BF2S Forums Who's the Worst U.S. President Ever?

Bertster7 wrote:

Kmarion wrote:

Braddock wrote:

Bush ...definitely one of the least intelligent Presidents America have had, not a good advertisement for American intelligence.

A good representation of lack of intelligence would be judging over 300 million people based on one man.

One man (and an army of campaigners dedicated to the Bush dynasty) who convinced a large proportion of those 300 million to vote for him - twice.


Although I'm sure voter apathy and die hard Republicanism played as much a part as the man himself.

I'm kind of suprised not to see Nixon as an option.

Checked approval rating lately?

Braddock wrote:

Kmarion wrote:

Braddock wrote:

Bush ...definitely one of the least intelligent Presidents America have had, not a good advertisement for American intelligence.

A good representation of lack of intelligence would be judging over 300 million people based on one man.

What is it with Americans? they get so defensive so quickly... Did I say that 300 million Americans were as dumb as Bush? No ...I said he wasn't a good advertisement for American intelligence. What kind of message does it send out when you elect a man who is quite obviously not a great intellectual power ...to put it mildly? He is your leader, your alpha male representative to the rest of the world. I don't doubt that he has an army of advisers and aides, obviously; I mean the man spent 10mins reading My Pet Goat while the nation was experiencing the worst attack since Pearl Harbor, he couldn't really be running the whole show. I'm not saying all Americans are as stupid as him (heaven forbid) but he is the most prominent American on the world stage and as such will be prominent in many peoples minds when making assumptions about the American nation and its citizens, even though those assumptions will not be fully informed. It's about perception, if aliens landed and communicated with Bush what would they presume about the American people?

(insert retaliatory comment here... ).

I made a statement to try and discourage stereotyping. It's that simple.

"What is it with Americans..." It amazes me that you still can't see your generalizing. Maybe read what you are writing?

Last edited by Kmarion (2007-02-21 17:03:19)

KEN-JENNINGS wrote:

Ronald Reagan.

Andrew Jackson.

FDR.

edit: "worst" is such a subjective term.  Worst in what way?

Andrew Jackson slaughtered and despised my ancestors (Native-Americans)

FDR put a piece of gum in a water leak ("overcoming" the Great Depression)

Ronald Reagan increased the national debt to unforeseen heights (much like FDR) and helped pave the way for the current military/industrial complex while at the same time supporting terrorists.

You beat me to Reagan. You can't discuss worst presidents ever without Reagan, a man practically elevated to sainthood for lying about circumventing the Constitution by people who excoriate Clinton for lying about a blowjob. After the bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon his response was to "cut and run"; a historical fact conveniently overlooked by those who now use the same phrase to attack anyone who doesn't want to "stay the course" in Iraq. He talked a lot of tough crap about not negotiating with terrorists while trading arms to Middle Eastern fundamentalists, while arranging the "October Surprise" to make it look as if resolute strength and not covert deals had secured the release of hostages from the American embassy in Iran and while lending support to a glorified Central American drug gang he called "freedom fighters". His Secretary of the Interior declared that conservation of natural resources wasn't important because "Jesus would be returning soon". Oh and of course, it was the Reagan administration that removed Iraq from the list of terrorist-supporting nations, sent Donald "You go to war with the Army you have" Rumsfeld to extend the hand of friendship to Saddam Hussein and summarily turned a blind eye to every single atrocity Hussein's government committed against both its enemies and its own citizens. But you know what's great about Reagan?

He's fuckin' dead. May he Rot In Place.

What, no Woodrow Wilson? No Jimmy Carter?

I have a feeling that there's so many Bush/Clinton votes because few people know any other kind of history.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2007-02-21 17:57:02)

doctastrangelove1964 wrote:

Hoover's lack of forsight caused the great depression.

Not quite, it was mostly the average citizen's fault. Buying too many stocks on credit, rich on paper, then as the Stock Market began to fall, everyone began to sell which caused stocks to plummet even more and voila! The Depression hits.

Hoover had a belief (because he was a self-made millionare) that people can acquire success through their hard work and brilliance. This somewhat clouded his judgement when the stocks fell, he believed that Americans had strong resiliency and thought it was just a phase. But it should still be noted that Hoover still passed a few pieces of legislation that helped alleviate a little bit of suffering during the Depression. Although I don't doubt that he may have been able to better prepare or avoid the Depression, he still unfairly recieves the brunt of the blame for the Depression.

