C-SPAN ranks the Presidents

[Franklin Richards]

No problem.


I was trying to back out gracefully but you keep pulling me back in!!!

 

[SentinelMind]

I agree Gitmo causes image problems for America....but that's nothing to rounding up thousands of Japanese and placing them in prison camps.

 

[hippie_hunter]

JFK deserves to be much lower on the list.

 

[Franklin Richards]

as does Reagan.

 

[The Senator]

No problem.


I was trying to back out gracefully but you keep pulling me back in!!!

I get to travel to Houston next month, so maybe things have changed since my last visit. I'll let you know of any new developments in opinion.

 

[Franklin Richards]

as does Reagan.

 

[The Senator]

as does Reagan.

But Reagan single-handedly defeated the Soviet Union with his great speech-making abilities.

 

[Franklin Richards]

*cough*Contras*cough*

 

[SentinelMind]

Reagan engaged in shady behavior....but I think putting pressure on Soviety Union to dissolve without firing a shot is a pretty huge accomplishment, considering we were in the Cold War for ...what 4 decades. If it weren't for him, Clinton wouldn't have all that peace and prosperity the Democrats champions all the time. Of course you'll have peace when you're enemy has met its demise. Furthermore, the impact of his economic policies to move away from Carter staglation was positive. I think spot anywhere between top 10 to 15 is good place for him.


I think JFK is way too high....I guess his matyred status led LBJ to accomplish a lot, but still.....style over substance.

 

[Franklin Richards]

So none of the time spent during the Cold War prior to Reagan helped to implode the USSR?


Reagan alone deserves the credit?

 

[The Senator]

Reagan engaged in shady behavior....but I think putting pressure on Soviety Union to dissolve without firing a shot is a pretty huge accomplishment, considering we were in the Cold War for ...what 4 decades. If it weren't for him, Clinton wouldn't have all that peace and prosperity the Democrats champions all the time. Of course you'll have peace when you're enemy has met its demise. Furthermore, the impact of his economic policies to move away from Carter staglation was positive. I think spot anywhere between top 10 to 15 is good place for him..

The Soviet Union fell because its economy was tanking. Even if Reagan wasn't President, it would have fallen by the turn of the century, at the very latest. Nothing Reagan said or did had any effect on the country's demise. The Soviet leaders saw the writing on the wall and dissolved the country because it was going to fall, and they ultimately couldn't handle the embarrassment on their own. They reached out to the United States because they needed an ally, and Reagan just so happened to be president at the time.

 

[BatMatt]

But Reagan single-handedly defeated the Soviet Union with his great speech-making abilities.

you're confusing Reagan with Rocky and great speech-making abilities with defeating Ivan Drago

 

[souvlaki]

you're confusing Reagan with Rocky and great speech-making abilities with defeating Ivan Drago

Yeah, what is all up with all this revisionist history? We all know Rocky was responsible for the downfall of the USSR.

 

[SentinelMind]

Talk about revisionist history. Previous Presidents engaged in containment,...but there was a movement, particularly in the Left to have a "live and let live" attitude towards the Soviet Union. At one point, our military was even weaker than the Soviet Union due to all the disarmament policies the left engaged it. Funny, Democrats argued in the 1980s that Reagan's military spending buildup would lead to nuclear catastrophe....but now argue that it was insignificant to propelling the Soviet Union to its demise.

 

[Paradoxium]

Not saying you are not entitled to your opinion. I'm just saying your opinion makes me less likely to take you seriously when you rank them above the names I mentioned.

No, you said revisionist history. And I didn't even elaborate why. Maybe if I said more about those three and you disagreed with me, I would understand.

 

[souvlaki]

No, you said revisionist history. And I didn't even elaborate why. Maybe if I said more about those three and you disagreed with me, I would understand.

I was only half serious when I said "revisionist history". Of course you are entitled to your opinion. And it's absolutely no shock to me whatsoever that you dislike FDR. It's just, of all the Presidents from last century the three you chose are... well... interesting choices. More often than not those three end up at the top of peoples' lists, not the bottom.

 

[The Senator]

Talk about revisionist history. Previous Presidents engaged in containment,...but there was a movement, particularly in the Left to have a "live and let live" attitude towards the Soviet Union. At one point, our military was even weaker than the Soviet Union due to all the disarmament policies the left engaged it. Funny, Democrats argued in the 1980s that Reagan's military spending buildup would lead to nuclear catastrophe....but now argue that it was insignificant to propelling the Soviet Union to its demise.

Yeah, except I'm not looking at this through a partisan spectrum. I'm looking through it in an historical context. And the fact of the matter was, the Soviet Union began to collapse financially in the mid-1980s after spending several years in a downward economic trend. Reagan managed to up his rhetoric while the Soviet Union was falling... but the Soviet Union didn't fall because of Reagan.

 

[Addendum]

Besides the Soviet Union fell apart when HW Bush was prez

 

[Paradoxium]

I was only half serious with the revisionist history crack. Of course you are entitled to your opinion. And it's absolutely no shock to me whatsoever that you dislike FDR. It's just, of all the Presidents from this century the three you chose are... well... interesting choices. More often then not those three end up at the top of peoples' lists, not the bottom.

I don't disagree with some of the names you cited believe it or not. But it's how I lens thing through my economic understanding. I won't elaborate about FDR, since you are not surprised. But why for LBJ and Woodrow? To keep it short and thematically linked.

Woodrow: Federal Reserve Act. This is ****ing so much things up it's unbelievable.

LBJ: Known for creating many giant government programs/departments that lives on in perpetuity that Obama is replicating (stimulus), adding more future strain. He laid out the antecedents to the slamming of the gold window (this is why I was juggling between him or Nixon). This is the same guy who beat the fed chairman to "print more money" that he "needed". Tons of money was printed thanks to him.

These two laid the foundation for much of the monetary structural flaws of today that could possibly bring the downfall of America - well economically speaking (unless someone nukes America to kingdom come).

 

[StorminNorman]

An unfortunate mark, yes, but no worse than the Patriot Act.

LOL the pure stupidity of this post is absolutely amazing.

An "unfortunate mark", they guy DESTROYED lives. INNOCENT lives. Based of race. But yes, that's an "unfortunate mark".

And yes, it IS worse than the Patriot Act and even if it wasn't - no one is arguing GWB is one of the best Presidents ever.

 

[souvlaki]

Besides the Soviet Union fell apart when HW Bush was prez

Yeah, it always makes me laugh that Reagan supporters always forget that minor little detail.

 

[Paradoxium]

There's more to Wilson besides economics.

It's his "spread democracy and peace" through war that is irksome (remind you of anyone?).

 

[The Chairman]

Hate to speak ill of the deceased, but Reagan dserves to be lower simply for his blatant disregard of people with AIDS.

 

[Addendum]

Hate to speak ill of the deceased...

It's not like they can complain

 

[The Chairman]

LOL the pure stupidity of this post is absolutely amazing.

An "unfortunate mark", they guy DESTROYED lives. INNOCENT lives. Based of race. But yes, that's an "unfortunate mark".

And yes, it IS worse than the Patriot Act and even if it wasn't - no one is arguing GWB is one of the best Presidents ever.

INNOCENT Japanese people were being killed in the streets after Pearl Harbor. In many ways, it was for their own safety.

And no, it's not any worse than the Patriot Act. Both were equally wrong, as both were based on little more than fear and prejudice.