Talk Elections

I had to leave some out (Taft, Hoover, Coolidge, LBJ, GHWB), but it was unlikely anyone would pick them.

1. FDR
2. TR
3. Clinton
4. Truman
5. Eisenhower

1. Reagan
2. FDR
3. Truman
4. Eisenhower
5. Nixon
6. TR
7. Coolidge
8. McKinley
9. JFK
10. George H.W. Bush

I will think abut this one for a while. Regan and Roosvelt are strong contenders, as are Truman and LBJ.

FDR

This is too damn hard.

I voted for Truman over the other 'greats' for one reason-he didn't like being President. It was the factor that pushed him over the line, imho.

I don't see how ANYONE could say Reagan was the best President of the 20th century. He didn't have to face the hard times and war time era like FDR did. Here's my list...you'll notice Reagan is high...but not as high as others may want him to be.

1. Franklin D. Roosevelt
2. Ronald Reagan
3. William J. Clinton
4. Harry S Truman
5. Theodore Roosevelt
6. Woodrow Wilson
7. Dwight D. Eisenhower
8. John F. Kennedy
9. Richard M. Nixon
10.William McKinley
11.George Bush
12.Calvin Coolidge
13.Gerald Ford
14.William H. Taft
15.Lyndon B. Johnson
16.Jimmy Carter
17.Herbert Hoover
18.Warren G. Harding

That is every President who served during the time period of 1900-2000.

I think Reagan was the second worst president of the 20th century, just beating out Hoover.

Amazing how polarizing the 'great communicator' was.  To me, he's just the 'great debt-tripler.'

1.  FDR (WWII, New Deal)
2.  Truman (Cold War, Marshall aid, Korea)
3.  Reagan (Cold War, Economy Boom)
4.  Clinton (Economy boom, great foreign policy)
5.  TR (for the People and for the Nature)
6.  Johnson (Vietnam - Civil Rights +)
7.  Nixon
8.  Eisenhower (Golden Era, Arkansas)
9.  Wilson (WWI)
10.Kennedy (Guban crisis, Civil Rights)

Fairly international perspective!

 

I will make a very preliminary list...

1. Harry Truman
2. FDR
3. Ronald Reagan
4. TR
5. LBJ
6. Woodrow Wilson
7. Dwight Eisenhower
8. JFK
9. William Clinton
10. George H. Bush
11. Richard Nixon
12. Jimmy Carter
13. William Taft
14. William McKinley
15. Gerald Ford
16. Herbert Hoover
17. Calvin Coolidge
18. Warren G. Harding

My problem is that I don't strongly like or dislike a lof of presidents, they all have significant cons and pros, especially LBJ, FDR, JFK and some others... :(

Gustaf, how is Hoover not last on your list?

1. FDR
2. TR
3. Clinton
4. Truman
5. JFK
6. Wilson
7. Dwight Eisenhower
8. JFK
9. Nixon
10. McKinley
11. Coolidge
12. GHWB
13. Taft
14. Ford
15. LBJ
16. Carter
17. Reagan
18. Hoover

There you go.

Ehhh...thanks, but I
l make my own list. I think Hoover's main fault was not rising to the occasion, he wasn't that bas as president. Harding is a joke, I don't think it's highly controversial to ahve him at the bottom.

Here's my list:

1. Teddy Roosevelt
2. Franklin Roosevelt
3. Ronald Reagan
4. Harry Truman
5. Richard Nixon
6. William McKinley
7. Dwight Eisenhower
8. George Bush I
9. William Taft
10. John Kennedy'
11. Woodrow Wilson
12. Calvin Coolidge
13. Gerald Ford
14. Warren Harding
15. Herbert Hoover'
16. Bill Clinton
17. Lyndon Johnson
18. Jimmy Carter

I would pick three:

Roosevelt
Truman
Reagan

All three rose to critical challenges in the foreign policy sphere and set the country on a course toward greater security and victory against threats and challenges.

My five favorite as presidents, personality is a differant story:

1. Ronald Reagan
2. Richard Nixon
3. Theodore Roosevelt
4. FDR
5. Harry Truman

The five I most dislike:

1. John Kennedy
2. Bill Clinton
3. Lyndon Johnson
4. Jimmy Carter
5. Woodrow Wilson

Reagan
Eisenhower
TR
Truman
Coolidge

1. Franklin D Roosevelt
2. Lyndon B Johnson (the Vietnam war is the decider)
3. Harry Truman
4. Woodrow Wilson

hard to say after that... I guess Teddy, Ike, Kennedy, Ford, Carter, Coolidge in any order are at 5 to 10 and the others at 11-15, but that's preliminary.
16. Herbert Hoover
17. Warren G Hardinge
18. Richard M Nixon

1. FDR
2. LBJ
3. Truman
4. Wilson
5. Kennedy/Carter
7. Clinton/Teddy
9. Ike
10. Ford (if only for being a complete fool)
11. McKinley/Coolidge/Taft
14. Bush 41
15. Reagan
16. Hoover
---Held in Lucifer's mouth---
17. Harding
18. Nixon

COPYCAT! The only difference is you liked Clinton better than I did! (And when I listed Coolidge rather than Clinton as a top ten contender, that was the only tough choice I didn't run away from...)

