# 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:** 23
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/441 "2009-11-10T20:45:12Z")
I’ll switch over to Adams to save Wilson. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/442 "2009-11-10T20:51:59Z")
> [@ToeJam](#): > > I’ll switch over to Adams to save Wilson. D’oh! _shakes fist_ ---
**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:** [November 10, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/443 "2009-11-10T20:53:43Z")
Isn’t it like 15 rounds before Teddy Roosevelt should even be mentioned? His desire to save various wild places (and their inhabitants) would by itself be enough for me to keep him around until at least there’s 10 left. ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/444 "2009-11-10T21:59:59Z")
BTW, the average ranking (based on Wikipedia’s [collection](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_rankings)) of the remaining presidents is as follows, going from worst rank to best. I generally rounded to two or three decimal points. Zachary Taylor 29.54 Calvin Coolidge 28.23 Benjamin Harrison 27.69 Chester A. Arthur 26.08 Gerald Ford 25.91 George Bush 21.625 William Howard Taft 20 Bill Clinton 19.86 John Quincy Adams 17.46 William McKinley 16.31 Grover Cleveland 15.46 James Monroe 14.077 Lyndon B. Johnson 13.45 John Adams 12.54 John F. Kennedy 11.91 James K. Polk 11.15 Dwight D. Eisenhower 10.5 Harry S. Truman 7 Woodrow Wilson 6.769 Theodore Roosevelt 4.77 Thomas Jefferson 4.615 George Washington 2.769 Franklin D Roosevelt 2.077 Abraham Lincoln 1.538 As I’ve said before, I’m voting the voice of the average every round, to see how it contrasts with popular opinion. ---
**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:** [November 11, 2009, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/445 "2009-11-11T03:58:31Z")
Woodrow Wilson, get rid of him. The worst of the bunch here. Taylor was a great man of principle who genuinely tried to save the Union and put slavery on the road to extinction. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/446 "2009-11-11T04:05:04Z")
Switching from Coolidge to Adams in an attempt to save Wilson. I really don’t understand the hate for Wilson. Some wars are worth fighting. ---
**Author:** ![Cullain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cullain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cullain)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/447 "2009-11-11T06:24:38Z")
“Our Constitution guarantees equal rights to all our citizens, without discrimination on account of race or color. I have taken my oath to support that Constitution” -Coolidge isn’t all bad. I’ll vote Taylor. ---
**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:** [November 11, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/448 "2009-11-11T23:14:40Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Isn’t it like 15 rounds before Teddy Roosevelt should even be mentioned? His desire to save various wild places (and their inhabitants) would by itself be enough for me to keep him around until at least there’s 10 left. Amen to that. T.R.'s a favorite of mine (and was no fan of Jefferson, as I wrote earlier). ---
**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:** [November 12, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/449 "2009-11-12T01:54:54Z")
I don’t like the idea of bumping either Wilson or Adams out at this point in the game, and Taylor, despite his short tenure, apparently tried to do the right thing. I’d like to switch my vote in an attempt to forestall what I see as an injustice, but it looks like one of those 3 are going to bite the dust anyway, so I’ll stick will Coolidge for the moment. ---
**Author:** ![as\_u\_wish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@as\_u\_wish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/as_u_wish)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/450 "2009-11-12T02:03:18Z")
Wilson. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/451 "2009-11-12T02:53:29Z")
Racists! ---
**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:** [November 12, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/452 "2009-11-12T04:05:07Z")
Is that tongue in cheek? Or serious? I hate racism as much as the next person, but I’m trying to weigh all their contributions, positive, negative as well as non-actions (which are still choices of course). This isn’t as easy as an one-issue litmus test might indicate (and Wilson was hardly the lone racist left, however you define it). Oh, don’t worry, I won’t shed a tear if he is bounced, and I would have voted for him long before we got to the teens, but right now I’ve made another choice. ---
