# Ten Worst Presidential Blunders... What do you think? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 19, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152 "2006-02-19T02:32:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/161 "2006-02-21T16:02:30Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Number 10 should be replaced with “Clinton fails to take out bin Laden when offered him on a silver platter”. If he had done his job correctly, we more than likely would not be in Iraq today. Clinton has a long, long list of stupid decision made while he was in office, but his failure on bin Laden is even worse than knob jobs under the desk. Last I heard, that was a complete right wing myth; never happened. Clinton and his subordinates tried to warn the incoming administration about Bin Laden; the Bush response was to order the State Deptartment to leave Osama alone. My belief is they wanted a terrorist attack as a pretext, which is why I didn’t mention 9-11 as a blunder of the Bush Administration; I think it was a _success_ of Bush’s, not a failure. After all, it happened, and it got him what he wanted. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2006, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/162 "2006-02-21T16:14:06Z")
If Clinton tried to warn Bush, then that necessarily means that Clinton knew. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2006, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/163 "2006-02-21T16:19:14Z")
Clinton knew bin Laden was trying to attack the United States, of course. I think **Der Trihs** is saying the myth is that he was offered bin Laden. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/164 "2006-02-21T16:24:39Z")
> [@Freddy the Pig](#): > > I couldn’t disagree more. Government spending increased by 50% during Hoover’s administration, at a time of falling prices. He signed legislation raising the top marginal income tax rate from 25% to 63%. He signed the largest percentage tariff increase in American history. Not content to mis-handle the levers of public power, he constantly summoned private businessmen to the White House and jawboned them not to lower wages even in the face of falling prices–ensuring eventual mass layoffs as businesses failed. > > Given the consequences of Hoover’s administration (25% unemployment), if I thought _he_ was an exemplar of limited government, I’d be a raging socialist. Your figuers are correct, but your interpretation of them is wrongheaded and melodramatic because they’re out of context. (You don’t mention, for example, that Roosevelt subsequently pushed marginal rates upwards to 90%.) Many exigent factors contributed to the oversimplification that you’ve given here, such as the Dust Bowl drought, the European economic collapse, Congress passing RFC legislation without passing banking legislation, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/165 "2006-02-21T16:31:01Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Clinton knew bin Laden was trying to attack the United States, of course. I think **Der Trihs** is saying the myth is that he was offered bin Laden. Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/166 "2006-02-21T22:18:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Number 10 should be replaced with “Clinton fails to take out bin Laden when offered him on a silver platter”. If he had done his job correctly, we more than likely would not be in Iraq today. Clinton has a long, long list of stupid decision made while he was in office, but his failure on bin Laden is even worse than knob jobs under the desk. There never really was an offer on the table. Some third world conman contacted the CIA and offered to deliver bin Laden if he was paid a sizable reward - in advance. He was checked out and the CIA basically said we’d be better off using our money to respond to Nigerian email offers. So the “offer” was declined. Years later, for political reasons, it suited some people to claim that Clinton had a legitimate offer to capture bin Laden and didn’t take it. And even if bin Laden had been killed, wouldn’t we still have had to invade Iraq because of their WMD program? ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/167 "2006-02-22T00:27:43Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > If Clinton tried to warn Bush, then that necessarily means that Clinton knew. [Lots of people knew,](http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB116/) but it doesn’t matter if Bush didn’t want to listen. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/168 "2006-02-22T14:56:41Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > You didn’t think she got “famous” on her talents, did you? > > Amazing what one can learn just by reading, isn’t it? > > Read it on Amazon [right here.](http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0312273193/ref=sib_vae_pg_349/103-8030043-6951841?%5Fencoding=UTF8&keywords=ann%20coulter%20starr&p=S0A8&twc=4&checkSum=3tR%2Fbdo80NqcNUfldtNpY0RESgV4YMRk6C%2B9UPkGysk%3D#reader-page) Jeez . . . Starr actually listened to those people?! That’s not partisanship, that’s an indicator of clinical brain death! ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/169 "2006-02-22T15:33:58Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > He was checked out and the CIA basically said we’d be better off using our money to respond to Nigerian email offers. 😃 Maybe I shouldn’t laugh at that because the Administration is probably planning to finance the war aganst Iran and/or North Korea with the windfall from the Nigerian prince. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/170 "2006-02-22T20:20:13Z")
