I quite like what Neptunian Slug wrote about Harrison:
Cleavland!
Taylor - but I’m not sad to see Harrison go…
William Jefferson Clinton, corrupt and ignored warning signs of 9-11.
“Corrupt” is subjective and the man was a total horndog who should have been kicked in the groin every morning for his infidelities, but “ignored warning signs of 9-11”? Really?
Oh was he the one that in August 2001 was warned that al Qaeda was about to strike the US and that the threat involved airplanes and did he tell the guy that briefed him “you’ve covered your ass, now leave”? Didn’t think so.
Vote count:
Harrison 7
Taylor 4
Arthur, Cleavland [sic], Clinton, Ford, Jefferson, Kennedy 1 each.
Benjamin Harrison, for economic mismanagement and general mediocrity, is the 19th to be eliminated.
George Washington (None, 1789-1797)
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)
William McKinley (Republican, 1897-1901)
Theodore Roosevelt (Republican, 1901-1909)
William Howard Taft (Republican, 1909-1913)
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:
- James Buchanan (Democrat, 1857-1861)
- Franklin Pierce (Democrat, 1853-1857)
- Andrew Johnson (National Union, 1865-1869)
- Warren Harding (Republican, 1921-1923)
- Millard Fillmore (Whig, 1850-1853)
- Richard Milhous Nixon (Republican, 1969-1974)
- Herbert Hoover (Republican, 1929-1933)
- Ronald Reagan (Republican, 1981-1989)
- Andrew Jackson (Democrat, 1829-1837)
- Rutherford Hayes (Republican, 1877-1881)
- Ulysses Grant (Republican, 1869-1877)
- John Tyler (Whig, 1841-1845)
- James Earl Carter (Democrat, 1977-1981)
- James Madison (Democratic-Republican, 1809-1817)
- Martin Van Buren (Democrat, 1837-1841)
- Woodrow Wilson (Democrat, 1913-1921)
- Calvin Coolidge (Republican, 1923-1929)
- John Adams (Federalist, 1797-1801)
- Benjamin Harrison (Republican, 1889-1893)
I vote for Gerald Ford, who (1) was never elected to a national office (2) did not in fact Whip Inflation, then or ever (3) pardoned Nixon, which as far as I’m concerned did not heal the nation so much as establish impunity for the nation’s elites.
I’m not going to have consistent net access over Thanksgiving weekend; if someone else wants to do a Thursday or Friday vote count and wrap-up, go ahead; otherwise this round concludes next Monday at 2 PM.
Taylor.
Even if we were to assume the pardon of Nixon wasn’t part of a corrupt bargain, it was still a terrible idea. Nixon was an out and out criminal, performed criminal acts while in the White House, and a pardon put him above the law. No one, particularly not the officials we elect to represent us and uphold the values of our nation, is above the law.
Gerald Ford.
Clinton
You know, I think I’ll go in for Ford as well. The main thing I remember (other than those idiotic “WIN” buttons) is how he kept vetoing all sorts of legislation given to him by the Democratic Congress. The pardon is enough to do him in otherwise.
Pardoning Nixon, IMO, was the best thing Ford did during his presidency. Not that I want to excuse or diminish Nixon’s crimes, but I think the office of the presidency is better off that he was pardoned. Would we really have wanted the precendent of putting former Presidents on criminal trial? Impeachment is enough (and unnecessary once Nixon resigned).
On the other hand we still have a less-than-one-term president who did not do much except get us entangled in Vietnam, bungled an invasion of Cuba, encouraged the extra-legal activities of the CIA, and brought us to the brink of nuclear war. I vote for John F. Kennedy.
I vote for the father of American Imperialism, William McKinley.
Instead of say increasing trade by opening US markets, he increased tariffs (again) and invaded foreign markets.
McKinley re-opened negotiations to annex Hawaii after Cleveland had stopped the process.
Spanish American War leading to the Annexation of the Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico and effective control of Cuba.
Annexation of the Philippines led to the Philippine American War which McKinley escalated. The islands didn’t become independent until WWII
Sent troops to put down the Boxer Rebellion.
Than why didn’t he launch a commando operation to kill or capture Osama Bin Laden after the 1993 WTC bombings, the embassy bombings, and Khobar Towers? All he did was launch a few pathetic airstrikes.
Which protected American workers.
Gaining a strategic position that gave Americans a decisive place in the Pacific Ocean. And would Hawaii be better off today as some tiny Polynesian monarchy (like say Tonga) or as it is right now.
I agree the Phillippines caused a bloody guerilla war but else Japan or Germany might have seized it white Guam and Puerto Rico are fairly wealthy and content under American rule today.
Who were murdering American citizens.
Anyways voting for Bill Clinton again.
I can’t get any traction for Jefferson, so I’ll go for Ford here, too. A decent and honest man, in contrast to his predecessor, but the pardon was wrong for all of the reasons you state. Nixon walked while many less-culpable subordinates went to prison. Ford’s economic record was crappy, too, and he kept on the amoral and scheming Henry Kissinger as SecState. Then he picked Bob Dole, a GOP cutthroat if there ever was one, as his running mate in '76. Feh.
“A few pathetic airstrikes”? How dismissive you are, considering (IIRC) you weren’t even born then. The Clinton administration did a hell of a lot to deal with the perpetrators of the various terrorist attacks, and more than a lot of people wanted him to do at the time.
Seriously, there are many legitimate reasons to choose Clinton for the boot - he dropped the ball on both the North Korean and Palestinian peace talks (which were progressing, but he kept losing ground on one while dealing with the other), his initial go at healthcare reform was badly botched (and he should never have put the First Lady in charge of it, no matter what her background), and of course there was the ongoing fidelity issues which were a distraction (albeit one the Republicans were happy to exploit to the maximum). But terrorism? Nope - not his fault.
Nah, that’d be Polk.
I’ll take Ford. A decent guy, and the pardon may well have been the right thing to do, but a mediocrity who didn’t want the presidency–and who doesn’t have the plusses of reform that Arthur has.
We’re getting to the point now where we’re going to have to start voting for presidents we LIKE, folks.
Ford’s the next guy up?
Aight, fair enough, I prefer my Chevy anyways.**
Vote Ford**
If Clinton had been truly concerned than he should have hunted Bin Laden no matter what others thought. According to that article he didn’t launch an another military operation because he was uncertain about it.