I assume the poster is talking about the post 9/11 climate, where the country was solidly behind President Bush, while the federal government was busy ramping up Guantanamo, the patriot act, water boarding, etc. in the name of fighting terrorism.
There is an alternative timeline where Katrina doesn't happen and GWB forces a reform of two-terms "to get the job done in Iraq, we need to stay the course", or something else to that effect (like Putin swapping jobs to get around term limits). That would have been very scary.