Who is your favorite and least favorite Presidents and why?

[Anarchist420]

My 2 favorite Presidents are Martin Van Buren and Grover Cleveland.
I like Van Buren because he est'd the first ITS (the New Whigs got rid of it, then James K Polk installed the 2nd one), he supported low tarriffs, and denied the country the chance to conquer Mexico. Van Buren was also high on civil liberties.

I like Cleveland because he fought against protectionism and interventionism, he was pro-states rights, and he supported the Gold Standard and adhered to classical liberalism.

My 2 least favorite Presidents are Lincoln and Wilson, because of the National Banking Act and Counter-Revolution done by the former, and WWI and the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 by the latter.

 

[Lemon law]

To start out with, Anarchist420, you are well out of the mainstream for not liking Lincoln.

And in someways this thread is a fools game, why not ask who is your favorite and least
Roman Emperor?

So we somewhat have to ask living people, and not the long dead.

But in terms of 20'th and 21'th century Presidents, Teddy Roosevelt is high on my list of fav's, FDR was also a giant, and so was Truman. George H. Bush and Bill Clinton are about equivalent, Ronald Reagan was a another more wrong than right President, but GWB was an unmitigated disaster. And Nixon left a mixed legacy, a great mind that could have been great, but add the Nixon totally perverted brain and he was a rotten person, but rank Nixon only slightly above GWB as the worst in recent history.

As for Obama, that legacy is not written yet, but like Hoover, Obama inherited the worst economy of the past two generations. Hoover too could have been great, but Obama seems to be coping better with the shit economy he inherited.

But for the bottom line vote, GWB for the worst US President for the last 150 years and maybe ever. But for Hoover, Nixon, and so many other US Presidents
we can find redeeming virtues, but in the case of GWB, I can't think of a single redeeming virtue. Well maybe the marine reserve in Hawaii, after that it gets really hard.

 

[woolfe9999]

But for the bottom line vote, GWB for the worst US President for the last 150 years and maybe ever.

I have a friend who claims that GWB is not only the worst U.S. President ever, but the worst elected official in the history of all elected positions since the dawn of man. I have protested several times that this must be hyperbole, that there has to have been someone, somewhere, at least on an local or state level, who was worse. He says no, I'm fairly confident that this is accurate.

And this friend of mine is a republican.

- wolf

 

[nageov3t]

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is an elected official.

I'd rather have GWB than martial law and protesters getting gunned down in the streets of DC by the president's private army.

 

[woolfe9999]

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is an elected official.

I'd rather have GWB than martial law and protesters getting gunned down in the streets of DC by the president's private army.

I'm not defending his statement as literally true. In fact, I find his hyperbole extremely amusing, which is why I posted it here.

- wolf

 

[CallMeJoe]

I have a friend who claims that GWB is not only the worst U.S. President ever, but the worst elected official in the history of all elected positions since the dawn of man. I have protested several times that this must be hyperbole, that there has to have been someone, somewhere, at least on an local or state level, who was worse. He says no, I'm fairly confident that this is accurate.
And this friend of mine is a republican.
- wolf

At the risk of invoking Godwin's law, we should remember who was once elected Chancellor of Germany...

 

[nageov3t]

I'm not defending his statement as literally true. In fact, I find his hyperbole extremely amusing, which is why I posted it here.

- wolf

I was going off the "I'm fairly confident that this is accurate." comment

as far as my own least/favorite presidents go... Richard Nixon for favorite ("the last liberal president") and, of course, GWB for least.

purely as a person, Harry Truman ranks pretty high in my book too.

 

[woolfe9999]

By "I" I meant "he" (paraphrasing).

To be fair, he doesn't think that anyone elected in a totally corrupt system with rigged voting like Iran, or Nazi Germany/Stalinist Russia, qualifies because he thinks those are dictatorships with only faux trappings of democracy. He also says that he doubts any state or local officials could ever be "worse," because he seems to define "worse" according to actual harm caused rather than by any particular instrinsic quality of the individual in question. Which raises an interesting question of which criteria you use: is it the actual impact of that person's actions and policies, or something about the person himself separate and apart from actual results.

- wolf

 

[nageov3t]

By "I" I meant "he" (paraphrasing).

To be fair, he doesn't think that anyone elected in a totally corrupt system with rigged voting like Iran, or Nazi Germany/Stalinist Russia, qualifies because he thinks those are dictatorships with only faux trappings of democracy.

well that's just silly... so if GWB canceled/rigged elections and kept himself in power with the military's support, he wouldn't be the worst president anymore?

 

[Narmer]

At the risk of invoking Godwin's law, we should remember who was once elected Chancellor of Germany...

Was he ever elected?

