Discovery Channel: Greatest American

[edro]

Greatest American

Winner: Ronald Reagan

No large qualms there...

Top 5:
Ben Franklin
Martin Luther King Jr.
Abraham Lincoln
Ronald Reagan
George Washington

But, also inlcuded in the top 10:
OPRAH WINFREY!
GEORGE W. BUSH!
BILL CLINTON!

WTF are they thinking? How can America be so stupid to actually think those 3 even remotely deserve to be in the same sentence as the top 5.

Whatever.

 

[neutralizer]

WTF?! George W. Bush?!!

 

[Siva]

Reagan is the greatest American? Iran-Contra scandle realllllly makes him some great guy. Hey, its great that his administration could be responsible for funding a revolution that almost completely destroyed an already devestated country and he is still named the greatest American.

 

[edro]

Originally posted by: neutralizer
WTF?! George W. Bush?!!

Yeah, he definitely embodies te American spirit! Grrr...

 

[daniel1113]

Yeah... it really lowered the quality of the entire list, IMO. Even though I was glad to see Reagan win, I think the list should have been limited to people either not living, or had to achieved greatness 25 years or more ago just to remove the short term celebrity status that occures in this country. Oh well. One more win for the Gipper

 

[edro]

Originally posted by: Siva
Reagan is the greatest American? Iran-Contra scandle realllllly makes him some great guy. Hey, its great that his administration could be responsible for funding a revolution that almost completely destroyed an already devestated country and he is still named the greatest American.

The main thing going for him was the breakup of the USSR.

 

[daniel1113]

Originally posted by: Siva
Reagan is the greatest American? Iran-Contra scandle realllllly makes him some great guy. Hey, its great that his administration could be responsible for funding a revolution that almost completely destroyed an already devestated country and he is still named the greatest American.

Everyone on that list had both extremely good and extremely bad points... no one was perfect. Picking Reagan out for it is silly.

 

[flexy]

Originally posted by: edro13

Originally posted by: neutralizer
WTF?! George W. Bush?!!

Yeah, he definitely embodies te American spirit! Grrr...

EHRM....he freakin' does !!!

(Think about that a while....)

 

[Chaotic42]

1. Ben Franklin
2. George Washington
3. Thomas Edison
4. Theodore Roosevelt
5. Henry Ford

 

[Mo0o]

THis list is fubar'ed

 

[Siva]

Originally posted by: daniel1113

Originally posted by: Siva
Reagan is the greatest American? Iran-Contra scandle realllllly makes him some great guy. Hey, its great that his administration could be responsible for funding a revolution that almost completely destroyed an already devestated country and he is still named the greatest American.

Everyone on that list had both extremely good and extremely bad points... no one was perfect. Picking Reagan out for it is silly.

Yeah, its just silly to hold politicians responsible for their actions in office, at least that seems to be the attitude of the average American.

 

[godmare]

Originally posted by: Siva
Reagan is the greatest American? Iran-Contra scandle realllllly makes him some great guy. Hey, its great that his administration could be responsible for funding a revolution that almost completely destroyed an already devestated country and he is still named the greatest American.

Reagan's got soft support with his death last year.

 

[Taggart]

It is Lincoln hands down. He saved the union and started the journey to equality for black people.

 

[daniel1113]

Originally posted by: Siva
Yeah, its just silly to hold politicians responsible for their actions in office, at least that seems to be the attitude of the average American.

Yeah, politicians are never held accountable... cough::Clinton::cough.

I agree that more politicians should be held to the flames, but by your standards, even Lincoln and Franklin shouldn't be held with any great regard. At least that is the impression I am getting from your posts.

 

[Siva]

Originally posted by: daniel1113

Originally posted by: Siva
Yeah, its just silly to hold politicians responsible for their actions in office, at least that seems to be the attitude of the average American.

Yeah, politicians are never held accountable... cough::Clinton::cough.

I agree that more politicians should be held to the flames, but by your standards, even Lincoln and Franklin shouldn't be held with any great regard. At least that is the impression I am getting from your posts.

No, I just think Reagan gets far too much credit for what I would credit to being in office at the right time. I didn't say he was the worst president, much of what happened in Nicaragua wasn't really all his fault, but he was far from the greatest American.

 

[mwtgg]

Originally posted by: Siva

Originally posted by: daniel1113

Originally posted by: Siva
Yeah, its just silly to hold politicians responsible for their actions in office, at least that seems to be the attitude of the average American.

Yeah, politicians are never held accountable... cough::Clinton::cough.

I agree that more politicians should be held to the flames, but by your standards, even Lincoln and Franklin shouldn't be held with any great regard. At least that is the impression I am getting from your posts.

No, I just think Reagan gets far too much credit for what I would credit to being in office at the right time. I didn't say he was the worst president, much of what happened in Nicaragua wasn't really all his fault, but he was far from the greatest American.

I think that defines Clinton's presidency.

 

[Descartes]

Why are you so surprised? When people vote they vote that which is closest, most familiar, and most popular. Nothing surprising here.

 

[daniel1113]

Originally posted by: Siva
No, I just think Reagan gets far too much credit for what I would credit to being in office at the right time. I didn't say he was the worst president, much of what happened in Nicaragua wasn't really all his fault, but he was far from the greatest American.

As much as I loved the guy, I agree that he isn't the Greatest American. I probably wouldn't put any politicians within my top 10. However, I do think in terms of American polticial history, Reagan's accomplishments are easily up there with Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, and Lincoln.

EDIT: I wouldn't call being elected President twice during the Cold War being at the right place at the right time, but that's neither here nor there

 

[Cheesemoo]

Most of the list was crap...

 

[Yossarian]

I thought this was gonna be about the Greatest American Hero.

 

[mwtgg]

Originally posted by: daniel1113

Originally posted by: Siva
No, I just think Reagan gets far too much credit for what I would credit to being in office at the right time. I didn't say he was the worst president, much of what happened in Nicaragua wasn't really all his fault, but he was far from the greatest American.

As much as I loved the guy, I agree that he isn't the Greatest American. I probably wouldn't put any politicians within my top 10. However, I do think in terms of American polticial history, Reagan's accomplishments are easily up there with Franklin, Jefferson, and Washington.

EDIT: I wouldn't call being elected President twice during the Cold War being at the right place at the right time, but that's neither here nor there

Fixed

 

[Strk]

This list also included Michael Jackson; so I wouldn't put much faith in it.

 

[daniel1113]

Originally posted by: mwtgg
Fixed

No Lincoln?

 

[daniel1113]

Originally posted by: Strk
This list also included Michael Jackson; so I wouldn't put much faith in it.

It would be more interesting to see a list compiled by different groups of people... from people within the media, to college professors, etc.

I would much rather see the results from those poles.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: edro13
Greatest American

Winner: Ronald Reagan

No large qualms there...

Top 5:
Ben Franklin
Martin Luther King Jr.
Abraham Lincoln
Ronald Reagan
George Washington

But, also inlcuded in the top 10:
OPRAH WINFREY!
GEORGE W. BUSH!
BILL CLINTON!

WTF are they thinking? How can America be so stupid to actually think those 3 even remotely deserve to be in the same sentence as the top 5.

Whatever.

AS much as I admire President Reagan, its too soon for him to be named Greatest American. Same with President W. Bush. Winfrey and Clinton shouldn't be anywhere on the list.