Ok this may sound silly but worst americans who never

[JohnKleeb]

became president. Include politicans because obviously we know that Jeffrey Dahmer or John Wayne Gacy wouldn't have made great presidents.
I'll start by saying Robert Taft and John C. Calhoun,

[MissB]

1. Kleeb, you need to post more often.

You seem to be, er, out of practice.

:rofl:

[JohnKleeb]

4. Ive been in the lounge mostly

Eh its true though that Taft and Calhoun would have been godawful.

[electropop]

2. George W Bush?

He's in the White House, but he was never elected and never performed a single Presidential Act, so as far as I'm concerned, he never became President.

[Sanity Claws]

3. General Custer, John Dillinger, Al Capone

That sweet trio came to mind immediately

[blm]

5. Pat Robertson - but, then, Bush became president FOR him and

the rest of the Christo-fascists and moonies.

[JohnKleeb]

8. You know in my poli sci class last year I saw some footage

on the 1988 GOP Primary, Robertson did alarmingly well and I believe that Pat Buchanan won the New Hampshire primary in 1996.

[blm]

17. Buchanan won NH in 92 - and THAT is what did Bush1 in as much as

anything else, because Pat then set the tone.

Clinton was able to take advantage of that and the constant headlines against Bush that were being generated by IranContra and BCCI.

[JohnKleeb]

19. Oh I though it was 96

Pat's little tirade at the RNC that year really messed up any chance they had of being reelected plus no new taxes. I'd like to think that Quayle who lemme tell you since my father waited on many washington bigwigs that Dan Quayle was a serious possible presidential candidate in 2000 and according to my old man, his republican manager loved the idea.

[MuseRider]

6. Gonna hijack for a moment

HI JOHN!!!!

I have not seen you in like forever!

How the heck are you?

OK, go back to what you were doing. :hi:

[JohnKleeb]

10. Been back and hi

[MuseRider]

38. Been back where?

The lounge? I guess I should visit it more often so I can see what you are up to. It is good to see you.

[JohnKleeb]

39. Yeah

Up to the usual stuff and I am gonna be done with my second semester in a few weeks, can't wait.

[MuseRider]

47. Good for you!

Does that mean we will see you around more often? I hope so, I have missed you.

You have a lot more will power than I would have. I doubt I could have passed any classes if the internet had been available when I was in school.

[JohnKleeb]

49. Yeah but I am gonna be working too

[Faygo Kid]

7. Barry Goldwater, George Wallace, Strom Thurmond, Calhoun, Aaron Burr

I confine myself to legitimate, big time candidates. And agree with one of yours. Strangely, I grew to respect Goldwater and Wallace. Not the other three.

[JohnKleeb]

11. Oh I totally forgot about Aaron Burr

I don't know why Gore Vidal gave him a glowing reputation in Burr, as much as I hate Alexander Hamilton personally, I Think Hamilton truly did love this country.

[Dr.Phool]

9. Spiro Agnew, Dan Quayle

Alberto Gonzales, Pat Boone, Ted Nugent, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell.....Ad nauseum infintum.

[Midnight Rambler]

12. J. Edgar Hoover and Joe McCarthy,

n/t

[JohnKleeb]

13. Yuck

Bad enough that J Edgar ran the FBI for a half century though.

[BurtWorm]

14. Barbara Bush

Thank the gods.

:hi:


Hi, John!

[JohnKleeb]

16. Hey god yeah even if she is pro choice and pro gun control

The woman hasn't got a heart.

[freesqueeze]

15. John McCain

Had a heart once and sold it before begging Falwell's followers for their prayers.



Please, don't let him win....ever. The straight talk express ran off the rails years ago.

[Faygo Kid]

21. He's toast. A sad decline. He coulda been a contender. . .

. . . instead of a sellout. Which is what he is. No chance in 2008. None.

[stanwyck]

58. McCain is a symbol of all that is wrong

with our current political process. He has become this horrible caricature of a desperate man cringing-ly obsequious to the Bush power base.
He wears that deathbed rictus of a smile, hoping we won't see what he's become.
I can't bare to look at him.

[WI_DEM]

18. George Wallace would have been a disaster

and had he not been shot in '72 he could have gone all the way to the convention (as it is he won primaries in Michigan and Maryland). Strom Thurmond, who ran as a Dixiecrat in '48 would have been another disaster. I also think that Ross Perot probably would have been a big mistake.

[BooScout]

20. McCarthy n/t

[Faygo Kid]

30. Joe, not Gene, I assume.

Or Charlie.