Me? Copycat? Never!
I thought about what to write, and that's what I think.
Besides no one else has alluded to Inferno yet... ;)

I'm not quite sure what you meant with "Held in Lucifer's mouth" (He'd certainly spit out Nixon quite quickly) and "if only for being a complete fool". I know LBJ said "the problem with Jerry Ford is that he used to play football without a helmet", and I know Ford himself believes he'll burn in hell for pardoning Richard Nixon.

"Held in Lucifer's mouth" is an allusion to Dante's Inferno and the whole "layers of Hell" thing.

With Ford I just remembered "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe" ;)

Nice list Realpolitik, with the exception of LBJ at no. 2.  You're a little off there.

Remeber, my father ended the LBJ presidency :)

Yeah, that was kind of stupid.

Lewis: you credit LBJ with the Vietnam War? How come?

Ah, OK, I got confused there for a while. :)

I put LBJ at 2 because of the Civil Rights legislation and the War on Poverty.

HEY! HEY! LBJ! HOW MANY KIDS DID YOU KILL TODAY?
HEY! HEY! LBJ! HOW MANY KIDS DID YOU KILL TODAY?

Which is why he's no. 2

Besides it wasn't really his fault, he didn't know how foriegn policy and dipolomacy worked and relied far too much on advisors.

I voted for Reagan.  Obviously most of the presidents prior to FDR were good, since the government was small and could do little damage.  The one exception was Wilson - who is the second worst, after FDR.

Here's the great Al Franken quote:

"I think Bill Clinton was the best president of the 20th century.  But a case could be made for FDR.  Or Kennedy.  Or LBJ, for that matter.  Maybe the other Roosevelt, if you're a republican.  Or Reagan, if you're a ing idiot."

And you call us mean spirited.

I do?  Michael Moore and Al Franken are the Rush Limbaughs and Ann Coulters of our side.  We're entitled.

Limbaugh is just as mean-spirited a Franken, if not more.

Limbaugh can make a point without being profane.  I've never heard him call Democrats idiots.  He gives credit to Dems where it is due.

Screw Ann Coulter, she just makes us look bad.

Limbaugh is the biggest hypocrite this side of Newt Gingrich.  When I heard he had been high for five years....

He wasn't high.  He was adicted ot pain-killers because of his back.  That could happen to anyone.  My grandma was adicted to pain-killers.  What's it to ya?

I would feel sorry for almost anyone addicted to painkillers, but I don't think I can do that with Rush Limbaugh.  Like the Beatles wrote in a Day in the Life, "I just had to laugh"

You'll get the Ann Coulter worshippers on your back now....you're so dead Soulty, sorry to break it ti you... ;)

We can use this in the election! ;)

Well, you know that people who use the one Limbaugh qoute about how "white men doing drugs should be locked up and the key thrown away"  are misqouting him big time.  He said "white men DEALING drug...."  That's a big difference.

Yeah, Limbaugh was very sympathetic to drug users.

He admits his own failing.  You know what he said the first day he came-back, he said that the rehab he went through was a fantastic expierince.  He said that he couldn't believe that this was only availible to adicts.  It really changed his life.

I don't see how that really has much to do with this discussion.

Remember Limbaugh on Sunday NFL Countdown: LOL!

I remember that the media blew his comments way out of proportion, yes.  I remember that no one even brought them up before Tuesday, when the y appeared in an editorial in the Philadelphia Inquierer.  I do remember that much.

I also remember that Rush was good friends with Micheal Irvin until the incident.  As I recall, Irvin has had his own problems with drugs in the past, so to say that Rush treated people with drug problems as sub-human could not possibly be true given the nature of his relationship with Mr. Irvin.

I like Michael Irvin....he attended the University of Miami.

I think Limbaugh made those comments because he knew the OxyContin story was about to break.

What?

What what?

Why would Rush make the Donovan McNab comment because of the Oxy Cotin thing?  That makes no sence.  It just allowed the media to jump on him even more.

To deflect attention.

That just doesn't make sence.  It assumes that Rush would  have known that the DM comment would have caused a huge stir although nobody commented on it until Tuesday.

But if there are two stories, they only get half the attention, but there is one, it gets all of the attention.

Or that person gets double attention, which is hat ended-up happening.

I guess that there are two sides to that argument.

Back to the topic at hand..

TR!

The grand father of progressivism!  LaFollette was better than him though :(

MY FAVORITES: (CAN'T LIST THEM ALL)

10. McKinley
9. Eisenhower
8. Lincoln
7. Garfield
6. Teddy Roosevelt
5. George H. W. Bush
4. Coolidge
3. Nixon
2. George W. Bush
1. Reagan

My mother presently is.

Reagan, by far.

Its easy for Republicans to be hypocrites since we actually have standards. So how could a Democrat be a hypocrite, since they approve of any immoral behavior?

