When Bush says "I want more power", start worrying

So, President Bush is asking Congress to give him more powers in the event of major catastrophes. The article suggests that he may ask to be given the authority to:

- Order mandatory civilian evacuations

- Dispatch U.S.-based armed forces for emergency search-and-rescue operations

- Grant wider leeway for active-duty U.S. military personnel to carry out law enforcement operations.

The last one is the really troubling possibility: that Posse Comitatus could be suspended.

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and suggest what to some is the unspeakable, if not outright unthinkable: that given the right situation, this president will seek to remain in office indefinitely. That if a major enough terrorist act were to happen between now and the 2008 election, Bush would see fit to suspend the vote "for the duration of the emergency". He would appeal to the American people and enough of them would nod their heads and agree that it "wouldn't be right" to be changing presidents amid wartime. If granted a wider leeway of presidential powers, Bush could probably do so with very little recourse left to any opposition other than outright rebellion.

Of course, I thought the same thing of Bill Clinton some years ago: that he would go to this kind of length to cover up his wrongdoings. I was wrong on that one (thankfully). The thing is, as more time goes by I think Clinton was actually the more noble between he and Bush (and I never thought I'd put "Clinton" and "noble" together like that). I really can't put it past Bush to go for something like this if there were a chemical or low-yield nuke attack somewhere in America. With all the mechanisms he's put in place - and now that he's seeking to put in place further - I'm more than a little inclined to believe that he's looking for some way to use it all to his own advantage.

Yeah, maybe I'm speaking a lot of crapola. But you tell me: do you trust any politician who's asking for more power?