# The President Elimination Game **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 24, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317 "2009-09-24T01:36:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**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:** [October 16, 2009, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/221 "2009-10-16T13:00:38Z")
Still Madison. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/222 "2009-10-16T14:09:01Z")
Hayes. Bounce the sumbich. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/223 "2009-10-16T14:20:29Z")
Still Van Buren. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/224 "2009-10-16T14:24:07Z")
Cleavland again. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2009, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/225 "2009-10-16T14:57:55Z")
Grant. Graaaaaaaaaant. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/226 "2009-10-16T15:03:20Z")
Silent Cal Coolidge ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/227 "2009-10-16T16:32:23Z")
Hayes. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/228 "2009-10-16T17:30:51Z")
Coolidge ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/229 "2009-10-16T17:38:40Z")
Hayes! His time has come, surely! ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/230 "2009-10-16T18:04:37Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > , indeed after Abraham Lincoln he was the closest to the ideal of the Randian Man (minus the selfish part and rational self interest which no President should have as a trait or belief). Being Randian seems like a _compliment_ to you? :eek: Anyway, Hayes. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/231 "2009-10-16T18:17:43Z")
Hayes ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/232 "2009-10-16T19:23:44Z")
Looks like Hayes is on the way out regardless of how I vote, but I can’t resist casting another ballot for **Arthur**. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/233 "2009-10-16T19:41:25Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > Looks like Hayes is on the way out regardless of how I vote, but I can’t resist casting another ballot for **Arthur**. Not sure why. Arthur totally backed into the office, it’s true, but probably did more to reform the Jackson-era spoils system than any president prior to 1900. He’s a mediocrity, sure, but there are worse guys still on the list. Unless you’re basing everything on the whole “born in Canada” meme, in which case I cannot discuss the issue. For the record, my loathing of Hayes is based entirely on his near-treasonous performance in office, not his less-than-fully-legitimate election, though that is a neat bonus. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/234 "2009-10-16T21:44:53Z")
Looks like Hayes has it locked up, but a last-minute electoral deal might still yield a “victory”… For Grant. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/235 "2009-10-16T22:53:29Z")
> [@stuthehistoryguy](#): > > “He was the closest to the ideal of the Randian Man (minus the selfish part and rational self interest)” > > Is this not contradictory?] I meant the part about the “Randian” man being incorruptible and nearly perfect as human beings can be. > [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > Being Randian seems like a _compliment_ to you? :eek: See above. ---
**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:** [October 17, 2009, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/236 "2009-10-17T03:51:28Z")
I just don’t get all the hate for Hayes. Yes, he was the beneficiary of all the behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing in 1876, but he wasn’t personally involved in that, and Reconstruction had pretty much run its course already. The North was tired of dealing with recurring violence in the South; it was only a matter of times before Federal troops would’ve been pulled out. In office, Hayes’s administration was a model of clean government compared to his predecessor Grant’s. He favored civil rights for blacks and vetoed several bills that would have rolled them back. He signed a bill permitting women to argue cases in the Supreme Court. He served as an arbitrator after the War of the Triple Alliance (in which Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay had stomped all over Paraguay). He pledged to serve just a single term, and did. Not a great President, but not as bad as Madison, Jefferson or Grant. Not by a long shot. ---
**Author:** ![Makeitstop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@Makeitstop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Makeitstop)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/237 "2009-10-17T04:24:42Z")
Jimmy Carter again. Good man, bad president. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/238 "2009-10-17T15:48:21Z")
All pro-Hayes people should vote for Madison. ---
**Author:** ![St.Anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@St.Anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Anger)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/239 "2009-10-17T16:01:00Z")
How Jimmy Carter can survive Ronald Reagan AND Andrew Jackson, one of our 10 BEST Presidents, makes me mournful I haven’t been on this thread often enough to put a STOP to this miscarriage of historic justice. Carter, Carter, AND CARTER AGAIN! Vote early, and vote often! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/240 "2009-10-17T18:30:34Z")
Do we give credit to someone for stuff that he did before becoming President? If so, Madison looks pretty good, right? Not saying that looking at his pre/post office record is allowable here, but I am going to raise the issue. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317.md?page=13)