Who was worse? Nixon, Reagan, Bush Sr. or Bush Jr.

[LynneSin]

Poll question: Who was worse? Nixon, Reagan, Bush Sr. or Bush Jr.

I'm thinking it was Reagan because if we never had a Reagan in the White House there would have never been any Bushes. Nixon was bad in many ways but he was pretty progressive when it came to some social issues.


Time for us to decide? Who was worse of 4

[bif]

1. Splittin' hairs there

They all suck.

[wryter2000]

2. No contest

He combines all the worst traits of the other three and exceeds them all in magnitude.

[yardwork]

3. Agreed.

We can't blame Reagan for the Bushes. They've been around for over a hundred years.

[LynneSin]

9. Yes, but never in the White House

Dubya is in the White House for one reason only. When Clinton won in 1992, they needed SOMEBODY with name recognition that would carry on the Reagan Legacy. There were no Reagan Jrs that could carry on in politics - Ron Jr. was too progressive (and his sexual preference has always been in question) and Michael was too much of a nut job. Jeb Bush was always the first choice for a presidential candidate with Texas being the 'GO-TO' state to fix, but Jeb lost in 1994. So that meant they had to make the idiot look 'presidential' in 6 years (and rig Florida just in case)

[DODI]

4. GWB

At least Nixon was socially progressive.

[LynneSin]

7. But would GWB ever made it to the White House without Reagan being there?

Seriously - the idiot is nothing more than an extension of Reagan's policies. Had Carter been re-elected in 1980, I think Reagan would have been too old to run in 1984 AND Bush Sr. would have been too wimpy.

There would have been no reason to clean up the Bush sons and try to make one presentable as a potential candidate for president.

[felonious thunk]

17. He's Reagan's policies to an even more extreme extreme

But I don't think you can really blame Reagan for Bush II. I agree with your points on Jeb, I think he was the first choice to carry on the Bush legacy, such as it is, but Dubya was in the right place at the right time. I think H.W. has much more to do with George W. than anyone else. The day he lost in 92 he was prepping one of them for a run.

The Bush's were far more connected behind the scenes than Reagan was. Really, I think Reagan was the best thing that could have happened to the Bush family, not the other way around. Had Bush won the primary in '80 over Reagan, he's have lost ugly to Carter.

[LynneSin]

18. But if Reagan was never elected, Bush would have never been elected

Bush never had a desire to be anything more than an aging frat boy. But when they approached him and Jeb about running for governor, they changed everything.

Seriously Reagan MADE that idiot in the White House. Without him he would have just been an idiot!

[felonious thunk]

19. But he'd have still been a well connected idiot

George W. is only where he is today because of name recognition. I agree that Reagan put the Bushes into power, no doubt about it. And W knows why he's there, why do you think so many Reagan and Bush people are in the administration. But I hesitate to give Reagan any credit for that, in a sense because I'm quite sure he didn't realize he was doing it at the time. He never had much of a relationship with H.W. and I don't think he perceived H.W. as carrying on his legacy. Now, of course, W. is indeed doing that, but aside from winning the '80 election, I don't think Reagan himself had much to do with that.

[mikey_1962]

5. Nixon sent 20,000 soldiers to their deaths no comaprison with W

[President_G_W_Bush]

6. Unka Ronnie was the naughtiest...

That man could get his freak on...

[Most Rev. Jerry]

8. I didn't care for Nixon

He did not talk about God nearly enough. That's why he was punished with Watergate, because he didn't repent his sins to the Lord. The others are all excellent examples of True Falwellis....er, Christianity®.

[mobuto]

15. On the other hand, Nixon hated Jews

That should count for something in your book, Mr. Falwell, right?

[Intelsucks]

10. Remember when Reagan used "Go ahead... Make my day" from the

movie "Sudden Impact"? BTW... Sudden Impact is one of the worst Dirty Harry movies.

[Piperay]

11. Chimpy is in an

evil category all his own he has not one socially redemning quality, by far the worst in my opinion.

[Ready4Change]

12. My thoughts.

NIxon, I think, believed he was best suited to doing good for the nation. Excellent diplomacy with China, for example. He inherited a no-win scenario with Vietnam, and eventually pulled the US out. However, the dirty politics he used to gain the presidency did him in.

Reagan also, I believe, thought he was doing his best for the nation. His tax cuts were a novel idea at the time, so I can't fault him for those, even though hindsight shows them to have been disastrous.

While Bush Sr. may have had a personal agenda, I feel he did an excellent job forming the pre-Gulf War I coalition, and allowing the military to do what they do best in Kuwait and Iraq. His failure was that he didn't execute plans for the US economy as well.

As for Bush Jr, well, the best I can imagine is that he is too naive to realize his choices are harming, not helping, the US. However I fear that he isn't that naive. I fear he just doesn't care.

He failed to form an effective coalition. He failed to cleanly execute Gulf War 2. He repeated Reagans tax cut mistakes. And when those crashed what should have been a recoverable economy he failed to learn from HIMSELF and did it again. He's spent more time on vacation in 3 years than during the entire adminstration of any president in history. (I think? FDR?) He is continuously putting his foot in his mouth. Continuously making political gaffes with foriegn leaders. He has made pre-emptive war administration policy for the first time in our nations history. And finally, his administration totally dropped the anti-terrorism ball, if not worse.

Bush Jr. gets my nod as the worst president of the last 50 years.

[DenverDem]

14. Man, you are way too generous.

"Reagan also, I believe, thought he was doing his best for the nation."
Reagun began the final stage of the Power Elite takeover of America. His deregulation of media and repeal of the Fairness Doctrine did exactly what he wanted, which was to consolidate ownership in the hands of a few global corporations with obvious agendas. His deregulation of business has led to the obscene abuses we have today and to the corporate globalist feudalism that is destroying the world economy and environment.

Bush I engineered the Gulf War by baiting Iraq into invading Kuwait by having our ambassador assure Saddam we wouldn't retaliate. Then he made billions for his weapons making cronies with a brutal war and a decade of sanctions. Iraq I, just like Iraq II is a living weapons experimental laboratory. He crushed the economy to the profit of his Power Elite overlords.

Junior is just a titular figurehead for the Power Elite endgame leading to the complete destruction of the American economy and government and the establishment of a corporate globalist feudalism world government.

These three treasonous criminals and their crime syndicate, aka the wrong wing, are elements of a decades long conspiracy by the Power Elite to undermine freedom, a sustainable world economy and the American Way of True Democracy.

[DenverDem]

13. raygunz started the slide into hell and legitimized sociopathology

as national political policy.

[Jeebo]

16. Dubya makes even Nixon look good...

That's something some posters here on DU were saying about three years ago, even before 9/11. I've got a bumper sticker (that I made myself using Quark and Photoshop) that says:

I miss PRESIDENT CLINTON
I miss PRESIDENT CARTER
I even miss PRESIDENT NIXON

I could have added to it: I even miss PRESIDENT REAGAN. No question, the current White House Squatter makes ANY other president in my lifetime look good to me.

Ron