[BITList] the worst

[s14engine]

?yo dave
  According to The Times the list of worst presidents herewith...................

  I pray that no future US president will be as narrow-minded/incompetent as Bush43 and his gang of three [Rove- Bush' brain, Rumsfeld the liar and Cheney the modern Machiavelli].

  That the american voter elected Bush not once, but twice is mind boggling - but we sure did reap what we sowed. 

  Now there appears to be plenty of americans who would wish to return to those golden years of incompetency and mis-management.

  ct 
      42. James Buchanan

      1857-61 (Democratic)

      A poll of American historians recently selected Buchanan's failure to prevent the American Civil War as the greatest single mistake made by any president and our panel agree that he was the worst ever President. 

      Despite being a northern man, Buchanan had strongly southern principles and he struggled to maintain the fragile peace as the southern states agitated for more freedom. He denied the legal right of states to secede from the Union but at the same time he insisted that the federal government was not legally able to prevent them. 

      By the time he left the White House his Democratic Party had split in two, seven slave states had rebelled and formed the Confederacy and the country was embroiled in the American Civil War. 
      "Failed to prevent the near disintegration of the nation." Gerard Baker, US editor. 

      41. Franklin Pierce 

      1853-57 (Democratic) 

      Pierce was one of the few presidents to be abandoned by his own party after a single term. Pierce became hated for signing the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which was designed as a compromise between northern and southern states but was seen as kowtowing to slave power. Furious opposition to the act spawned the Republican Party. 
      His credibility was further diminished by the Ostend Manifesto, which advocated the annexation of Cuba, prompting domestic and international scorn when it was leaked. 

      40. Martin Van Buren 

      1837-41 (Democratic)

      Served as Andrew Jackson's Vice President and made it clear he wanted a continuation of many of his predecessor's policies, including the expulsion of Native Americans from their homelands. The draconian Indian Removal Act was passed by Jackson but brutally enforced under Van Buren. 

      "I found it hard to place high up on the list those who sanctioned the slaughter of Native Americans." Tom Baldwin, Washington bureau chief. 

      39. William Harrison 

      1841 (Whig)

      Harrison only lasted 32 days as President so our panel struggled to push him very far up the table. He had unsuccessfully stood as the Whig candidate for the White House in both of the previous elections and was eventually sworn in, aged 68, as the oldest President until Ronald Reagan. 

      37. Richard Nixon 

      1969-74 (Republican)

      Nixon's dramatic, if controversial, escalation and conclusion of the Vietnam War and successful diplomatic missions to China and the Soviet Union ensured that he won a landslide re-election after his first term - carrying 49 of the 50 states. 

      Just two years later, he was forced to resign in disgrace after White House tapes suggested he had covered up a break-in at the Democratic headquarters in the Watergate Hotel. 

      "Cynical manipulation, bringing the presidency into disrepute and changing the language to the extent that even a whiff of scandal merits the suffix '-gate'." Ben Macintyre, writer-at-large. 

      37. George W. Bush 

      2001-2009 (Republican)

      A dead heat between the unpopular Bush and the dastardly Richard Nixon. 

      The September 11 attacks, eight months into his presidency, created a central focus for the Bush administration that lasted into his second term. Bush responded by declaring a "war on terror" and leading military invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan as part of his doctrine of pre-emptive military action. The lengthy operations have plummeted in popularity throughout his time in office. 

      Domestically, he implemented tax cuts and the "no child left behind" education programme but has been criticised for his failure to deal with the impact of Hurricane Katrina and the collapse of the US financial market. 

      "Bush Jr. invaded Iraq based on faulty intelligence and then catastrophically mismanaged the war, dragging America's name through the mud." Chris Ayres, Los Angeles correspondent



From: David Harvey 
Sent: Saturday, October 02, 2010 7:57 PM
To: BitList 
Subject: Re: [BITList] dumb as a box of rocks


Colin, 


Never thought of it that way before, outlay  v, renumeration. Excellent point, but who were the other three worse Presidents?


Dave



On 2 October 2010 05:18, s14engine <s14engine at hotmail.com> wrote:

  frank

  there is a major problem with politicians in many countries---the voters have allowed elected politicians to award themselves such lucrative remuneration packages and bennies that they do not want to go back to working for a living, and so will do and say [without discretion] anything  to hang on to the job [if we can call it that]. how many have gone into politics with a few quid and ended up millionaires? this might be remotely acceptable if they did a great job as a politician, but generally this is far from true. for example brainless bush43 - the 4th worst president in history, increased his wealth by a factor of ten in the 8 years he was in office. how can that be possible? 

  on a local level here --- the job of louisiana congressman pays $17,000 per year plus "reasonable" expenses, yet it is said a candidate needs a minimum $250,000 plus the endorsement of local newspapers and big shots..........!

  so apparently an outlay of $250k may get one a job that pays $17k pa!

  there is something wrong with this picture...................................?

  but what can be done about it?      aye, there's the rub.

  colin t


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