 

[woolfe9999]

well that's just silly... so if GWB canceled/rigged elections and kept himself in power with the military's support, he wouldn't be the worst president anymore?

Good point. I'll pass that one on the next time I talk to him about this.

As I said, I find his position incredibly amusing, because it's hard to fathom hating an elected official so much that you are given that sort of exaggeration. I literally LOL whenever he tells me this, and we've had the conversation several times. But then, I have a very warped sense of humor, and you really had to have been there.

- wolf

 

[woolfe9999]

Was he ever elected?

No.

In 1932, he was able to come in second with 33% of the vote. He was shortly thereafter installed as chancellor after backroom dealing among the German old guard conservatives. After taking over as head of state, all other political parties apart from NSDAP were disbanded, and Goebbels twice staged "votes of confidence," where Hitler was the only person on the ballot. After much Gestapo and brown shirt intimidation, he received nearly 100% of those votes.

- wolf

 

[Fern]

Favorite: Thomas Jefferson because I've found him interesting, has nothing to do with his term as president.

Least favorite: Abraham Lincoln. I say that because I don't think the civil war was necessary. I also believe that states who freely join a union have the right to freely leave a union, plus I feel like being controversial ATM.

I'm also leaning towards some others as least favorite, my criteria being those who impact my personal life the most. This includes raising my taxes or infringing on something I want to do, no matter what. In a few years when the HCR fully kicks in I'll get back to you on Obama.

Oh, and whowever raised my retirement age for full Social Security benefits is definately on my least favorites list. The bastard.

Fern

 

[Anarchist420]

Favorite: Thomas Jefferson because I've found him interesting, has nothing to do with his term as president.

Least favorite: Abraham Lincoln. I say that because I don't think the civil war was necessary. I also believe that states who freely join a union have the right to freely leave a union, plus I feel like being controversial ATM.

I'm also leaning towards some others as least favorite, my criteria being those who impact my personal life the most. This includes raising my taxes or infringing on something I want to do, no matter what. In a few years when the HCR fully kicks in I'll get back to you on Obama.

Oh, and whowever raised my retirement age for full Social Security benefits is definately on my least favorites list. The bastard.

Fern

About 3 or 4 years ago when I thought TJ was the most libertarian and didn't know what the Federal Reserve was exactly, I would've narrowed
it down exactly like that myself.

 

[woolfe9999]

Oh, and whowever raised my retirement age for full Social Security benefits is definately on my least favorites list. The bastard.

Fern

Reagan is one of your least favorite? Interesting.

 

[Fern]

Reagan is one of your least favorite? Interesting.

I thought it was him.

Look, as much as he may be likeable, the S.O.B. is making me work another 2 years for my SS money. He's officially on my sh!t list.

Fern

 

[Schadenfroh]

Andrew Jackson is my favorite.

*He attempted to stop the nation's wealth from being concentrated in one region
*Paid off the national debt
*Kick started the era of "Jacksonian Democracy"

Least Favorites:
Hmm....
Carter (too many things to list, but otherwise great fellow and great person, bad president)
Bush 2 (debt burden, horrible foreign policy)
Lincoln (Contributed to an unnecessary war under the guise of "preserving the union." Although, he was probably one of the better Republicans at that time. He also did not recall General Sherman despite his war-crimes.)

 

[spidey07]

Thomas Jefferson because he knew what liberty was for favorite.

Obama is the worst ever because he is the direct opposite.

 

[Anarchist420]

now look at this:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/pub...012/election_2012_barack_obama_42_ron_paul_41

 

[ProfJohn]

Favorites:
Reagan for restoring hope to the country after the twin disasters of Watergate and Jimmy Carter.

Washington, Adams, Jefferson etc for setting up such a great form of government and setting us down the path we have followed.

Least:
Jimmy Carter, total disaster as president in every way shape and form.

Bush 2 for taking the Republican revolution of the 90s and destroying it to the point that people mistakenly believe that Bush stands for what the Republican party represents when he does not.

Obama: for his believing that he knows what is right for us more than we know it ourselves.

 

[Tristicus]

Whenever I see a thread by this guy...

 

[nageov3t]

now look at this:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/pub...012/election_2012_barack_obama_42_ron_paul_41

stfu with the ron paul spam already

 

[CADsortaGUY]

James Madison and Jefferson are favorites (figure that one out )

FDR and LBJ are the worst - mainly because they pushed us to the point where we are today with bloated entitlements and gov't control. (carter wasn't the worst - he was just a moron.)

 

[Throckmorton]

Favorite is Barack Obama, least favorite is Ronald Reagan

 

[nageov3t]

Obama is the worst ever because he is the direct opposite.

Favorite is Barack Obama

really? you're making that judgment after a year in office?

really?