok, works for me

but Bush & Co definitely come from that kind of background- everything given to them, no need to do real work, always getting bailed out by the family or assistants...

[pnorman]

15. Bertie Wooster! (But with a MEAN streak).

Perfecto!! I LOVE it!

As for comparisons with Cromwell, NOTHING could be further from the truth! He was deeply flawed, and ultimately a reactionary to that English Revolution. But much of what formed this nation, was fought for during that period.

pnorman
On edit: I stand at least partially corrected, as per the above post ("Roderick Spode, of the Black Shorts"). I'll most certainly read those Project Gutenberg and Wikipedia references.

[Boo_Radley]

9. Bush Doctrine

[long_green]

13. Cromwell, whatever else you may say about him

was a brave, intelligent man. He was also one of those out-of-the-blue military geniuses like Nathan Bedford Forrest and Vo Nguyen Giap.

[HawkerHurricane]

14. Does that make Iraq our Ireland?

?

[Bob3]

16. No - he's more like America's Ethelred the Unready

everything takes him by surprise . Cromwell - although a brutal dictatorial son of a bitch at least had fought in the war that brought him to power and showed real still in forming the New Model Army that beat the King's troops. * is light years away from that. Sucker can't even ride a damn bike.