Discover Channel's "Greatest American"...

[Juice45]

Among some of the nominees are the likes of Limbaugh, Billy Graham, Dr. Phil, Mike Jacko, and of course the entire bush family except the Twins & Jeb. I knew that watching the program would make me angry, but I for some reason couldnt turn the channel. I thought that maybe it was a kind of sad social satire of our country since most of the nominees were pop culture icons, and not humanitarians for the most part.

PS: Appologies if a thread similar has been started.

On edit: link
http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/greatestamerican/about/about.html

[Bluzmann57]

1. Out of the list you gave...

Billy Graham is the only one who even merits any mention at all. Limbaugh?! Jacko? C'mon. Where's George Washington, Abe Lincoln, etc.? Ah, the dumbing down of America is nearly complete now.

[Juice45]

3. Those guys are on the list,

it is chalk full of ex-prezez as expected, but there are some ones that make you go :puke:

[joeljkp]

4. Look at the list

Look at the actual list. Just at a glance I see Muhammad Ali, Neil Armstrong, Lance Armstrong, Edison, Einstein, Ford, Ben Franklin, Bill Gates, Jefferson, Kennedy, MLK, Lincoln, Rosa Parks, a couple Roosevelts, George Washington, etc.

[Juice45]

5. There are plenty that deserve to be on there

Susan B. Anthony, Caser Chavez...but Brett Favre!?!?! I love football and all...

[GoddessOfGuinness]

10. Welcome to DU!

Several good names are on that list; though choosing one person to be THE Greatest American would be tough.

I guess I'd have to pick FDR for pulling us through the Great Depression.

[newyawker99]

15. Hi joeljkp!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[devilgrrl]

2. Do Matt Lauer's hairplugs count as an individual American?

That guy makes my stomach turn.

[Oreo]

6. Couldn't watch it

Any show that would even think about mentioning bush as a great american is not worth my time.
I did catch Nikola Tesla at #96 which was cool. However, they did put in a clip of limbaugh when they mentioned Tesla invented radio (he did... he really did!)

On a side note...
Edison used to kidnap cats and electrocute them with Tesla's AC power to show how dangerous it supposedly was. Saw video of another Edison "experiment" electrocuting an elephant.

[Juice45]

7. Being a graduated EE,

I enjoyed the shout out to Tesla, and Einstein as well. I don't really enjoy nukes, but well blame Oppenheimer for that one

[bullwinkle428]

9. The way Limbaugh talks, a naive person may believe

that HE was the one that invented radio!!

[bullwinkle428]

8. What......no Roy Cohn???

If they wanted to include a laundry list of Bushes, why didn't they just include Prescott? For those who feel I'm coming on too heavily with :sarcasm: , please note the actual list includes Dr. Phil! :spray:

[AllegroRondo]

11. Interesting - the Wright brothers count as one person

or is that a 2 for 1 deal on your vote?

[underpants]

12. What? No Smedley Butler?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. I don't see Limpballs on the list...

And the only shrub on there is Dumbyass.

Since there are so many reasonable choices and only a couple that a wingnut might support, my guess is that raygun will come out on top.

[Juice45]

16. Many of the people I listed earlier

were listed in the Top 100. The vote now is for top 25

[GoddessOfGuinness]

18. Well at least people have enough sense to keep him off the top 25!

:D

[SemiCharmedQuark]

14. Ugh, Lincoln has to share a line with George W. Bush.

Barf. I think Bush would make even the peaceful Lincoln want to beat some ass.

[James T. Kirk]

17. Ralph Hinkley/Hanley is the Greatest American Hero!

[Ian David]

19. Dude... you can vote from payphones

I've been voting for Martin Luther King Junior all day long.

[Ian David]

20. You can vote from payphones and maybe multiple office phones

I've heard it suggested that we should vote for FDR as a way to snub Bush's Social Security plan.

You and I all know that FDR would roll over in his grave if he knew what Bush was doing.

But the right-wing talking heads have been managing to spin it differently and claim that FDR intended Social Security as some kind of temporary measure or something.

I think the only unequivocal, "non-spinable" choices we have are:

1) Bill Clinton
2) Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Personally, I'm a big fan of Clinton's, and he IS really great, but he is by no means "The Greatest American Ever," and to vote for him as such would be rightfully viewed as disingenuous, IMHO.

If you try and call more than three times, the computer will not acknowledge your vote.

So, I am urging everyone to vote early and often for Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Call three times from every pay-phone you can find:

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
1-866-669-3116

Also, does anyone know if you can call multiple times from an office building that has individual extensions / PBX system? In other words, can you run around your office going from desk-to-desk and calling three times from each phone?

Seek out airports, train stations, hotel lobbies-- anyplace that has a large bank of pay-phones.

Related Threads:

Discover Channel's "Greatest American"...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3798540


Apparently The Giggling Murder Made The "Greatest American" Top 25: VOTE
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1831700


Discovery's "Greatest American" Poll: You can vote from pay-phones
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1836917#




Here are the choices:

Muhammed Ali
Lance Armstrong
Neil Armstrong
George W. Bush

Bill Clinton
Call 1-866-669-3105

Walt Disney
Thomas Alva Edison
Albert Einstein
Henry Ford
Benjamin Franklin
Bill Gates
Billy Graham
Bob Hope
Thomas Jefferson
John F. Kennedy (JFK)

Martin Luther King Jr.
Call 1-866-669-3116

Abraham Lincoln
Rosa Parks
Elvis Presley
Ronald Reagan
Eleanor Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)
George Washington
Oprah Winfrey
Wright Brothers

See:
http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/greatestamerican/top25/top25.html