Name your favorite Presidents / least favorite

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Lincoln was a hypocrite and a jerk. On top of that he had no desire to end slavery in the south at all, despite the picture that everyone tries to put out there. He did it in the strategy of war. Nothing more and nothing less. Lincoln defied the will of the people and it cost him his life. Everything Lincoln did was calculated for his benefit and his alone. Had the south won the war he would have lost his presidency and he knew that. Lincoln had to shut people up and it's why the civil war even happened to begin with. Lincon supported the south and their right to secede, but others were looking for ways to crucify Lincoln if he didn't do something about the south. All he ever wanted was the power and the respect. He got it all right, and with it came a bullet.

Well the successions began before he took office - hard to blame him for that. When you say he defied the will of the people are you referring to his reconstruction plan? IE he was too soft on the south?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Well the successions began before he took office - hard to blame him for that. When you say he defied the will of the people are you referring to his reconstruction plan? IE he was too soft on the south?

Kind of hard to have any effect on reconstruction when you are dead one week after the surrender. It's interesting that the war lasted from the January after he was elected, until just before he was assassinated.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Well the successions began before he took office - hard to blame him for that. When you say he defied the will of the people are you referring to his reconstruction plan? IE he was too soft on the south?

I mean by freeing the slaves. Lincoln stated time and time again, he had no intention of freeing the slaves where they were and he had no desire of repealing any laws that were against the slaves either.

That's not even getting into the laws that were passed without the southern states. "Unity" decided without the south's consent. Reconstruction wasn't about being too light, it was about being too harsh. It crippled the south.

Edited December 19, 2011 by DJ Kyo

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

I mean by freeing the slaves. Lincoln stated time and time again, he had no intention of freeing the slaves where they were and he had no desire of repealing any laws that were against the slaves either.

That's not even getting into the laws that were passed without the southern states. "Unity" decided without the south's consent. Reconstruction wasn't about being too light, it was about being too harsh. It crippled the south.

If he had no intention, then why secede?

Lincoln intended for a soft reconstruction. Once he was killed, my number 1 decided to punish the south.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Lincoln was not an Abolitionist, but at the urging of Frederick Douglass, the Abolitionist Movement threw their support behind him, and that gave him the election. Lincoln still hoped to maintain the status quo, but didn't have a say on events leading up to the Succession, nor did he have the political savvy to defuse the situation once hostilities began.

Edited December 19, 2011 by Crusty Old Perv

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Lincoln was not an Abolitionist, but at the urging of Frederick Douglass, the Abolitionist Movement threw their support behind him, and that gave him the election. Lincoln still hoped to maintain the status quo, but didn't have a say on events leading up to the Succession, nor did he have the political savvy to defuse the situation once hostilities began.

Lincoln was a big reason why the Southern states started to secede. They knew who supported him and they were angry about him being elected. Lincoln said he wasn't going to change the status quo, but when you look at politics and the way things take shape, campaign backers get perks, even back then. The south knew this and their livlihoods were already in turmoil as it was from the North. The last thing they needed was their entire economy being collapsed by a forced end to slavery.

[웃 910]

Lincoln was a big reason why the Southern states started to secede. They knew who supported him and they were angry about him being elected. Lincoln said he wasn't going to change the status quo, but when you look at politics and the way things take shape, campaign backers get perks, even back then. The south knew this and their livlihoods were already in turmoil as it was from the North. The last thing they needed was their entire economy being collapsed by a forced end to slavery.

Where do you put Bush 2 on your list?

And do you agree with Charles! and CrustyOldPerv that Bush 1 should be in the top 5?

Just curious

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Where do you put Bush 2 on your list?

And do you agree with Charles! and CrustyOldPerv that Bush 1 should be in the top 5?

Just curious

I posted a list: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/343264-name-your-favorite-presidents-least-favorite/page__view__findpost__p__5062080

I had a top 2... Bush 1 in the top 5? Not really...

Bush 2? Somewhere in the middle, more towards the lower half.

[Leatherneck 693]

Lincoln, Wilson and FDR (what a real ####### Wilson was) collectively caused a helluva lot of damage to the Republic.

Especially that racist, socialist, progressive ####### Wilson, he and Taft gave us the fraud and destruction of 16th amendment.

Taft pushed for it and Wilson promised to sign the legislation if elected and did so.

Now we live with massive debt as a result of their actions.

Worst:

1. W. Wilson & Taft

2. FDR

3. B. Obama

4. L.B. Johnson

5. J. Carter

Best:

1. G. Washington

2. T. Jefferson

3. J. Madison

4. R. Reagan

5. Calvin Coolidge

[Pooky 3,828]

Favourite - Henry Fonda, in "Failsafe"

Least favourite - Kevin Kline, in "Dave"

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Favourite - Henry Fonda, in "Failsafe"

Least favourite - Kevin Kline, in "Dave"

You didn't like President Merkin Muffley in "How I Learned to Love the Bomb"?

[Pooky 3,828]

You didn't like President Merkin Muffley in "How I Learned to Love the Bomb"?

Not at the top and not at the bottom

[kytwell 179]

Worst:

5) W & his Daddy

4) FDR

3) Carter/Obama

2) LBJ

1) Wilson

Best:

1) Washington

2) Jefferson

3) Teddy Roosevelt

4) Clinton

[TBoneTX 46,055]

Interesting thread, si man.

The single-term pre-Civil War presidents, as a group, were probably the weakest (James K. Polk the shining exception). Millard Fillmore, anybody?

Franklin Pierce, a compromise candidate, ended up in a job too big for him. While he was in office, his wife died, and this took even more wind out of his weak sails. He was the only sitting president NOT to be renominated by his own party. However, he's also the only president whose entire Cabinet remained intact for his full term, si man.

The biggest tragedy is that we'll never know whether North or South Dakota became a state before the other did. Who was it -- Rutherford B. Hayes? Benjamin Harrison? who signed the statehood papers but never spilled the beans?

Perhaps the biggest "surprise" president was Chester A. Arthur. When he was sworn in after the assassination of James Garfield, everyone bewailed the seemingly inevitable: because Arthur came from a corrupt "patronage" environment, the country was sunk. However, Arthur strove to avoid political favoritism and instead appointed the best people possible to fill the various jobs.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Perhaps the biggest "surprise" president was Chester A. Arthur. When he was sworn in after the assassination of James Garfield, everyone bewailed the seemingly inevitable: because Arthur came from a corrupt "patronage" environment, the country was sunk. However, Arthur strove to avoid political favoritism and instead appointed the best people possible to fill the various jobs.

As a great-great-great-grandniece of Uncle Chet, thank you.