Posted on 02/20/2007 1:00:17 PM PST by presidio9
Just in time for President's Day, a new Gallup poll finds Abraham Lincoln now topping Ronald Reagan as the public's idea of the greatest U.S. president ever.
John F. Kennedy edges Bill Clinton for the #3 spot, with Franklin D. Roosevelt coming in at number five. George Washington can do no better than sixth.
Gallup notes that respondents tend to favor presidents of later vintage.
Reagan had bested traditional leader Lincoln in the previous poll, in 2005, in the aftermath of the former's death.
Eighteen percent of Americans today name Lincoln as the greatest U.S. president. He is closely followed by Reagan, with 16%, and John F. Kennedy, with 14%. Bill Clinton (13%) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (9%) round out the top five.
After Washington at #6 comes Truman at #7 and then a tie for #8 with Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Jefferson, Carter -- and George W. Bush, all at 2%. Bush had stood at 5% two years ago.
The poll was taken February 9-11.
Idiotic post of the day.
Note that if it weren't for Lincoln those people would most likely be typing in Spanish.
They still may someday, but that's for a different thread.
In response to a real crisis: the breakup of the Union.
Today's WSJ has an excellent editorial on Jean-Louis Bruguiere today.
Exactly right...those 4 are near the bottom of my list of great Presidents
My top 3:
(1) George Washington
(2) Calvin Coolidge
(3) Grover Cleveland
Washington was a special case...but, aside from him, give me a President that doesn't do much...doesn't spend too much taxpayer money, doesn't regulate too much and doesn't get too many of his fellow citizens killed...and I will take that everytime
He's in the running for the worst president ever. Who else attacked his own countrymen to establish a powerful, centralized government? He's responsible for the deaths of 600,000 Americans. The emancipation proclamation didn't free any slaves; it exempted all Union states, and southern territories under Union control. He hated blacks, and was in favor of African colonization. People say he saved the Union; he ended it in the sense that the U.S. was no longer a voluntary union of states once he was through. Sic semper tyrannis.
Washington's still my #1, with Lincoln coming in a close second.
Of course.
What a nightmare the South would be today if they had actually gained independence.
And how much poorer the USA would be today without the South.
Clinton? NO WAY-
The fact remains that before Lincoln there was slavery, the most shameful episode in our nation's history, ruining millions upon millions of lives. After him there was not. Therefore, your tired arguments don't stick.
Washington #6? Huh?
What about Jefferson? He only wrote the Declaration. Shameful.
What if you hate only the northern part of America?
Thomas Jefferson is the father of American liberalism. Why do you think BJ's momma named him after him?
Obviously he is referring to the civil liberties abuses such as the suspension of habeas corpus, violations of the first amendment, war crimes committed by generals in the American Civil War, and the expansion of government power.
Also, President Bush should be impeached for wiretapping, right?
No. Clinton was named after his father, W. Jefferson Blyth.
I don't know about Jefferson being a liberal. Anyway, he wrote the Declaration. That's not a liberal document.
I'm fine with Abe beating Reagan. I think even the Gipper himself would be fine with Abe beating him. I'm shocked that Washington didn't go higher.
In strength of character and dedication to republican principles, George Washington absolutely towers over any of the others.
This proves this country is lost.
WOW, that's something.
The fact that he killed 600,000 Americans in order to consolidate the power of the Federal Government doesn't put him in the running for worst president, it makes him the worst president. It puts him in the running for most murderous dictator in the past two centuries.
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