{"id":547617,"date":"2010-04-29T23:01:02","date_gmt":"2010-04-30T03:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.personalliberty.com\/?p=13269"},"modified":"2010-04-29T23:01:02","modified_gmt":"2010-04-30T03:01:02","slug":"the-best-comments-on-the-worst%c2%a0president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/547617","title":{"rendered":"The Best Comments On The Worst\u00a0President"},"content":{"rendered":"

My, my, you are certainly a contentious bunch. Thus far, more than a thousand of you have clicked the reply button to my column two weeks ago on The Worst President Ever<\/a>.<\/em> Your remarks have run the gamut from the sublime (those that agree with me, of course) to the ridiculous (the worst president in history was the first one George Washington?).<\/p>\n

I just spent the past couple of days reading every single one. Yes, even the ones that ran more than a full page IN ALL CAPS! Oh, the sacrifices I make for my loyal readers.<\/p>\n

Hey, folks, I know you feel pretty passionate about some of these issues. And I love that so many of you enjoying commenting on what you\u2019ve read\u2014or what some imbecile before you said. But trying to shout in email really doesn\u2019t work\u2014it just makes your comments hard to read. Please, turn off the all-caps key before you start typing.<\/p>\n

But definitely keep those cards and letters coming. Or at least the emails. The comments sections are one of the best-read parts of Personal Liberty Alerts<\/em>. I wouldn\u2019t change that for all the rice in China. In fact, I\u2019m going to quote from several in today\u2019s column.<\/p>\n

What got me started on the subject was a visit my son-in-law and I made to the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. He pointed out that Franklin Roosevelt laid the cornerstone for that majestic building. I remarked, \u201cIsn\u2019t it ironic that one of the worst presidents in history dedicated the memorial to one of the best?\u201d<\/p>\n

This led Micah to ask me who else I would number among the worst presidents ever. I surprised him by saying I wouldn\u2019t include Barack Obama\u2014at least not yet. Let\u2019s let him finish at least one term (hopefully his only one) before guessing what history will say.<\/p>\n

That left the rest of my list: FDR, Lyndon Johnson, Bill Clinton and (to the surprise of many) Richard Nixon. But the absolute worst, I said, was Woodrow Wilson. You can explore my reasons in the original column; I won\u2019t repeat them all here. Click here<\/a> to read it.<\/p>\n

An overwhelming number of you wrote to say I had made one huge mistake in that piece\u2014my exclusion of Barack Obama from my \u201cfive worst\u201d list. In fact, many of you were outraged that I didn\u2019t put him at the very top. Lee Ann spoke for a lot of readers when she said \u201canyone with a brain\u201d would know that.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, to many of you he doesn\u2019t even deserve to be called Barack Obama. He\u2019s B.O. Or Barry Soetoro. Or a lot worse. Thanks to a pretty tough spam filter, the most intemperate comments don\u2019t get posted. But there sure are a lot of ways to be (relatively) polite while you say something nasty about our Teleprompter-in-Chief.<\/p>\n

You may be surprised to hear that not everyone who reads Straight Talk<\/em> can be found on the right side of the aisle. Hannington Okello wrote: \u201cBarack Obama? You have got to be kidding yourself! He is and will be the best president America has ever had and one you wish could rule forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gee, Hanny, I think you kind of gave yourself away there, with your \u201crule forever\u201d comment. How long before you demand that we serfs gently tug our forelocks as we bow to every bureaucrat and say, \u201cyes, massuh\u201d?<\/p>\n

But Mr. Okeno has at least one ally in our comments section. Che King wrote to say, \u201cPresident Obama will go down as America\u2019s best president even before he finishes his second term.\u201d Hate to rain on your parade, Mr. King, but I don\u2019t think Obama will be in the Oval Office in 2012. Not after Jan. 21\u2014unless he\u2019s a guest of the new president.<\/p>\n

Christopher Huber had a perfect rejoinder for the Obama idolaters in the audience. \u201cWhatever drugs you are on,\u201d he replied, \u201cI want some.\u201d Nicely put, Chris.<\/p>\n

So who else did our readers nominate for the \u201cworst of all time\u201d list? There was a spirited debate lasting for many pages on the various demerits of Jimmy Carter vs. Bill Clinton. Bill made my original list, Jimmy did not. I will admit there was much the peanut farmer from Georgia did to embarrass me while he wore the title of the world\u2019s most powerful leader. But being a sanctimonious, hypocritical, weak-kneed wuss isn\u2019t enough to make my top five.<\/p>\n

Several readers claimed that Bill Clinton wasn\u2019t bad enough to deserve that honorific, either. But Lynette insists they didn\u2019t know what they were talking about. Listen to this lady\u2019s rant:<\/p>\n

