NEW RULES for when there is a change in President.....

[LynneSin]

RULE #1: If the current president has an approval rating of less than 40% then he/she must consult the incoming changes before making any changes. And if the approval rating is below 25% the outgoing president should have his bags packed and ready to vacate by end of week Friday after the elections.

RULE #2: I thought the purpose of having 3 branches of the government was to prevent any one person or group to have complete control. Congress was suppose to pass the bills. And now I find out that Bush has the right to pass all these laws that Congress has absolutely no say over whatsoever???!!! :WTF: Why even bother having congress if the President is just going to pass all the unpopular bills we'd vote down anyways.

RULE #3: If you were convicted of a crime during the tenure of the incoming president you may NOT be eligible for a pardon unless you happen to have the goods on exposing the crimes done by the President. And then that pardon has to be given to you by the incoming congress.

Anyone else with new rules?

[Clio the Leo]

1. #4....

.... the outgoing Pres has an approval rating of less than 30 and the incoming Pres. has an approval rating of more than 70 THEN YOU HAVE TO MOVE YOUR PALS OUT OF BLAIRE HOUSE AND LET THE INCOMING PRESIDENT'S FAMILY MOVE IN SO HIS CHILDREN CAN GO TO SCHOOL!!!!

[Cha]

7. # Four is Excellent, too.

Rule #5: If you're a lame duck president and you've started a misbegotten War on a country like Iraq then you don't go at the last minute and set yourself up to have shoes thrown at you by a reporter who was captured and tortured. And, you most certainly don't wonder "What's his beef?":silly::+

[SwampG8r]

2. the justice department must

allow a liason from the incoming pres to provide oversight and to prevent shenanigans

[wyldwolf]

3. RULE #5 --- and this important

The incoming president must have a face-to-face meeting with every little anonymous shit on the internet who thinks he/she can do a better job of picking cabinet positions or else risk losing that vote in the next election.

[Fleshdancer]

4. Your rules make sense to me.

RULE #6: When the President Elect has young kids that need to start school after the winter break in a completely new city, the current president should act like an adult and accommodate the new First Family stay at the guest house until it's time for them to move into the White House.

on edit: it appears this would be rule 4 actually :D

[Hippo_Tron]

5. I agree with #2 but not the rest

Carter and Truman had very low approval ratings and especially in Carter's case, I'm glad that they did not have to consult with the president-elect before making decisions.

#3 I also do not agree with. Clemency should actually be granted far more liberally than it is currently, especially for non-violent drug offenders. I do not want to see restrictions placed on the pardon.

[LynneSin]

6. Can we modify 3 that if you were an appointed or elected official of the same party as the lame duck

And seriously how many non-violent drug offenders do you expect Bush to pardon unless they are big money friends of his.

[Hippo_Tron]

8. It's not about who Bush pardons

If I had my way, Bush would not have the pardon power or any other power for that matter because he would not be the President. But 8 years from now I would hope that Obama pardons many of them. Actually I hope he doesn't wait 8 years.

[LynneSin]

9. 8 years from now if Obama has a Scooter Libby or Jack Abramoff with our administration

I would want the same exact treatment

[Hippo_Tron]

10. I generally consider the slippery slope to be a logical fallacy

But in this case I don't. If you limit the pardon power then you create a precedent for getting rid of it all together. The reason I say this is that public perception of the pardon is likely the views you have just described above or at least it can be swayed that way. Too many people think of the pardon as just a way for a corrupt lame-duck Governor or President to get his buddies out of prison.

But the framers created the pardon for a reason. It's an essential check on the judicial branch's power and, in my opinion, it should not be touched.