Here's why Reagan won the "Greatest American" thing.

[Chichiri]

Re: Reagan winning "Greatest American" -- I am **AMAZED** . . .

. . . that anyone actually watches the Discovery Channel. :silly:

But seriously, here's why he won:

1) The poll was conducted by AOL. Hence, it was most heavily advertised on AOL.

2) AOL is the country's most popular dial-up service.

3) With broadband internet becoming steadily more popular and less expensive across the nation, the largest group of AOLers today are probably rednecks -- or, more broadly (and more politely), those who live in rural parts of the country where broadband is not available and cheap.

4) Rednecks vote Republican.

5) There was only one real Republican in the top five. Everyone else was on our side.

[Mythsaje]

1. A lot of people

consider the Discovery Channel an educational network.

And it can be.

But this nonsense? We'll ask several million generally ignorant people to vote on something they know nothing about...how does THAT sound?

[autorank]

2. They're probably using Diebold voting machines (LOL)

Who cares, they're idiots. Screw TVee and the culture machine. They can go for a long walk off of a short pier.

:evilgrin:

[Roxy66]

3. Well, I used to think it was credible...needless to say, it's not

[LittleClarkie]

4. Death as a career move

It's cause he died recently. That'll idealize anyone, you know what I mean?

[acmavm]

What's that tell you about the average I.Q. of a lot of people in this

country.

Those yokels just stayed home in front of their televisions to prove to the world what a bunch of backward dumbasses they are.

All I can figure is that we better take a good look at the educational system in this country or a lot of people are marrying their first cousins.

[sellitman]

5. He was the greatest vegetable.

That must be what they meant.


It was a typo.

[Deja Q]

6. For the truth on the traitor, visit this site:

www.liberalslikechrist.org/reagan

www.liberalslikechrist.org/reagan

www.liberalslikechrist.org/reagan

www.liberalslikechrist.org/reagan

www.liberalslikechrist.org/reagan

(it's so good, I had to repeat it!)

[IndyOp]

7. Ridiculous when MLK is in the line-up -- tho

tho my overall reaction is fine - Raygun won - at least * did not even make it to the Final 5. If that had happened we'd know for sure the whole contest was a set up or that we should in fact flee the country immediately (if not sooner).

:kick:

[Chichiri]

9. I think * was 6.

See above.

[IndyOp]

11. Eeewwwwww - disappointing.

Given *'s current ratings, I am surprised, but not hugely so. The personality types who participate in such online polls are a long, long way from a representative sample of US citizens.

:kick:

[Chichiri]

12. Not just online polls.

At least three "real" polls have placed his approval rating firmly at 42%.

[IndyOp]

17. The last polls I remember were in the low 40's --

and that is really low for a second term president during 'wartime'. The approval ratings for specific items - Iraq and economy - are lower than the overall ratings (which are more likely to reflect approval of 'personality' rather than competence). California is rating him even lower (30's) - and the nation usually follows CA. Overall, the news about *'s poll numbers is good, I think.

I'm still relieved that he did not make it in the Top 5 and he did not win. People tend to believe what they think everyone else believes - if they saw * win this it would have a negative impact on public opinion (would make them like * more).

:kick:

[minkyboodle]

21. zeep zeep

Ronnie Raygun.....beep....beep.... (in a Jimmie Carl Black voice.....)

[peekaloo]

8. Well hell Vern how many Amuricans take 7 days to bury?

A few younger people I know believe he was a great man based on the media orgasm that surrounded his departure.

[Chichiri]

10. As the other guy said . . .

Death as a career move.

[The Revolution]

13. Vote was split

I think #5 was the biggest reason. All the right-wing folks voted for reagan just because he was a republican. Which is pretty much what I figured would happen.

I wouldn't worry about it to much. In the end, its just a TV show. And we know the truth.

[jfalchion]

15. "And we know the truth."

Well, I don't feel very "free" right now surrounded by all these idiots.

[TheFarseer]

14. The reason he won

was because republicans, conservative etc have no ability to be reasonable, objective and put things into context. They just want to cheer lead. If you honestly think Ronald Reagan had a greater positive impact on this country than Lincoln or Washington then God help you, you are an idiot.