I’ll mention one which I think will be seen as a blunder in the next 20 years: Ronald Reagan granting amnesty to illegal immigrants. [Some](http://www.otisgraham.com/otis_graham_writings/art_ronald_reagans_big_mistake.html)[conservatives](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,122297,00.html) are already starting to snipe at Regan for this one. Immigration politcs are going to be huge in the next 20 years, I predict. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/171 "2006-02-22T21:14:26Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Hoover was our greatest president. And Lincoln was our shortest president. And Taft was our most svelte president. And Reagan was our youngest president. Makes sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/172 "2006-02-22T22:06:00Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > [Lots of people knew,](http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB116/) but it doesn’t matter if Bush didn’t want to listen. How do you know he didn’t listen? Maybe he heard just like Clinton heard. Why is it the assumption that it was okay for Clinton to disregard what he knew but for Bush not same same? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/173 "2006-02-22T22:07:25Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > And Lincoln was our shortest president. > > And Taft was our most svelte president. > > And Reagan was our youngest president. > > Makes sense to me. Doubtless, it makes sense to you to compare opinions with empirical observations as well. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/174 "2006-02-22T22:37:31Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Why is it the assumption that it was okay for Clinton to disregard what he knew but for Bush not same same? Terrorist attacks using airliners under the Clinton Administration: 0 Terrorist attacks using airliners under the Bush Administration: 4 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/175 "2006-02-22T22:50:01Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Why is it the assumption that it was okay for Clinton to disregard what he knew but for Bush not same same? Why are you assuming Clinton “disregarded” anything? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/176 "2006-02-23T01:40:28Z")
I’d like to add Reagan to the list of Top 10 Presidential blunderers for his stupid “solution” to the looming [Savings & Loan collapse,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savings_and_loan_crisis) which was massive deregulation. Didn’t do a damn thing to help and made things worse by destabilizing an already shaky situation, resulting in a $150 billion bill for the federal govt. when over 1000 S&Ls collapsed. Just more stupid conservative ideology passing for solutions. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/177 "2006-02-23T03:51:22Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > I’d like to add Reagan to the list of Top 10 Presidential blunderers for his stupid “solution” to the looming [Savings & Loan collapse,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savings_and_loan_crisis) which was massive deregulation. Didn’t do a damn thing to help and made things worse by destabilizing an already shaky situation, resulting in a $150 billion bill for the federal govt. when over 1000 S&Ls collapsed. Just more stupid conservative ideology passing for solutions. I’m confused here. IIRC, Reagan’s deregulation of the S&Ls (while still leaving in place the federal deposit guarantees) was not even purportedly a solution to an existing problem – it was what directly **caused** the S&L crisis! (Consistent economic libertarians would have abolished both the federal regulations **and** the deposit guarantees at the same time.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/178 "2006-02-23T04:15:54Z")
> [@](#): > > IIRC, Reagan’s deregulation of the S&Ls (while still leaving in place the federal deposit guarantees) was not even purportedly a solution to an existing problem – it was what directly caused the S&L crisis! No, there was an existing problem. S&Ls were restricted on the investments they could make. They were required to only make “safe” investments. The long term result was that other financial institutions were free to make riskier investments which had higher returns (if they succeeded). As a result, S&Ls were losing customers who preferred to put their money in institutions with higher yields. So the solution was to deregulate the S&Ls. In the short term, this allowed them to make earn more returns and attract customers. In the longer term, the principle that higher returns = higher risks eventually overwhelmed them. The S&Ls had to compete in offering the highest possible returns to keep their customers from deserting them for another S&L so they had to take riskier and riskier investments to earn those returns. (In addition there were some outright crooks who saw an opportunity to make their personal fortunes in an unregulated industry.) Inevitably, most S&Ls eventually hit some bad luck, had failed investments, and went bankrupt. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/179 "2006-02-23T15:12:10Z")
Man, reading some of the posts in this thread, one would believe Monica came into the Oval office with a revolver and a knife, yelling, ‘Go down on tyrants!’ before fellatiating the Commander-in-Chief at gun point. Didn’t Clinton ignore claims of genocide in The Congo? I think down the road that could look like the start of America letting Africa tear itself apart. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/180 "2006-02-23T15:28:15Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > How do you know he didn’t listen? Maybe he heard just like Clinton heard. Why is it the assumption that it was okay for Clinton to disregard what he knew but for Bush not same same? I don’t think Clinton disregarded bin Laden - he took him very seriously. According to Clinton’s book, he briefed W when he was about to leave the White House, and told Bush that in his view bin Laden was the number one international threat. He also said Bush didn’t seem too interested. Lying under oath notwithstanding, I’d believe Clinton’s version of things, based on his track record, over Bush’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152.md?page=10)