PT 109
“85 percent approval rating”
Uh, yeah. Of course.
Poll question: “Do you approve the president who was murdered in broad daylight?”
I’m shocked 15% say no.
One thousand days is the answer. He was assassinated before he could thoroughly screw things up.
That, and compared to Johnson, Carter, Clinton, and Obama, he looks pretty good for a Democrat.
JFK -
Largest tax cuts in American history
Pro-gun (NRA Life Member)
Anticommunist and not afraid to use troops for America’s national interest
Anti-abortion (we can assume by being a ardent Roman Catholic)
Bona fide war hero - personally brave and deeply patriotic
Assassinated by a devout Marxist leftist named Lee Harvey Oswald
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
—JFK would be shunned by the democrats of today...
Americans admire JFK because he wasn’t in office long enough for them to learn to abhor him.
The opposite is true for two-term Presidents. They wear thin. Look at public scorn directed toward Reagan, Clinton, Bush II.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
I blame the public school systems in this country for the veneration of this misogynist. FDR, JFK, and Clinton are esteemed as the greatest in generations in our public schools while true leaders like Harding, Ford, and Reagan are seen as problem Presidents.
Being a product of public schools, I can say with confidence that they’re the reason for these poll results.
A lot of the reason why JFK is remembered so fondly is due to the fact that he died so young, and wasn’t given a chance to finish his career. When people look at JFK’s presidency they don’t see accomplishments; they see unfulfilled promise, and they give him credit for the great things they imagine he would have done had he lived.
Martyrdom. He died in the line of duty, and in the television age. He is revered for that sacrifice particularly, and because being struck down in his prime crystalized the “Camelot” mistique surrounding him and his family.
SnakeDoc
Government unions is the gift he gave to America!
I do believe there was more to his death than is being told..He was probably messing around with a mob bosses girlfriend..so they had him killed..
I do believe there was more to his death than is being told..He was probably messing around with a mob bosses girlfriend..so they had him killed..
The press has had almost 50 years to whitewash his reputation.
Most people therefore can only admire the myth of JFK that has been created, not the reality of JFK that was.
JFK represents the final victory of “Style over Substance.”
For all his flaws JFK generally had the best interests of the US as his main goal. His cutting the highest marginal tax rates from 91% to 70% sparked an economic boom. Could you imagine how things would be different if Obama had been handling the Cuban Missile Crisis? Were he alive today JFK would be shunned by his own party.
Look at the competition:
LBJ was rude, corrupt, and “responsible” for Vietnam, to the extent that fighting a war with a goal of breaking even can be considered responsible.
Nixon was . . . Nixon.
Ford was not a bad man, but he was tainted by having been appointed by Nixon and then pardoning Nixon.
Jimmy Carter was not only the least capable president of his century, but he proved his spinelessness to all of our enemies.
Ronald Reagan was a great leader, but half of our country is upset that he toppled communism (outside America at least, although he didn’t notice its dangerous growth in Kenya, Indonesia, Hawaii, and eventually Chicago) and dismantled a small portion of the welfare state.
Bush - Clinton - Bush - too recent to have been processed.
And now instead of a real American in our White House, we have a terrorist-loving anti-American thug who genuinely believes in a socialist command economy with himself in charge and who lacks even the most fundamental leadership or management skills.
JFK is not my favorite former president, not by a long shot, but he wasn’t a terrible person. That puts him way above Clinton and Obama (and Carter as an ex-President), even ignoring JFK’s tragic murder.
Since this brings up the subject of ranking presidents, I thought it would be fun to do this myself. Here’s my opinion on the ranking of the presidents so far during my lifetime, starting with the best:
1. Ronald Reagan (unquestionably)
2. George W. Bush (a distant second)
3. George Herbert Walker Bush
4. Gerald Ford
5. Richard Nixon
6. Bill Clinton
7. John F. Kennedy
8. Barack Obama (I rank Obama slightly higher than Carter because I think Obama, in spite of his ideology, is a little more pragmatic than Carter)
9. Jimmy Carter
10. Lyndon B. Johnson (although I don’t consider him to be the least qualified to be president on the list, I rank him last because of the profound damage caused by his ‘Great Society’ programs)