[kurtyboy]

24. Hell, I voted three times for the Republican!

But his name was Abraham Lincoln.

Ronald Reagan wouldn't rate in my top forty, even if the list was restricted to politicians...well, I take that back--he was one helluva a Head of State (another name for national cheerleader), perhaps the best ever. But as Commander in Chief (lotsa dead in Lebanon), Chief Executive (a debt so deep we'll be living with it for years), and Lead Diplomat---ehhh, not so good...

I mean, his administration was the most corrupt since Nixon (also in the top 100--please tell me I'm dreaming!), with the likes of Poindexter, North, and Watt. On top of them there was un-indicted co-conspirator George H.W. Bush, who also made the sweet 90.

But what can you say about a poll that had Michael Jackson, Ellen DeGeneres, Tom Cruise, and Clint Eastwood in the top 100? Did I mention Mel Gibson, Brett Favre, Michael Jordan, or Hugh Hefner? What about Dr. Phil, Steven Spielberg, Tiger Woods, and Pat Tillman? Can anyone truly understand the phenominal shallowness of the methodology and judging? I don't think so.

The name of the survey is misleading--it ain't the "Greatest American", its the "Most popular American among people who cared about logging onto AOL and casting three votes in a confusing format"

[Bill Wade]

16. I actually have an evil Raygun goat tattoo.

I wish I could post it, but I don't have a picture on my computer that I could attach.

Its a great tat, says "The 666ipper" underneath of it. Some random details about it: Reagan has red eyes, blood dripping from his mouth, 6 tits, and is pissing fire.

Truly a masterpiece. :)

[Bombero1956]

20. it speaks to the educational system

in this country. Here we have The first elected President of the United States, one of its founding fathers and signer of the Declaration of Independence, a president who is credited with freeing a race from slavery and preserving the union, the greatest civil rights advocated this country has ever known and the vote goes to the man most responsible for demonizing liberalism, the one most responsible for the Iran-Contra affair, a union-buster who was callous to the poor, a man who's "greatest achievement" is the Star Wars missile defense system? These people don't know history and wouldn't know a great American if he stood next to them. Besides the show was produced by NBC the Nothing But Conservatives Network and the voting was done on AOL a Time-Warner company who also owns CNN, the Conservative News Network. Face it folks, the fix was in when * came in ahead of the Big Dog and FDR. So tomorrow when my resident freeper starts to crow about the greatest American being Ronnie, I will simply tell him that no election in which you could vote three times in one week for your choice is worth shit and means that... shit.

[KelleyKramer]

18. Maybe it shows how much Discovery 'informs' their viewers

How much you wanna bet the majority of people who voted for Reagan did not know ...

Reagan sold weapons to Iranian terrorist.

After 6 years of Reagans economic policies the stock market crashed.

Reagan bankrupted the budged and ran up more debt than the previous 30-40 years combined

Reagan oversaw the largest banking scandal in US and world history, sticking the US taxpayer with the $500+ billion bill.

Still to this day, American workers have money deducted from every paycheck just to pay the INTEREST on those last two items from Reagan.

[chaumont58]

19. My little story on Raygun

Back at the turn of the century, TimeLife had a series of 'best of the century' for various personalities. They had one on the best politician of the century, and, of course, Time being Time, ole Raygun was prominently in the list. Harry Truman was left off completely. I was irrate and sent them an email accusing them of kissing right wing ass. Time being Time, that is exactly what they were doing. About the same time, CSPAN had commissioned a good portion of the professional historians to rate all American Presidents. Their list came in with Truman at five, behind Lincoln, Washington and the two Roosevelts. Raygun was somewhere in the middle. I felt vindicated.
Only those without a clue about history would rate Raygun high in anything, except maybe fucking the US Constitution(see IranContra).

[Lithos]

23. I would rank Reagan high

Same as Shrub.. High from their medications...

L-

[FreedomAngel82]

22. When I first voted

I had trouble figuring out how to vote and accidently voted for Reagan. Ugh. It was a strange layout. :shrug: I couldn't vote for Clinton. :(