# Setting an ugly president... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 20, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889 "2003-01-20T23:28:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889/1 "2003-01-20T23:28:37Z")
Prompted by a post in another forum, but ever since I could vote, the tally of Presidents has been as dismal and awful a lot as… as… as the Roman Emperors, I suppose. Johnson – warmongerer Nixon – crook and scumbag Ford – unable to walk and chew gum at the same time Carter – nice guy but ineffectual Reagan – completely incompetent and dumb as a post, but a fine actor Bush Sr – nice guy but ineffectual Clinton – the morals and scruples of a dog in heat Bush Jr – unable to walk and chew gum at the same time, and dumb as a post, and not even a good actor , and probably a warmongerer (time will tell) Democrats, Republicans, doesn’t matter. We’ve had a series going back 40 years that seems to alternate between buffoons and scumbags. What the hell? Where are the Roosevelts, the Lincolns, the Jeffersons, the Wilsons? What hath got wrought? ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889/2 "2003-01-20T23:37:17Z")
> [@](#): > > Ford – unable to walk and chew gum at the same time If I recall correctly, the original quote was “Unable to _fart_ and chew gum at the same time,” STUPID!!! (Said with all the love in my shrunken black heart, Dex.) ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889/3 "2003-01-20T23:38:14Z")
I **hope** there are no more Roosevelts or Wilsons coming down the pike. The damn government is big enough already. ---
**Author:** ![Kalashnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kalashnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalashnikov)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889/4 "2003-01-20T23:39:04Z")
I have often wondered about all presidential candidates - is this really the best we can do? It seems to me that anybody who was really a straightforward, businesslike, competent person would be turned off by all the party politics, campaign bs, etc. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889/5 "2003-01-20T23:45:35Z")
It’s the skeletons, man, the skeletons. Anyone wise enought to govern well in this country is one who has “seen the elephant and heard the hoot owl”. Meaning, they have baggage, which is unsightly in the political eye ~ it keeps them from being elected. We are reduced to electing folks with the brain power of a sponge. ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889/6 "2003-01-20T23:51:33Z")
Add to that the fact that any and all potentially controversial behaviors/ideas are dredged up by opponents and the media and used to blast all the candidates with actual personality back into the stone age. Ahhh, politics. And people wonder why there is voter apathy in America. ---
**Author:** ![Freyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freyr/32/5763_2.png) [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889/7 "2003-01-20T23:54:00Z")
I have never been attracted to any President, I really don’t go for older man. To me, none are particularly handsome, though I’d not go so far as to say “ugly.” But my question is, what is this object upon which the ugly President will be set? The mantel? Would you want the decaying corpse of R. M. Nixon setting upon your mantel? The roof? L. B. Johnson’s rotting body up on the roof? The dining room table? J.F. Kennedy’s mangled body bleeding on the fine linen? ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889/8 "2003-01-21T04:49:50Z")
Just to further inflame **Dev** , In 1800, the electorate (such as it was) had to choose between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. 200 years later, we were asked to choose between Shrub and the Human Robot. What the hell happened? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889/9 "2003-01-21T04:59:37Z")
Well, dammit, we _could’ve_ had a choice of Bill Bradley or John McCain. I think I could’ve lived with either one a lot happier than either of the actual candidates. Maybe we need to disrupt the means by which the major parties choose their candidates? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889/10 "2003-01-21T05:06:21Z")
What bothers me is, I keep hearing that if I want things to get better, I have to vote. I keep voting, but things keep getting worse. I sincerely question the point of going back to the voting booth, although I keep going back none the less. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889/11 "2003-01-21T05:29:14Z")
Miller is right, in that you have to vote. The problem is that the choices are dismal. Essentially you make a check mark for bs artist A or spin doctor B. At least W has daughters that are party girls. ---
**Author:** ![BadBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@BadBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BadBaby)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889/12 "2003-01-21T05:35:59Z")
You are so right Belladonna! I find myself not really voting for anyone, rather against the candidate that disgusts/scares me the most. Freyer, I’m going to set MY ugly president out in the garden, next to my concrete bunny statue. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889/13 "2003-01-21T07:20:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by paperbackwriter \* > **Just to further inflame Dev, In 1800, the electorate (such as it was) had to choose between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.** Have you **read** what people said about Adams and Jefferson at the time? Adams was called a monarchist, a dictator (if **you** had been prosecuted under the Sedition Act of 1798, you might have been inclined to agree), and it was said that he was senile and his hands “trembled with palsy”. Jefferson was called an atheist, a miscegenyst, and a Jacobin. And let us not forget that Jefferson’s running mate, Aaron Burr, is the only vice president of the United States ever to be indicted for both murder and treason. They’re _politicians_, people. What do you expect? Bind them down with the chains of the Constitution, and give them as little money and power as possible. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889/14 "2003-01-21T07:31:53Z")
paperbackwriter asked: > [@](#): > > What the hell happened? I think the media is what happened. The selection process both parties use to pick their candidates is the plaything of the media. badbaby wrote: > [@](#): > > I find myself not really voting for anyone, rather against the candidate that disgusts/scares me the most. Maybe we should be allowed to vote **against** the candidate we dislike the most. The idea has a certain amount of appeal to it. ---
**Author:** ![PhiloVance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e19adc/32.png) [@PhiloVance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhiloVance)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889/15 "2003-01-21T07:36:54Z")
Seems like dirty politics and mud slinging has been going on a long time. Who’s to say Washington, Jefferson or Lincoln were any better than the motley later ones. If you weren’t around at the time really kinda hard to say. **jklann** has a point. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889/16 "2003-01-21T07:39:32Z")
\*\*jklann \*\* is right, all presidents were treated like crap by the press and public, but now a few are looked at as golden boys and their mistakes are glossed over. Kinda makes you wonder who on that list in the OP will show up on the nickel 100 years from now. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889/17 "2003-01-21T07:59:06Z")
Well if you look at the 1800’s, particularly the later half, there was an impressive run of buffoons and nonentities. I think we must have stumbled upon Lincoln by sheer dumb luck. What I’m saying is, truely capable men in the White House have been the exception rather than the rule for most of our history. Gee, I…um…hope that makes you feel better 🙂 . ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889/18 "2003-01-21T08:23:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AHunter3 \* > \*\*Well, dammit, we _could’ve_ had a choice of Bill Bradley or John McCain. I think I could’ve lived with either one a lot happier than either of the actual candidates. > \*\* Well, not that that would’ve helped much, necessarily, as far as the OP’s point goes… Even John McCain has his skeletons (i.e. possibly being bought by the S&Ls as part of the Keating Five). Which just feeds back to the original question of where the “good” men have gone. I’m thinking that apart from a few rare exceptions, I don’t think they ever existed… Politics is too old an institution to have them, IMO… ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889/19 "2003-01-21T08:27:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Maybe we need to disrupt the means by which the major parties choose their candidates? I agree. Starting now, we must kill all stupid people. This killing will continue until no stupid people are left alive. At that point, the total U.S. population will be reduced to a single person, and this person will be PERFECT for President… NONE of his proposals will be argued against. ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889/20 "2003-01-21T11:53:16Z")
I want a ‘none of the above’ box on the ballot. Other countries get ‘none of the above’ boxes… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/setting-an-ugly-president/149889.md?page=2)