# Who has embarrassed your state the most? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 29, 2007, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417 "2007-08-29T21:34:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/81 "2007-08-30T14:02:17Z")
Mr. Chairman, the great Commonwealth of Virginia, the Mother of Presidents, the site of the first permament English Settlement in the New World, the Old Dominion, and the birthplace of so many great Americans, is proud to nominate **Jerry Falwell** and **Pat Robertson**. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/82 "2007-08-30T14:10:49Z")
New Mexico. Considering the problems we have convincing others that New Mexico is actually a state, there aren’t a whole lot of candidates. The most recent would probably be Heather Wilson’s and Pete Domenici’s apparent roles in the firing of David Iglesias. Other nominees would be Los Alamos for all their security problems over the years or maybe the city of Albuquerque for all the times COPS was filmed there. (I never had a problem with it but others do because of the possibility of resulting image problems. I don’t think COPS is really fair as the majority of those episodes were all shot in the same bad parts of town anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/83 "2007-08-30T14:17:16Z")
Abraham Lincoln. Sure, he did some great things and all, but being known as ‘Honest Abe’ we can’t just shrug and say all Illinois politicians are corrupt, we have a shining example that we can produce competent statesmen. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/84 "2007-08-30T14:19:46Z")
Even though I now live in Egypt and Hawaii, I think of myself as being from New Hampshire, and that’s the state that occurred to me in reference to this question. Luckily, no one in recent memory has equaled William Loeb, late publisher of that right-wing rag, the Union Leader, or former governor Mel Thompson, who in all seriousness proposed that New Hampshire should have its own nuclear arsenal. (He didn’t say so, but we are pretty sure he wanted to nuke Massachusetts.) Things have improved since the 1970s. One of our more famous native sons now is David Souter. Okay, he’s more conservative than I am, but the man has proven a lot more sensible than we feared when he was first nominated. (No one from Hawaii embarrasses me particularly.) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/85 "2007-08-30T14:22:27Z")
In recent times, Pacman Jones. In times past, governors, mayors and politicians in general. Too many to name just a few. For natives who aren’t big into Country Music, Country Music. For those like me who moved here knowing full well what was already here, Country Music isn’t that big an embarrassment, just an annoyance we can live with. Besides, “Music City” has way more than just Country Music, and the entire state is birthplace for many more musical genres than just Country. I guess the overall most embarrassing individual would be James Earl Ray. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/86 "2007-08-30T14:42:51Z")
I seriously doubt he’s from here, but while he lived here, Fred Smoot certainly made Minnesota look bad. Thanks for that boat trip, Fred. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/87 "2007-08-30T15:39:21Z")
[QUOTE=dnooman] [Maurice Clarett](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Clarett) did a pretty good job of embarassing a whole lot of people. Plus, he’s still incarcerated (for armed robbery no less), which not a whole lot of the other people listed here can boast. [/QUOTE] Damn you, you took mine! Oh, well…I’ll nominate Bob Taft and Jim Traficant. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/88 "2007-08-30T15:47:24Z")
[QUOTE=Drain Bead] Damn you, you took mine! Oh, well…I’ll nominate Bob Taft and Jim Traficant. [/QUOTE] Oh yeah. And Jim Trafficant’s _hair_. That hair deserves a post of its own. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/89 "2007-08-30T17:14:33Z")
First off the top of my head are John William King, Shawn Berry, and Lawrence Brewer, the racists who murdered James Byrd Jr. by dragging him to death in Jasper, Texas. ---
**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:** [August 30, 2007, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/90 "2007-08-30T17:22:00Z")
Anne Coulter. She’s lived at various times in Connecticut, Kansas, Michigan, and Florida. But she was born in New York and has lived here more than anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/91 "2007-08-30T17:23:39Z")
Jeffrey Dahmer. I don’t think I need to explain why. ---
