D. Grant Haynes

George W. Bush worst president since Harding; 7th worst in US history: 64 historians, scholars

2009-02-16T21:55:00-07:00

By D. Grant Haynes

Most of the cowards crafted a headline and story lead about Abraham Lincoln being the best American president. That was hardly riveting news, but, rather, President's Day fluff.

A few timid editors covered their asses with a lead about Lincoln's vice president, Andrew Johnson, being adjudged one of the worst U.S. presidents. Again, that was comfortably safe but hardly news at all.

I want to know why no major news organization went with the most obvious angle to be garnered from C-Span's February 15 reportage of a new presidential poll--that George W. Bush (Dubya) was ranked 36 out of a possible 42 among American presidents going all the way back to George Washington.

Put another way, the whiz kid from Midland is in the 15th percentile on the list. That means that 85 percent of all American presidents (35) were adjudged to have turned in a better performance than this tortured generation's George W. Bush.

The poll was taken by C-Span during December and January among 64 leading American history scholars and presidential historians drawn from a broad ideological spectrum.

From this writer's perspective, Bush's dismal showing in the poll is a confirmation of what many of us who were voices crying in the wilderness for much of the last eight years always suspected. We deserve exoneration. We deserve an opportunity to gloat.

But the news organizations did not see it that way. They are apparently mostly into letting bygones be bygones--forgiving and forgetting--turning a page, etc.

Sorry, but not this ole boy. Not yet, anyway.

Bush damned nearly destroyed my nation and her place in the world. I want to see his ineptitude and criminality exposed and punished--not swept under the rug as he assumes the unlikely role of elder statesman.

Overall rankings of U.S. presidents in the C-Span poll were:

1. Abraham Lincoln

2. George Washington

3. Franklin D. Roosevelt

4. Theodore Roosevelt

5. Harry S. Truman

6. John F. Kennedy

7. Thomas Jefferson

8. Dwight D. Eisenhower

9. Woodrow Wilson

10. Ronald Reagan

11. Lyndon B. Johnson

12. James K. Polk

13. Andrew Jackson

14. James Monroe

15. Bill Clinton

16. William McKinley

17. John Adams

18. George H. W. Bush

19. John Quincy Adams

20. James Madison

21. Grover Cleveland

22. Gerald R. Ford

23. Ulysses S. Grant

24. William Howard Taft

25. Jimmy Carter

26. Calvin Coolidge

27. Richard M. Nixon

28. James A. Garfield

29. Zachary Taylor

30. Benjamin Harrison

31. Martin Van Buren

32. Chester A. Arthur

33. Rutherford B. Hayes

34. Herbert Hoover

35. John Tyler

36. George W. Bush

37. Millard Fillmore

38. Warren G. Harding

39. William Henry Harrison

40. Franklin D. Pierce

41. Andrew Johnson

42. James Buchanan

The roster of historians participating in the poll included Douglas Brinkley of Rice University, Richard Norton Smith of George Mason University, Robert Dallek of Boston University, Edna Medford of predominantly black Howard University, Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution, and presidential biographer Lou Cannon

Characteristics on which presidents were judged included public persuasion, crisis leadership, economic management, moral authority, international relations, administrative skills, relations with congress, vision and agenda setting, pursuit of equal justice for all, and overall performance within the context of the times.

For more details, go to:

http://www.c-span.org/PresidentialSurvey/Overall-Ranking.aspx

Republicans should know about politicians that are an embarrassment

2009-02-15T21:56:00-07:00

State GOP Leader Says Sen. Roland Burris an 'Embarrassment'

FOXNews.com

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Illinois GOP Chairman Andy McKenna said U.S. Sen. Roland Burris' appointment was an "embarrassment to the people," hours after Burris claimed he was not guilty of lying to a state House panel.

McKenna issued a statement Sunday evening.

"Today Roland Burris provided an object lesson in why Blagojevich Democrats should have stripped Rod Blagojevich of his appointment powers in December and kept their promise to people of Illinois to hold a special election," he wrote.

Burris' appointment was an "embarrassment to the people of Illinois," McKenna wrote.

"This continuing national embarrassment could have been avoided if Blagojevich Democrats had simply kept their promise to the people of Illinois and allowed them, instead of Rod Blagojevich, to choose Illinois junior Senator."... .

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Where were these stinking hypocrites during the eight years their George W. Bush embarrassed Americans and the world with his subnormal intelligence, foolish press conference performances, nonsense statements, and failed policies?

Republicans self-destructed in November 2008 with their ridiculous McCain-Palin ticket. Now, their only role is apparently to mount opposition and dead ender scorched earth obstruction to each of President Obama's initiatives. They are not patriots and they have no love of their nation, else they would find some constructive role for themselves as they lick their wounds and seek to rebuild a political party that is in shambles.