Good point.  I think the Democrats are by definition corrupt.

I'd like to put in a word for #2 - I vote for Calvin Coolidge.  Reagan was obviously the best president of the 20th century, but Coolidge was my favorite as an individual.

Opebo,

I don't think they are by definition corrupt, it's just that the party has been hijacked by extremists since the 1960's and has evolved into a perpetually corrupt and soul less entity.

What I meant was that a 'center-left' party in a capitalist demcracy is by definition corrupt in the sense that it buys votes.  Its sort of inherently without any principles, since it isn't really socialist, but isn't really capitalist either - just an expedient and ever shifting compromise.

fdr

tr

truman

Great list!

I see your smiliey in there :)

should be here  :)

1. FDR. Had Hitler's number from 1933.
2. Teddy Roosevelt. Zeitgeist champ. Midwife to
    modern America.
3. Reagan. "Tear down this wall!" And they did.
4. Truman. We're still here. Thanks, Harry.
5. Eisenhower. Quiet watch. That takes a lotta skill.  
6. Nixon. OK, Mr.Smartypants, you leave Vietnam.
7. JFK .Gosh, tax cuts work.
8. G.H.W.Bush. Gosh, tax hikes don't.
9. Hoover. What, he was responsible for the Crash?
10.Coolidge. I wish Norman Rockwell had done his
     portrait.
11.Taft. Let Teddy split the vote.
12.Ford. Better choice than Carter.
13.Harding. Didn't live long enough to do real harm.
14.Clinton. It's the end of history! Let's party!
15.McKinley. The Phillipines. The original quagmire.
16.LBJ. It took a Democrat to go find another one.
17.Carter. Let's end the cold war by surrendering!      
18.Wilson. I blame Woody for Versailles.

1. TR
2. FDR
3. Truman
4. Wilson
5. Kennedy

I like that :)

Not at all, Fresh. Lists are fun, but they are a kind a glib exercise.  Lots goes on during a Presidency and  every President gets some things right( though Carter and Harding would take some digging) so I ranked them according to the importance, for good or ill,what I think their most pertinent legacy is on the present.

He listed every 20th century president, so obviously the people down at the bottom are going to be the worst presidents of the 20th century in his eyes.

Just so.

1. FDR
2. Eisenhower
3. TR

It's nice to see FDR jump ahead of Reagan :)

You're all wrong.

Seven best:
1. FDR
2. Teddy Roosevelt
3. Harry Truman
4. Woodrow Wilson
5. LBJ
6. Ronald Reagan
7. Dwight Eisenhower

Seven worst:
1. Warren Harding
2. Richard Nixon
3. Herbert Hoover
4. Gerald Ford
5. Jimmy Carter
6. George H.W. Bush
7. William Howard Taft

1. you should read the thread befor posting. me - just an example - posted my rop 3 and it the same 3 on top of your list. other did to.

2. everyone entitle to his views don't you agree? there is not right or wrong here

Bump w/poll restoration

1.FDR
2.Truman
3.Clinton

1. FDR
2. Reagan
3. Truman

Reagan
TR
Truman


bottom 3:

Carter
Harding
Clinton

Truman
Clinton
Eisenhower

If you continue posting such drivel, others will come to believe that you really are 13 (or tiybger).

Coolidge

My top 3:
-----------------------------------------

1. Theodore Roosevelt
2. Franklin D. Roosevelt
3. Harry Truman

Eh, look at the date.  February 13, 2004.  I was stupid and extremely partisan.

In one of the thread on the general discussion boards, I said that Reagan was one of the 5 greatest presidents of the 20th century.  (I'd probably say third or fourth, behind FDR, T. Roosevelt, and maybe Truman).

The end result should be fairly obvious - most Democrats will say FDR and most Republicans will say Reagan.

My personal top 5:
1. FDR
2. TR
3. Ike
4. JFK
5. Clinton

Yeah, so I'm biased. Btw, I wonder whoever voted for Hoover... (looks at PBrunsel) ;)

Calvin Coolidge and Ronald Reagan

Well he's wrong on him being a bad President.  His Foreign Policy alone puts him near the top of the list.  However I can't blame his sentiments on Reagan's domestic policy.

1. FDR
2. Kennedy
3. Clinton

1. Reagan
2. Coolidge
3. Nixion
4. GHW Bush

Seriously, why do we make fun of "leadership conference" josh when we have someone like opebo?

I'll give my vote to Harding. Coolidge was good too but Harding wins out due to Supreme Court appoinments (Taft, Butler, and Sutherland vs. Stone)

1. Franklin D. Roosevelt
2. Harry S Truman                 
3. John F. Kennedy
4. William J. Clinton
5. Theodore Roosevelt
6. Woodrow Wilson
7. Dwight D. Eisenhower
8. Ronald Reagan
9. Lyndon B. Johnson              William McKinley
10.Jimmy Carter             
11.George Bush
12.Calvin Coolidge
13.Gerald Ford
14.William H. Taft
15.William McKinley
16.Richard Nixon
17.Herbert Hoover
18.Warren G. Harding

TR