As for the worst president ever- Warren Harding.

Decent man himself, but couldn't see the corruption and wrongdoings of his cabinet. His whole presidency was riddled with scandals and corruption. An anti-conservationist becomes Secretary of Interior, Attorney General is corrupt, and a lot of crap happened.

Braddock wrote:

Kmarion wrote:

Braddock wrote:

Bush ...definitely one of the least intelligent Presidents America have had, not a good advertisement for American intelligence.

A good representation of lack of intelligence would be judging over 300 million people based on one man.

What is it with Americans? they get so defensive so quickly... Did I say that 300 million Americans were as dumb as Bush? No ...I said he wasn't a good advertisement for American intelligence. What kind of message does it send out when you elect a man who is quite obviously not a great intellectual power ...to put it mildly? He is your leader, your alpha male representative to the rest of the world. I don't doubt that he has an army of advisers and aides, obviously; I mean the man spent 10mins reading My Pet Goat while the nation was experiencing the worst attack since Pearl Harbor, he couldn't really be running the whole show. I'm not saying all Americans are as stupid as him (heaven forbid) but he is the most prominent American on the world stage and as such will be prominent in many peoples minds when making assumptions about the American nation and its citizens, even though those assumptions will not be fully informed. It's about perception, if aliens landed and communicated with Bush what would they presume about the American people?

(insert retaliatory comment here... ).

First, let me ask you. Have you ever sat down with Bush? Queried him about politics? The state of national affairs? How do you KNOW that he's an idiot?

The answer is, you don't. You're making an unfounded accusation. Your're blindly repeating what you hear in the media. Hell, you're fox news.

I've actually met the man. I found him to be kind, personable, and very friendly. I have met hundreds of morons, and they come across as morons. Bush didn't.

And lets ask you this: What would you have done if you were President and the WTC attacks happened. Remember, you have no authority to do anything. I don't know about you, but I'd trust my assistants to do their job, and bring the decisions that need to be made at the highest level to me. You let the atty general get the FBI involved, coordinate activities with the FAA, and when they know something, they come to you.

When you're the leader of 300 million people, you simply don't have the time to micromanage. You appoint underlings that have your confidence, and expect them to do their jobs.

Bush by my standards is NOT a Bad president. Now, I don't think he's great either, but he defenitely isn't bad. When crisis occurs, the president at the time is usually unfairly blamed. Has there been any huge scandal to hit the White House? I don't think so. Free speech repressed and illegal wire tapping? Sure, I'm against it too, but when national security is threatened, these things tend to happen. The Red Scare for example. People were seeing red (communism) everywhere, and the presidents back then did not do anything to stop it. Do we really think less of the presidents of the time because of that? Not really. So how is it any different now?

I have to say Grant (AP US History FTW!). Sure, he didn't want to be president, but you'd think that if you wound up becoming one, you could show some enthusiasm about it. Instead, he let corruption run rampant, allowed the spoils system to go on, allowed the Reconstruction to last longer than it should have, and was a raging drunk at that. I still can't forgive Boss Tweed for stealing all of New York's money.

People criticize Bush for "not doing anything" on 9/11.  What would you have wanted him to do?  Hop in some shiny new fighter and blast the first airliner he saw...that would have helped! [/sarcasm]

I vote Buchanan.  He basically let the civil war develop from a few social problems into a massive conflict.

Last edited by RAIMIUS (2007-02-21 18:42:25)

RAIMIUS wrote:

People criticize Bush for "not doing anything" on 9/11.  What would you have wanted him to do?  Hop in some shiny new fighter and blast the first airliner he saw...that would have helped! [/sarcasm]

I vote Buchanan.  He basically let the civil war develop from a few social problems into a massive conflict.

The Civil War wasn't about "a few social problems."  It was about two rising and polar opposite economies.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jqlZgpFWGUw nuff said

Smithereener wrote:

Given the number of rising votes for Bush/Clinton, do people here even know of the previous presidents besides the "famous" ones (ie Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, etc.).

Fancy_Pollux wrote:

A vote for Bush is a vote for historical ignorance. Given the fact that the mean age on this forum is roughly 14, the poll results do not surprise me.

GunSlinger OIF II wrote:

bill pullman

lol, nice.

Maybe if Hillary gets elected, she can be our own Oliver Cromwell and ban Christmas.