Reagan is Greatest American

Discovery Channel ^

[RWR8189]

Reagan is the greatest American!

[Apercu]

As with judging Babe Ruth vs. Stan Musial or Ted Williams vs. Henry Aaron vs. Barry Bonds vs. Albert Pujols - you can't do it apples to apples. Each President was indispensable to the preservation of the Union in his own time and circumstances. I shudder to think where we would be today had Ronald Reagan not become President.He is one of the giants in our history.

[kenth]

And they're still smarting from Rove poking them with a sharp stick... LOL.

[pcottraux]

I wonder what our buddy Ted Rall will have to say about this...

[pcottraux]

I wonder what our buddy Ted Rall will have to say about this...

[gate2wire]

"Too many people are historically uncultured in this country"
Why? Because we disagree with you? We dare think Pres. Reagan compares with other respected giants of our country.
This makes us "uncultured"? Spare me. I contend that Pres. Reagan restored our nation's greatness, and defeated the our most dangerous enemy.

[gate2wire]

"without Washington, America would be a different place today" Granted, I agree...Can you not say the same about Pres. Reagan?

[South40]

How could there be a winner already when the voting hasn't ended?

[Don W]

I find it somewhat disconcerting, even to the point of being uncomfortable, that EVERY link I click on while in the DUmp asks me if I want ActiveX control activation.

In order to read some of the tripe I exposed myself to this evening, I actually allowed some, but that means that soon I must allow my 'puter to cleanse itself, which means I must go offline.

Pity.

BTW, as a conservative/libertarian from north of the line, Reagan is 3rd, after Washington and Jefferson(tie). Franklin is 4th.

[ChadGore]

[ChadGore]

This is a really amazing gift from the people of America to Nancy Reagan.

[marblehead17]

What do you think of this video?

http://video.freevideoblog.com/Player.aspx?fileid=F28BF513-84EC-475C-AC2E-1041E98F0B7B

[WFTR]

I didn't follow the show, but I saw part of tonight's episode. I'm happy with President Reagan's win, but I probably wouldn't have placed him that highly. I haven't considered the question all that closely, but I have a few thoughts. I'll give something of a list, but it is more off the top of my head than a reflection of deep thought. Mostly, I look for people with some admirable qualities who were uniquely qualified to play the big part that they played in our history.

1. George Washington - I think George Washington was uniquely qualified to lead the Continental Army and to be our first president. He didn't have as extensive a military background as I had once thought, but he was a long-time soldier. He could be something of a player, but he played his part for the good of the country. I don't think anyone else could have led the army through the war or had the prestige to preside over the Constitutional convention and then be the first president.

2. Thomas Jefferson - Thomas Jefferson made two huge contributions. First, we needed the Declaration of Independence. We needed a statement of why we wanted independence and what principles we wanted to establish. Maybe all of the ideas weren't his, but he communicated them very effectively. Secondly, he made the Louisiana Purchase and created the Corps of Discovery to explore and lay claim to the land that we had just bought. Maybe many others would have been smart enough to make the purchase, but President Jefferson had the right scientific mind to appreciate the value of exploration and appreciate Meriwether Lewis as the guy who should lead the expedition. Lewis in turn was smart enough to recognize what William Clark could bring a leadership that he didn't have. The Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition started the United States on the march to the Pacific that would be part of building our greatness.

3. Andrew Jackson - Andrew Jackson was a young soldier in the American Revolution and then fought Indian tribes that threatened the Southeast. When the treaty ending the War of 1812 was signed, it left each side in possession of whatever land it controlled when the treaty reached America. The Battle of New Orleans came after the treaty was signed but before the treaty crossed the Atlantic. If the British had won, they would have controlled New Orleans and been in a position to put a stranglehold on commerce down the Mississippi and expansion to the West. I don't think that many other men of that time could have led the defense of New Orleans as General Jackson did. Andrew Jackson later took initiative to beat the Spanish and give us Florida. As president, he also stood against South Carolina's attempt to seceed around 1830. Without that stand, maybe the United States would have come unraveled a state at a time long before 1860.

4. Abraham Lincoln - Abraham Lincoln's choice is fairly obvious. He wanted nothing more than to hold the nation together as one nation. He would have compromised on anything else including slavery, but at his election, the South seceeded. He made some mistakes, but he learned. Too many people who find power forget how to learn. Abraham Lincoln held his army together and eventually held the country together.

5. Sam Houston - Sam Houston's life was not without mistakes. He had a bad marriage. Not all that happened was his fault, but the situation was ugly. At times in his life, he was a horrible alcoholic. However, he was a war hero from his teens and served as the governor of Tennessee. In the 1830's and 40's, he made all of the right moves to take Texas from Mexico and add it to the United States. He received a great deal of criticism on many points, but he made the right choices in subtle situations to take Texas from Mexico. Without his making the right choices, maybe Mexico would still own the entire Southwest. Sam Houston was a big part of our push to the Pacific Ocean.

