# Greatest American elimination game (game thread) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 10, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423 "2010-02-10T15:08:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 30
**Author:** ![Red\_Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aca169/32.png) [@Red\_Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/582 "2010-03-25T00:10:56Z")
MLK for the same reasons as yesterday ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/583 "2010-03-25T00:20:36Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > George Washington and Abraham Lincoln had an _army_, remember. Well, Lincoln had an army once he pried it out of the hot little hands (and cold, cold feet) of McClellan. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/584 "2010-03-25T00:24:09Z")
Roosevelt ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/585 "2010-03-25T00:37:04Z")
TR. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/586 "2010-03-25T01:07:19Z")
MLK ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/587 "2010-03-25T01:29:39Z")
Martin Luther King Come on people, remember Roosevelt was a greater man than any of them but maybe Franklin, smarter than all but Franklin, tougher than all but Washington, brought this country on to the world stage and was so kick ass that he was off the scale. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/588 "2010-03-25T02:03:53Z")
Looks like my post got eaten. Off with Roosevelt. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/589 "2010-03-25T03:37:52Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > [MLK] wasn’t an elected official. He was a preacher. His accomplishments - galvanizing a nation into rejecting bigotry and hate, no less - are astonishing, considering his resources. I’m impressed by his oratory; “I have a dream” reads like poetry. Can anyone point me to speech[es] by other American(s) with the spell-binding quality of MLK? ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/590 "2010-03-25T11:14:15Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > He wasn’t an elected official. He was a preacher. His accomplishments - galvanizing a nation into rejecting bigotry and hate, no less - are astonishing, considering his resources. Begging the question. As I’ve demonstrated earlier, most of the galvanizing was done by others. By the time King his his stride, \*Brown vs. Board of Education \*was law and most major institutions were integrated. MLK. Again. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/591 "2010-03-25T11:18:22Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > I’m impressed by his oratory; “I have a dream” reads like poetry. > > Can anyone point me to speech[es] by other American(s) with the spell-binding quality of MLK? Gladly! > [@](#): > > Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. > > Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. > > But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate…we can not consecrate…we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/592 "2010-03-25T12:49:12Z")
My first thought too **StusBlues**. FDR had some good ones too as I recall. Also oddly enough one sports figure by the name of Lou Gehrig, but MLK is right up there in the top 10 if not the top 5. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/593 "2010-03-25T13:05:36Z")
> [@Justin\_Credible](#): > > …I will assume the new deadline is noon EST on Friday, March 26th. Correct, and thank you. We’re down to the best of the best now. Each of these votes is gonna hurt. Still, of those remaining, I’m afraid it’s Roosevelt. Franklin played a key role in bringing France in on our side in the American Revolution, in addition to all of his other many accomplishments. MLK should still be in the mix, for the reasons earlier stated - he more than any other leader helped transform American society after a century of segregation and bigotry. Lincoln’s leadership in the Civil War, and the inspirational power of his oratory and writing, are rightly legendary. (Washington should still be in the mix, but what’s done is done). I love T.R. and consider him one of the greatest Americans ever, but my vote now is for Roosevelt, with regret. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/594 "2010-03-25T13:09:59Z")
Other great American rhetoric: Washington’s Farewell Address: [http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/farewell/text.html](http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/farewell/text.html) Webster’s Second Reply to Hayne (esp. the conclusion): [http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dwebster/speeches/hayne-speech.html](http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dwebster/speeches/hayne-speech.html) Sojourner Truth, “Ain’t I a Woman?”: ["AIN'T I A WOMAN?" BY SOJOURNER TRUTH](http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/genwom/sojour.htm) Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address: [Abraham Lincoln Second Inaugural Address - Collection at Bartleby.com](http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres32.html) FDR’s First Inaugural Address: [Franklin D. Roosevelt First Inaugural Address - Collection at Bartleby.com](http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres49.html) Kennedy’s Inaugural Address: [John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address - Collection at Bartleby.com](http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres56.html) Kennedy’s 1963 Civil Rights speech: [American Rhetoric: John F. Kennedy -- Civil Rights Addess](http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkcivilrights.htm) Barbara Jordan’s statement on the Nixon articles of impeachment: [American Rhetoric: Barbara Jordan - Statement on House Judiciary Proceedings to Impeach President Richard Nixon](http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barbarajordanjudiciarystatement.htm) Clinton’s speech at the Oklahoma City bombing memorial service: [American Rhetoric: William Jefferson Clinton - Oklahoma Bombing Memorial Prayer Service Speech](http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/wjcoklahomabombingspeech.htm) Obama on “a more perfect Union”: [http://constitutioncenter.org/amoreperfectunion/](http://constitutioncenter.org/amoreperfectunion/) Obama’s Election Night acceptance speech: [Transcript: 'This is your victory,' says Obama - CNN.com](http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/obama.transcript/) ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/595 "2010-03-25T14:51:09Z")
Teddy Roosevelt. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/596 "2010-03-25T14:53:39Z")
I looked at that “American Rhetoric” site’s “Top 100 Speeches” list and am somewhat baffled by Lincoln’s entire absence from the list. I wonder what that deal is. I’d throw Lincoln’s First Inaugural into your list, particularly for the last few paragraphs. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/597 "2010-03-26T11:19:57Z")
MLK again. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/598 "2010-03-26T12:36:54Z")
Teddy. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/599 "2010-03-26T15:37:20Z")
This is hard. I hate to throw anyone out, and I definitely hate to pitch MLK – flawed as he was, I think he made possible for civil rights to come about peacefully, which is something of a historical anomaly. Anyone who serves as a major impetus for peace and freedom has earned enormous credit in my book, outweighing the womanizing, plagiarism charges, and even his willingness to permit people to give him so much of the credit for the work of so many others (a fault not uncommon on our list). But Teddy is also a titan. And one for the 21st century: his principal areas of endeavor – breaking up corporate monopolies, establishing national parks, promoting conservation, national defense, and even his promotion of physical fitness are all vitally, even increasingly, important issues for the presidency today, in a way that so many other issues from those days are not (gold standard, anyone?). He even added to our political lexicon: “bully pulpit.” I’m a huge Franklin fan, but I’m not sure he trumps either of the two candidates mentioned above. Still, the old rascal of the Founders remains a sentimental choice. Scientist, statesman, diplomat, legislator, humorist, writer, womanizer, drinker, and guardian of great national secrets (the Gulf Stream secret). Of the remaining candidates, he’d be everyone’s favorite dinner guest. If I tally correctly, MLK and TR are _tied._ I guess that with considerable regret, **I’m going to vote against Martin Luther King**. It’s taken me days to come to this point. I’m going to claim I’m basing it on the future – I see environmental concerns as the looming crisis of our century, and TR, as an example, carries weight with exactly the political stripe of people most inclined to oppose and obstruct environmental legislation. We need MLK’s example to live together; we may need TR’s example to keep living on Earth. . ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/600 "2010-03-26T15:52:28Z")
Great post **Sailboat** and not just as you voted to preserve TR. It is really a well thought out and well explained reasoning. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/601 "2010-03-26T15:55:44Z")
I count 7 for King and 6 for Roosevelt as of Sailboat’s vote. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423.md?page=29) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423.md?page=31)