**Author:** ![Tabula\_Rasa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@Tabula\_Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabula_Rasa)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/92 "2007-08-30T17:48:02Z")
[QUOTE=Bayard] I’m originally from Missouri. Like many of my fellow citizens, I voted for the dead guy instead of John Ashcroft in the 2000 Senate race. I’m sure if I look back far enough, say to Jesse James, I could find someone who has embarrassed our fine state more, but honestly I don’t have the strength. [/QUOTE] At least four out of five former mayors of St. Louis, back to the Madame Choteau era. ---
**Author:** ![Tabula\_Rasa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@Tabula\_Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabula_Rasa)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/93 "2007-08-30T17:52:05Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] The closest thing for Iowa was probably in the summer of 1993, when Des Moines flooded and had no clean water for 2 weeks. A city of 200,000 has to be pretty clueless to build its water treatment facility on unprotected floodplain. [/QUOTE] And downstream from its similarly low-lying sewage treatment facility, if I remember correctly. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/94 "2007-08-30T19:57:01Z")
I knew I was forgetting something, and that is various Minnesota Vikings, esp the ones who organized the infamous Sex Boat party. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/95 "2007-08-30T20:39:21Z")
I am from Nebraska. The Third Congressional District of my red state sent Tom Osborne to Washington for two terms (the first term he received some 87% of the vote) based upon the fact he brought us three national college football championships as head coach of the Cornhuskers. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/96 "2007-08-30T21:13:21Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] **Home state of Louisiana:** 2) New Orleans Governor Ray Nagin - Loved to scream and rant about other people on national TV during Katrina despite the fact that he bared some responsibility. [/QUOTE] Wasn’t he the guy that was (at least on one occasion) blathering on about a [“chocolate New Orleans”](http://www.ifilm.com/video/2688654), and not in the Homer Simpson confectionery way? Oy. I can’t really say much. I live in Florida. We’re full of really bizarre and embarrassing people. This morning, however, I was incredibly embarassed by [this chaplain who was recently fired](http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=4212040&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1); he’s considering filing a lawsuit because he thinks that being fired after not following orders at work to not include “in Jesus’ name” in prayers with people not of his faith is religious discrimination. [sub][cite](http://www.wftv.com/news/14010770/detail.html)[/sub] The sad part about it is that, when they presented the story, the tone seemed to convey the idea that it was _okay_ to push your beliefs on others, even when it’s against the regulations of your job. :smack: :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/97 "2007-08-30T21:57:53Z")
[QUOTE=CairoCarol] Even though I now live in Egypt and Hawaii… [/QUOTE] Does your mummy do the Hula? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/98 "2007-08-30T21:58:58Z")
I see that my fellow South Carolinians are either too humilated or too busy making lists to participate. I’d like to nominate dear old Maurice Bessenger, who has built an empire out of barbeque and racism, or dear old Strom Thurmond, holder of the Senate record for filibustering the Civil Rights act, or there’s always Susan Smith, who drove her children into a lake and claimed a black man abducted them, and of course our used-to-be-current state treasurer Ravenel, caught in a big cocaine ring thing, and we’re the people who had to make a new law about “hog dogging”, because it was illegal for a hog to fight a hog and illegal for a dog to fight a dog but… you get the picture. ---
**Author:** ![some\_white\_dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b487fb/32.png) [@some\_white\_dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/some_white_dude)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/99 "2007-08-30T22:06:26Z")
[QUOTE=jsgoddess] Oh yeah. And Jim Trafficant’s _hair_. That hair deserves a post of its own. [/QUOTE] I came in here thinking of Traficant, but I couldn’t remember the guy’s name. Maybe he’s not that embarrassing. I feel most ashamed of the Ohio voters who re-elected Dubya. Seriously. **Re** -elected? Fool me once, and all that. > [@if6was9](#): > > Probably Bud Dwyer. Off the top of my head. Wow. Bra-_vo_. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2007, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/100 "2007-08-31T00:02:27Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] b) Iowa, where nobody ever gets the national attention that is a necessary prerequisite for embarrassment. [/QUOTE] Well, we always have Rep. Steve “torture=hazing” King. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417.md?page=6)