I'd probably put Ben Franklin in the top ten. He made important contributions at the start of our country and was an inventor and businessman as well as a statesman. He was an early definition of what it meant to be an American.

I'd put Ronald Reagan in the top ten as well. The most bloodthirsty ideology of all time has been communism, and he recognized the evil of communism and led the fight against it. It's harder to say how his contribution will play out in the long run. To make his contribution really worthwhile, we need to take this country in the right direction today.

Another person in my top 50 or maybe top 100 would be President George H. W. Bush. I'd put him above his son, our current president. George Bush (41) led an amazing life. He volunteered for the war at the age of 17 and was the youngest combat pilot in WWII. He generally performed well but was shot down once and survived. He came home to get a degree from Yale and play college baseball. He worked in the Texas oil business. While he's not a true self-made man and undoubtedly had help from his family connections, the oil business is still a neat part of our history. He was elected to Congress, headed the CIA, and was an ambassador to China. He was vice-president to President Reagan and was loyal to the president. While President Reagan gets most of the credit for ending the Cold War, President Bush (41) was in office when the Berlin Wall fell and when the Soviet Union collapsed. Maybe both of those things would have happened anyway, but maybe a Dukakis presidency would have allowed European communism to recover. I don't like everything that he did as president, but he wasn't a bad president. He led well during the first Gulf War, and I really don't have a big problem with his not taking Bagdad. If we hadn't made such a big mistake in '92, I think he would have brought down Hussein through other means in the 90's. Finally, he saw his son become president. Overall, that's a great American life.

Bill

[Tired of Taxes]

My 9yo son has been waiting for the results... He's a history buff, but he voted for Lincoln. At least his choice made number 2.

[InvisibleChurch]

well, we knew that already, didn't we?

[FairOpinion]

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/greatestamerican/greatestamerican.html


http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/greatestamerican/greatestamerican.html


1. Ronald W. Reagan

2. Abraham Lincoln

3. Martin Luther King, Jr.

4. George Washington

5. Benjamin Franklin

6. George W. Bush


====

Note that by being No. 6, GW Bush is the greatest LIVING American.

The Dems must be exploding. :)

[bgnn32]

gonna read later ping!

[FairOpinion]

America Names Ronald Reagan Their Greatest American
Sunday June 26, 10:59 pm ET


NEW YORK, June 26 /PRNewswire/ -- America has chosen Ronald Reagan as its greatest American. Throughout Discovery Channel's GREATEST AMERICAN campaign, more than three million votes were cast via aol.com/greatestamerican, text and toll-free numbers to name the person who America thinks most influenced the way we think, work and live.
When voting closed at 9:10 (ET) during the series' live finale, Ronald Reagan was named the winner with Abraham Lincoln running a close second.


http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050626/nysu023.html?.v=11



http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/greatestamerican/greatestamerican.html

[Texasforever]

Washington formed the nation and Lincoln preserved it

Lincoln dealt with a civil war and in many cases did it with real brutality. It was necessary but he has been more than amply rewarded for it. The war Lincoln dealt with did not have the potential to wipe out the human race and when Reagan came on the scene we were but a button push away from total annihilation and he had a country every bit as divided as Lincoln faced but yet he put the evil empire on the ash heap of history much to the chagrin of the same group of "Americans" GB is having to fight in addition to the Islamists. George Washington was our first president and has forever been labeled the "father of our country" but he is no more great than any of the founders that rebelled against the king.

[bgnn32]

The problem here is that the men that they had in the top were all great in differnt times, or with differnt very influencal things with this country. I voted for Franklin because I feel he gave the most to the country, he contributed to the Declaration, Articles of Confederation, and Constitution. He created the postal service, fire department, and many other things. And then there were his inventions. He provided a lot for this country.

But then there was Washington who laid the ground work of the job of President, he also provided a lot by his military leadership during the Revolution and then his subsequent leadership of the country. He mapped out what being president was all about.

Martin Luther King, He was a great man did a lot for the civil rights movement, but in light of how things have now gotten so backwards in civil rights I cannot vote for him. It went from the minorities being treated unfairly (which is wrong) to the majority being treated unfairly (which is just as wrong)

Lincoln, he preserved the nation threw a major war and he freed the slaves, but he has also been quoted as saying if he thought the war could have been won without freeing the slaves he would. So can you really consider someone who did a great act because he felt he had no other choice a great man?

Reagan, he did a lot of good also, he helped brake up communisim, which was a vaild threat, he had a good logical economic plan. and there is more but I am getting to tired to continue

Basicaly all of these men did great things, and I really don't know if you can label one as greater than the other because of the broad range of things they accomplished, they lived in different times, had different oppourtunities, and the one thing they all had in common is they stood up to the challenges they were presented

[birbear]

I can't believe Brett Favre didn't do better.

And ya know...the thing I dislike most about MLK were his supporters. You know it was them and that one guy (a cultural critic?) that kept booing every time Reagan's name was mentioned.

Class act. /sarc