**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:** [November 12, 2009, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/453 "2009-11-12T04:19:53Z")
Oh, I’ll just point out (I’m reviewing all Wikipedia biographies of the remaining candidates now, tho I likely won’t be done until the end of next week) that he supported the Armenians when they were undergoing genocidal attacks at the hands of the Ottomans, and he also was sympathetic towards Jews. Hardly the actions or attitudes of a dyed-in-the-wool racist (which does not forgive his undeniable sins as mentioned upthread). ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/454 "2009-11-12T04:28:09Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Is that tongue in cheek? Or serious? I hate racism as much as the next person, but I’m trying to weigh all their contributions, positive, negative as well as non-actions (which are still choices of course). Double Racist! The worst kind of Racist. :mad: ---
**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:** [November 12, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/455 "2009-11-12T15:28:09Z")
Wilson also appointed Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and fought hard for the nomination against the thinly-veiled antisemitism of the day. His views about blacks were, I agree, far less progressive. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/456 "2009-11-12T16:19:04Z")
I’m pleasantly surprised no one has nominated Ford yet. I always thought he got the shaft of public opinion. Pardoning Nixon probably cemented his loss in '76, but it enabled the country to move past Watergate. He made a difficult and unpopular decision, but it was the right one. ---
**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:** [November 12, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/457 "2009-11-12T17:08:33Z")
> [@ToeJam](#): > > Double Racist! > > The worst kind of Racist. :mad: That’s it? (what’s a “double racist?”) Are you interested in an actual nuanced debate here, or just want to throw around invectives? [And, I’ll note, in here it’s a rules violation] I fully admit, with regards to African-Americans, that he was an undeniable racist, but does that fully invalidate his other accomplishments in your eyes? What other candidates who are left could also be painted with your broad brush? Why single Wilson out? ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/458 "2009-11-12T19:42:21Z")
**ToeJam** , it’s hard to tell if you’re kidding or not, but in any case you need to tone it down. Calling people “racist” is pretty serious. We don’t allow name-calling in this forum. **Ellen Cherry Game Room Moderator** ---
**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:** [November 12, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/459 "2009-11-12T20:10:11Z")
Wilson 7 Adams 5 Taylor 4 Coolidge 2 Ford, Arthur, Jefferson 1 each. ---
**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:** [November 12, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/460 "2009-11-12T20:15:11Z")
In memory of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the voters honor America’s veterans by ditching the bastard who sent more than 100,000 of them to their deaths. Farewell, Woodrow Wilson. George Washington (None, 1789-1797) John Adams (Federalist, 1797-1801) Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican, 1801-1809) James Monroe (Democratic-Republican, 1817-1825) John Quincy Adams (Democratic-Republican, 1825-1829) James Polk (Democrat, 1845-1849) Zachary Taylor (Whig, 1849-1850) Abraham Lincoln (Republican, 1861-1865) Chester Arthur (Republican, 1881-1885) Grover Cleveland (Democrat, 1885-1889, 1893-1897) Benjamin Harrison (Republican, 1889-1893) William McKinley (Republican, 1897-1901) Theodore Roosevelt (Republican, 1901-1909) William Howard Taft (Republican, 1909-1913) Calvin Coolidge (Republican, 1923-1929) Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Democrat, 1933-1945) Henry Truman (Democrat, 1945-1953) Dwight Eisenhower (Republican, 1953-1961) John Fitzgerald Kennedy (Democrat, 1961-1963) Lyndon Baines Johnson (Democrat, 1963-1969) Gerald Ford (Republican, 1974-1977) George Herbert Walker Bush (Republican, 1989-1993) William Jefferson Clinton (Democrat, 1993-2001) Eliminated Presidents: 1. James Buchanan (Democrat, 1857-1861) 2. Franklin Pierce (Democrat, 1853-1857) 3. Andrew Johnson (National Union, 1865-1869) 4. Warren Harding (Republican, 1921-1923) 5. Millard Fillmore (Whig, 1850-1853) 6. Richard Milhous Nixon (Republican, 1969-1974) 7. Herbert Hoover (Republican, 1929-1933) 8. Ronald Reagan (Republican, 1981-1989) 9. Andrew Jackson (Democrat, 1829-1837) 10. Rutherford Hayes (Republican, 1877-1881) 11. Ulysses Grant (Republican, 1869-1877) 12. John Tyler (Whig, 1841-1845) 13. James Earl Carter (Democrat, 1977-1981) 14. James Madison (Democratic-Republican, 1809-1817) 15. Martin Van Buren (Democrat, 1837-1841) 16. Woodrow Wilson (Democrat, 1913-1921) I’m through with the Presidents I think of as actively pernicious; time to thin out the mediocrities. Benjamin Harrison receives my vote. Voting will close on Monday at 2 PM. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317.md?page=22) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317.md?page=24)