Who is the most over-rated 20th Century President

[WI_DEM]

Poll question: Who is the most over-rated 20th Century President

I'm only including those on this list who have been in many historians list of Great or near great presidents.

[flamingyouth]

Reagan

Oh yeah, and Reagan.

[WindRavenX]

1. REAGAN

He gave us:
-Osama and current middle eastern terrorism
-Neocons
-Massive debt

x(

HE FUCKING SUCKED.

[Seabiscuit]

4. Posthumously he also gave us that grotesque orgy of adulation at his

funeral scripted by the neocons who took root in his cabinet and have by now grown and spread like "The Blob".

[WindRavenX]

6. ah yes

Who can forget that...you'd think that he was Jesus or sumthin'...

[Seabiscuit]

8. The hilarious part is how Ron Reagan, Jr. blasted the neocons for trying

to claim Reagan as their own. As bad as Reagan was, and as much as Ron disagreed with his dad's policies, he really slammed the neocons for trying to co-opt his dad's legacy - pointing out how his dad never would have approved of so many of the things the Bushies have done.

Nonetheless, many neocons like Rummy, Wolfie and of course Bush, Sr. got their start in the Reagan administrations. So we have Reagan to blame, in part, for their current ascendacy to power.

[Fenris]

2. Reagan for Republicans

Kennedy for Democrats.

[Zomby Woof]

23. agree on both counts

Reagan's overrating is self-evident, but Kennedy's overestimation needs pointing out around here, because he is one of "ours", and is allegedly immune to criticism.

I say, "bullshit". I lay the escalation of Vietnam at his feet. The Bay of Pigs, lack of action on civil rights, and the phony 'Alliance For Progress', which was was just another way to exploit Latin America, with a smiley face and nice-sounding name. He also cut taxes on the wealthiest bracket, so I guess Daddy Joe got a big break (speaking of Mafia dons).

I will give him credit for the Peace Corps and the handling of the missile crisis, but that doesn't do more than barely balance out the failures - hence, he is overrated.

The sad fact is, the assassin's bullet sealed his legacy as a saint among many Democrats. I think RFK was a shade better, and that HE has the unfulfilled legacy.

[barb162]

3. Reagan is SO over- rated

Iran Contra, the S & L debacle, invasion of Granada, trickle- down economics, list goes on and on with his screwups

[Seabiscuit]

5. Don't forget: "Ketchup is a vegetable".

[barb162]

9. that line makes perfect sense when as guv of CA he didn't know

what "parity" was. I remember a reporter asking him a question regarding that and since he was the guv of the largest agricultural state, you have to wonder that he didn't even know the meaning of the word.

[Seabiscuit]

11. Next to Dubya, the dumbest, most ignorant president ever!

Both even dumber than Dan Quayle.

[last_texas_dem]

7. Reagan, however...

In Reagan's case it may be that he's simply still so unjustifiably popular among the general public. Among historians, I've rarely seen him ranked anywhere but in the middle ranks, still higher than I'd put him, but maybe a good sign that when it comes to the views of historians, who actually have a larger role than it might seem when it comes to shaping popular perceptions of Presidents' legacies, Reagan isn't going to be remembered as all that great.

Kennedy and Eisenhower come to mind when it comes to Presidents who are overrated in the sense that people think they accomplished more in office when they really did. I think with Kennedy this is because of his tragic death and what he could have accomplished, and with Eisenhower this is simply because people liked him and he managed to not screw things up too royally during his eight years in office.

[vinnievin777]

10. Okay

Whoever put John F. Kennedy down is a complete moron.

Vinnie Vin
http://www.vinnievin.com

[Seabiscuit]

12. Agreed. JFK is up there with Lincoln and FDR in my book.

Flame away, JFK bashers. You all suck. I'm outta here.

[Rhiannon12866]

16. I agree. JFK was the best, despite his term being cut short.

Who could possibly disagree?;(

[The Magistrate]

13. Wilson By A Nose Over The Mangy Actor

The former's over-rating continues some eighty years on, despite the havoc caused; the latter's over-rating is very recent, and may well be corrected soon enough....

[Peter Frank]

14. Warren G. Harding --

--the potential for his ability to accomplish great things was dealt a severe blow by his death in office.

He was overrated by the presumption that he might have actually done something of significance, had he lived.

[Rhiannon12866]

15. Not Jimmy Carter, that's for damn sure!!!

He didn't even make your list, no big surprise, nor any fault to you. IMO, Ronald Reagan. Jimmy Carter's grain embargo was responsible for the fall of the USSR, but most historians attribute this to Reagan.:grr:

[Spider Jerusalem]

17. Reagan by a long shot.

The Soviet system was in terminal decline already; and Ted Turner, Lech Walesa and Pope John Paul II all deserve more credit for the collapse of Communism than Reagan does.

[Rhiannon12866]

21. They all deserve credit for the fall of the USSR,

But, most of all, IMHO, are Jimmy Carter, and his grain embargo, and Michel Gorbachev, and Perestroika.:shrug:

[xmas74]

18. Reagan of course

I'm from Missouri-there's no way I was gonna vote for Truman!

[CubsFan1982]

19. kick

In honor of Presidents' Day. :D

[Dying Eagle]

20. Ronald W. Reagan NO CONTEST!!!!!! n/t

[jdots]

22. Ronny " the great communicator "

Gumgy hair's destruction California was good training to become the first neocon front man to use the media for dumbing down plan.