I predicted in mid-December that Republicans would never let the Rod Blagojevich affair go. They cannot. Hope springs eternal in their warped little minds. Blagojevich offers them the slenderest of threads of an opportunity to eventually mount a Monicagate-like assault on President Obama even as he works diligently to undo the disasters their embarrassment of a president caused.

D. Grant Haynes

Army suicides surpass combat casualties

2009-02-07T21:23:00-07:00

Army: Suicides higher than combat deaths

Kansas City Star

February 5, 2009

The Army is reporting a stunning rise in suicides for last month, with the number likely to surpass combat deaths.

According to figures obtained by The Associated Press, there were 24 suspected suicides in January, compared with just four in January of 2008.

If all 24 are confirmed, that would be higher than the 16 combat deaths reported in all branches of the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan last month.

Officials said Army leaders are alarmed by the monthly figure, and they took the unusual step of briefing congressional leaders on the information this morning.

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George W. Bush, you are personally responsible for the deaths of these soldiers.

You sent them on a mission that lacked honor or principle and now that their nation is repudiating what you, their commander-in-chief, forced them to do, they cannot live with themselves and their memories.

You left Washington January 20 proclaiming that your head was held high. If that is actually the case, such is a telling commentary on your moral idiocy.

Keeping hope alive among the knuckle draggers

2009-02-01T03:30:00-07:00

Obama's Half-Brother Arrested on Drug Charges in Kenya

FOXNews 1/31/09

The half-brother of President Barack Obama was arrested for alleged possession of marijuana on Saturday near his home in a Nairobi shantytown, police said... .

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Report: Daschle Delayed Tax Revelation

FOXNews - 2/1/09

Health and Human Services secretary nominee reportedly waited nearly a month after being nominated before informing President Obama that he had not paid years of back taxes... .

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Steele Focused on Three Critical Races In Rebuilding GOP

FOXNews - 1/31/09

Newly elected RNC chairman Michael Steele said a GOP comeback rests on the outcomes of three critical races. Newly elected chairman of the Republican National Committee Michael Steele said he is focused on three races in his effort to rebuild the GOP ... .

Defeated Republicans, media find new raison d'être

2008-12-14T03:08:00-07:00

The New York Times

Emanuel Had Contact With Governor's Office on Senate Seat

By HELENE COOPER and JACKIE CALMES

December 13, 2008

CHICAGO - President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, communicated with the office of Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois about potential candidates for Mr. Obama's Senate seat and provided a list of names, according to two Obama associates briefed on the matter.

The Obama associates said the interactions concerned several people who might fill the seat. Such contacts are common among party officials when a political vacancy is to be filled. It was not clear whether the communication was via direct telephone calls.

The Chicago Tribune reported that communications between Mr. Emanuel and the governor, both Democrats, had been captured on court-approved wiretaps, but Obama associates gave conflicting accounts of the interactions... .

______________________________

Folks, this is what the Repubican-inspired Blagojevich brouhaha is ultimately about: To harass, confuse, and, if possible, derail President-elect Barack Obama's administration before he has had an opportunity to begin to turn around the national and international disaster that is the legacy of the Bush years.

The nation and the world have been inspired by Barack Obama. Collectively and individually we dare to entertain hope for the first time in a decade that all is not lost--that Obama with his remarkable gifts and unprecedented mandate can restore America to her rightful place in the family of man. His beginnings have been propitious. His staff choices have been outstanding. The man deserves an opportunity to govern now.

But apparently Barack Obama will not be provided this opportunity. Rather, he and his staff will be required to devote inordinate time, energy, and resources defending themselves against tiresome prattle and endless innuendo about the Rod Blagojevich matter. This, at a critical juncture when the Obama team needs to address a thousand more important issues.

Did Obama communicate with Blagojevich?

Did Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, communicate with Blagojevich and to what end?

Did any one of hundreds of Obama staffers communicate with Blagojevich and what was the nature of such communication?

Etc., etc., etc., ad infinitum.

Republicans in and out of Congress, as well as members of the national press who are ever anxious to fan flames which might provide grist for a reportorial style dependent upon hand wringing crisis--will endeavor to keep a tenuous Obama-Blagojevich connection simmering for years--with or without justification.

Remember Bill Clinton's long persecution over Whitewater? Remember Jennifer Flowers? Such non-stories never go away when a Democrat who is attempting to govern his nation is involved.

Personally, I don't give a rat's ass who on Obama's staff talked to Rod Blagojevich or what the nature of such conversations may have been.

Obama's plate is full on the eve of his inauguration. The hopes of a nation and a world ride on his shoulders.

Barack Obama should not have to expend time and energy troubling himself about or renouncing Rod Blagojevich's unstable and excessive recent behavior. Our president-elect has more important things to do.