\u201cBill Clinton was one of the biggest drug dealers this country has ever known! He has been bringing in cocaine from Mena, Arkansas for years. While he was governor and while he was president. Watch The New Clinton Chronicles<\/em> for a real eye-opener.\u201d<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t mention any of that. Or Whitewater, or Vince Foster, or even the unbridled ambition of his First Lady. All I know is that I was ashamed he was the leader of my country. I was delighted when he was impeached and sorry when he wasn\u2019t found guilty and removed from office.<\/p>\n

I thought my inclusion of Richard Nixon in a \u201cworst ever\u201d list would have many of you rushing to straighten me out. But in fact, most who commented on his appearance agreed with me.<\/p>\n

No, the Republican president an extraordinary number of you loathe and despise is George W. Bush.<\/p>\n

There are some of you who believe that GW personally conspired to bring down the towers of the World Trade Center. I guess the fact that 27 fanatical jihadists, armed with box cutters and other weapons, took control of those airplanes was strictly a coincidence? I like a good conspiracy theory as well as the next man. But this one is beyond absurd, as far as I am concerned.<\/p>\n

RK denounced one contributor with the comment, \u201cYou are as stupid as the Tea Party.\u201d (Did I mention that many of my readers enjoy insulting each other?) He then added, \u201cThe list of the worst president should read as follows: #1 George Bush, #2 George Bush, #3 George Bush.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apparently RK liked his comment so much, he posted it twice. Sharon added that since he only named three, she wanted to add two more: \u201c#4 George Bush, #5 George Bush.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least some on the left have a sense of humor.<\/p>\n

One who does not is Debo, who wrote that, \u201cYou might be watching too much Fox News<\/em>. You and your ilk are not qualified to question the competency of the president of the United States.\u201d Gee, do you happen to know Hanny Okello, Debo? Maybe I could introduce you.<\/p>\n

In addition to George Bush, two other Republican presidents came in for an inordinate amount of reader-bashing. One didn\u2019t surprise me\u2014Abraham Lincoln. Many readers wrote at length, with eloquence and passion, about why they felt the Great Emancipator belonged on the list. Several said he should top it.<\/p>\n

Jesse put it succinctly: \u201cLincoln prosecuted an illegal war against the Southern states\u2026 [that] resulted in the deaths of over 600,000 men on both sides.\u201d This was more fatalities than we suffered in every war since then, he added.<\/p>\n

You may be surprised to learn that many Americans consider Abraham Lincoln a terrible president. I\u2019m not. I\u2019ve read enough to know that these critics have some powerful facts to buttress their arguments. (See Thomas DiLorenzo\u2019s Lincoln Unmasked: What You\u2019re Not Supposed to Know about Dishonest Abe <\/em>and The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War<\/a><\/em>.)<\/p>\n

So who was the other Republican a number of readers disparaged? None other than Ronald Reagan.<\/p>\n

I have to say, the unbridled vituperation many of you exhibited against the Great Communicator did surprise me. I\u2019ll be the first to admit that as president (and before that, as governor of California), Reagan did many things with which I disagreed. More to the point, he did not<\/strong> do many things he promised he would\u2014such as abolish useless cabinet agencies, reduce the cost of government, balance the budget, etc.<\/p>\n

But being wrong or ineffectual didn\u2019t make him evil. On the positive side, he brought the United States a new respect around the world. He said many of the right things\u2014and he said them more eloquently than any president since the Founding Fathers. (And unlike JFK, he wrote most of the words he spoke.)<\/p>\n

This triggered a provocative question from one of our regular correspondents. Beberoni asked: \u201cOnce I saw for myself what Ronald Reagan did, I ran as fast as I could from the Democrat Party to Ronald Reagan\u2019s conservative party. I now wonder why the Republican Party has run away from Reagan\u2019s conservative party. Why wouldn\u2019t you continue a successful thing, when he showed them how to do it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe they will, Beberoni, maybe they will. We\u2019ll know this November.<\/p>\n

And with that folks, I\u2019ve run out room for this month. So let me close by encouraging you to join this fray once in a while. Read some of the comments at the end of my columns. Or if you\u2019re a real glutton for punishment, read them all. And then join them yourself.<\/p>\n

Unless you do, you won\u2019t know why at least some loyal readers want Franklin Pierce, or Rutherford Hayes or James Buchanan added to the \u201cworst ever\u201d list. Or why one insists the top spot must go Dick Cheney.<\/p>\n

As I said, my readers are a contentious and cantankerous lot. God bless you, each and every one.<\/p>\n

Until next time, keep some powder dry.<\/p>\n

\u2014Chip Wood<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My, my, you are certainly a contentious bunch. Thus far, more than a thousand of you have clicked the reply button to my column two weeks ago on The Worst President Ever. Your remarks have run the gamut from the sublime (those that agree with me, of course) to the ridiculous (the worst president in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4206,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-547617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4206"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547617\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}