[BooScout]

33. You assume correctly. n/t

[patdem]

22. JohnKleeb...WOW...it has been a month of Sundays since I have seen

your name...

Okay...Dewey..he won in the headlines..only not at the ballot box!

[JohnKleeb]

23. Thomas Dewey?

I don't think he would have made a bad president and I don't believe he would have gutted the New Deal either. I think Dewey would have been like Eisenhower after all Dewey did push the Ike candiancy in 1952. I still loving reading about Truman upsetting Dewey but Dewey was a decent guy just should have stayed to have going after Lucky Luciano and criminals.

[Faygo Kid]

36. Agreed, and same or even more so for Wendell Wilkie

Both would have been quiescent to the powers that be, but certainly not the worst (w) we could (w) have ever had (w) in American history.

[Rick Myers]

27. Same here...

Don't go to the Lounge very much anymore!!! Hope all is great for you Kleeb-ster!!!

[NoPasaran]

24. Jefferson Davis, Lester Maddox, Lewis Wigfall, Huey Long,

Curtiss LeMay, Douglas MacArthur, John Connally, Alexander Stephens, Robert Toombs, Ross Barnett, Orval Faubus, William Z. Foster.

[JohnKleeb]

26. I know all those names but Lewis Wigfall, who was he?

[NoPasaran]

60. Crazed secessionist senator from Texas

Even in the company of his fellow Fire-eaters he stands out as a major loon. The John Cornyn of his day.

[Cerridwen]

34. Huey Long?

This Huey Long? Why, worst American?

"Long did more than just talk about the things he campaigned for. When he won the gubernatorial election on second try in 1928, he embarked upon a series of changes that went beyond reform to outright rebellion against the ruling class. He raised severance taxes on natural resource industries to pay for schoolbooks for every child, regardless of whether they went to public or private school. During his term as governor, the state built over 2,300 miles of paved roads, 111 bridges, and in 1931 employed ten percent of the men involved in road-building nationally. He moved to abolish the practices of strait-jacketing and chaining and to introduce dental care at mental institutions (at one, he claimed, dentists extracted seventeen hundred diseased teeth from inmates). Long's appointee as head of Angola, still considered one of the toughest prisons in the country, instituted the state's first prisoner-rehabilitation program. Long implemented an adult literacy program in Louisiana that largely served African-Americans, despite the racism of the overwhelming white majority. The list is extensive and surprisingly progressive for the time, the place, and most particularly the man he has been portrayed as. Many of his progressive policies were unthinkable to large sectors of his electorate, but the breadth of his programs drew in people who supported him in some areas and not others."

<snip>

"What made critics claim Huey Long was the "despot of the delta," the "first great native fascist?" It is true, Long abused his position as governor of Louisiana-he was far from the first. He appointed members of his family and supporters to government jobs. He rewarded political benefactors with state contracts. He used the position to live a fine life and dress swell. Show me a politician who hasn't done at least two of the above and I'll show you a politician who didn't get elected. What set Long apart from the fascists was his belief in the democratic process. Long would, as Williams demonstrates in his opening paragraph, do just about anything to get people's votes except lie to them about what he'd do. What Williams reveals to us in Huey Long is a man who bent every fiber in his body to force it into the same mold as his will. Louisiana was his because the people of Louisiana had given it to him, and they'd done that because he told them in no uncertain terms what he was going to do with it. That directness and honesty set Long apart from his predecessors in and of itself, apart from his radical message."

More at link: http://www.moshplant.com/prob/prob01/long.html

[Faygo Kid]

42. Many good ideas, but a demagogue through and through.

What a great story, and a man for the '30s. He had many good ideas, and a commitment to people - so long as they supported him unconditionally. That was his weakness. A dangerous one, I would say. We are seeing it now, without the good ideas part.

[Cerridwen]

57. Demagogue is not one of those words I use often, so i googled

it and what I came up with may fit but not quite. For starters, while he appears to have been one who

1 : makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power

It appears he followed through on his "false claims" and made them reality.

I'm tempted to argue he fits the 2nd definition:

2 : a leader championing the cause of the common people in ancient times

Apparently, he put in to place much which would benefit the "common people" in modern times.

In some respects, what is said about him reminds me of what is said about many brilliant surgeons; they are assholes. They are a nightmare to work with and they demand undying and unquestioning loyalty from their surgical teams; but their team members would have no one else operate on them should the need ever arise.

I'm not sure where to draw the line; in surgery or in politics.

edit: my grammar sucks today

[The_Casual_Observer]

25. MacArthur, LeMay, Bob Dole, Pat Robertson.

Kleeb, nice to see you name around here again!

[JohnKleeb]

28. Thanks Ive been back though for some time now

Read you and LibDemAlways account of how big an ass my senator was in high school, pretty interesting stuff.

[The_Casual_Observer]

43. Allen was/is endlessly amusing in a train wreck sort of way.

[JohnKleeb]

45. He's very pathetic

I can't imagine going to high school with someone like that.

[The_Casual_Observer]

50. He has a brother Greg who was even a bigger lout than he was.

Their sister supposedly wrote a book about growing up with them that wasn't very complementary.
I don't think Greg has a southern accent, I think he stayed in LA.

[JohnKleeb]

51. Is it the one who works in the front office for the Tampa Bay Bucs?

Bruce I belieev his name is.

[The_Casual_Observer]

54. I think that is the youngest one maybe.

I only had the displeasure of observing the two.

[JohnKleeb]

56. Must have been something

George is such a moron, I really wish he had challenged my republican congressman in a primary and failed thus ruining his career.

[Faygo Kid]

29. Curtis LeMay. Good choice.

A chilling character in American history. He is considered a great though controversial general. No, Patton was a great though controversial general. LeMay was a stone cold killer.

[JohnKleeb]

32. I remember LeMay from 13 Days

Ive heard that when Wallace had him as his running mate in '68 he had to tell him to shut up a lot because he said a lot of stupid shot.

[On the Road]

31. According to the Late Doctor, Hubert Humphrey Would be on the List

Of him, Hunter Thompson wrote: "There is no way to grasp what a shallow, contemptible and hopelessly dishonest old hack Hubert Humphrey is until you've followed him around for a while."

[MissWaverly]

35. any one mention Newt Gingrich

[stanwyck]

59. Newt should be at the top of the list

Newt has contributed immensely to the current climate of division and "politics of personal destruction." He, literally, wrote handbooks on attack-dog politics.
Win whatever the cost.
He's degraded America with his immoral manipulation and knowing distortations.
Plus, his fake piety. Mr. "Family Values". Right. Now on his third marriage after committing adultery during the first two. AND leaving the mother of his children destitute while she was in chemotherapy. Mr. Family Values couldn't be bothered with child support.
What a loathsome creature.

[MissWaverly]

62. sounds like a poster boy for the GOP***

G = Greedy
O = Old
P = Pirates

:-)

[BuyingThyme]

37. Forbes.

[LeftishBrit]

40. From across the pond...

The one who first comes to mind is Dick Cheney. And I hope he never does become president!

[BooScout]

46. Oh dear god!

That's enough to scare the hell out of anyone!

[MissWaverly]

48. I will second that & no Tom DeLay either

[DelawareValleyDem]

41. David Duke

Bob Dole and George Wallace.

Goldwater would have been a disaster, too, particularly at that time, although in comparison to Bush he really doesn't seem so bad.

[JohnKleeb]

44. You hear what Goldwater told Bob Dole in 1996

That he and Dole were now the liberals in the party. Goldwater really is interesting, he was considered such a radical in the 60's but he became later an advocate for reproductive rights and criticized the modern GOP's stances on gay rights, and lets not forget that the man despised the Chrsitian Right. Truly a complex character.

[Faygo Kid]

53. Great observation. Barry would have blasted the Iraq adventure.

It is difficult to think of anything more assured than that Barry Goldwater would have condemned the neocons and the Iraqi experiment. I disagreed with him, but he would not recognize the evil lapdogs that the GOP has become. Devoid of principle, obsessed with power (and the Dems could do better, as well).

[Generic Other]

52. I thought you had gone to the dark side, Mr. Kleeb

Did you add George Wallace to the list? What about Huey Long? Or Aaron Burr? How about some dimwit like Strom Thurmond or Joseph McCarthy?

[JohnKleeb]

55. Uh no I voted a straight democratic ticket in november

Yeah all these are on my list, I dont have an opinion on Long yet though because I know little about him.

[opihimoimoi]

61. "But this one, Bush W,....... did....:"

And....after 5 years.....where are we?? Where is the Beef, the Chicken even?

We get more in the HOLE than ever before under Bush...more debt and no relief on Poverty....as well.

Oh My God...what have we done to ourseloves...and its not just Bush...but those who put him there..worked for him; cheated for him; lied for him; and stole for him. This road map of the Pubs are full of roads with potholes in them. Where is the Map for the Good Roads?