BS: Positive things about US presidents

Subject: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: alanabit
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 05:19 PM

With all the negativity and unkind things, which can be said about current and former US presidents, I thought it would nice to have a thread on which we can list all the positive characteristics of those who hold, or have held this office:
Good things you can say about presidents:
Calvin Coolidge – it does not take you long to learn all the interesting things he said.
Richard Nixon – his speeches were not overfilled with tedious facts. He loved his dog.
Ronald Reagan – he never over intellectualised in his speeches.
George Bush Snr – his wife did not go into politics.
Bill Clinton – we got to know all the stuff about him that was none of our business.
George Bush Jnr – combined the intellect of Ronald Reagan with the moral authority of Richard Nixon.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 05:39 PM

George W. Bush - We shall be forever in his debt.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: bbc
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 05:40 PM

They've done a job I certainly wouldn't want to.

best,

bbc

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Peace
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 05:44 PM

"George W. Bush - We shall be forever in his debt."

Brilliant.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Amos
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 05:56 PM

Each of them held a very difficult position without going certifiably, foaming mad until they got out, with the exception of those who were mad going in.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 06:00 PM

They were American

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 06:03 PM

Dwight D. Eisenhauer - warned of the "military-industrial complex" ... too bad nobody listened to him ...

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Peace
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 06:04 PM

None of them have opened any messy, unnecessary inquiries into Guantanamo to muddy the waters for those damned liberals who infest every corner of the country.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 06:22 PM

I suppose they should help people appreciate that in order to be Ptresident of the USA there is no need for someone to be articulate, goodlooking, intelligent or ethical.

Homer Simpson step forward.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Ebbie
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 06:31 PM

I agree, McGrath. It may not be long before the presidential seat will hold a dog bed. (On the other hand, dogs have their standards, so they may not be presidential material.)

Seriously, I think our government format is flawed.

#1: We need a way to turn them out expediently and expeditiously. Too terribly much damage can be done in 4 or 2 years.

#2: Maybe it is time to consider a triumvirate? It might make for tumultuous governing but transparency should improve.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: katlaughing
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 06:56 PM

alanbit, I had high hopes when I read your opening post...seems it's a bit much for folks to get out of the cynic's mode, these days...

Lyndon Johnson was married to Lady Bird who gave us a wonderful legacy of wildflowers all along the highways and that is a positive thing, imo: Mrs. Johnson's determination and focus on the beauty of native flowers inspired her to create the National Wildflower Research Center in 1982 with her friend, actress Helen Hayes. Founded on Lady Bird's 70th birthday in 1982, the Center broke ground in 1983 on sixty acres of land east of Austin. In 1995, the Center moved to a meadow in southwest Austin and in 1998 was renamed after its founder. The mission of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is to educate people about the environmental necessity, economic value, and the natural beauty of native plants.

Let's see, who else...also Johnson and his Great Society... The Great Society program became Johnson's agenda for Congress in January 1965: aid to education, attack on disease, Medicare, urban renewal, beautification, conservation, development of depressed regions, a wide-scale fight against poverty, control and prevention of crime and delinquency, removal of obstacles to the right to vote. Congress, at times augmenting or amending, rapidly enacted Johnson's recommendations. Millions of elderly people found succor through the 1965 Medicare amendment to the Social Security Act.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 07:18 PM

No one's mentioned Jimmy Carter, probably because he never done no wrong.

Well, he did have a brother who endorsed a terrible tasting beer. I think it was called "Billy's Beer."

Of course, Jimmy Carter failed to get re-elected.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 07:21 PM

So did George Busg senior - that's a positive for him surely.

Gerald Ford succeeded in that as well.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Little Hawk
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 07:25 PM

Jimmy Carter brought a refreshing dose of both humility and humanity to the office.

Kennedy inspired people.

Nixon opened up relations with China.

Clinton "felt" our pain. What a guy! ;-)

Reagan made the chimp look pretty good (as an actor, I mean).

Bush Sr. proved he was not a wimp!

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: catspaw49
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 07:26 PM

Yes katmyluv, you have a point.   The Highway Beautification Act made a sincere attempt to clean up and add beauty to the nation's highways. Along with the wildflowers you mention it included laws about junkyards and billboards and most importantly, made it illegal for either of the two Johnson daughters to ride in an open convertible. Sadly, this portion of the Act only included the Johnson girls and should have been extended to cover ALL presidential daughters. This would have been heralded as ground breaking legislation and the entire nation would have given thanks when Amy Carter arrived in the White House.

I believe that leads us to another positive thing about our Presidents. They seem to have colorful friends and relatives. In the darkest hours we can always find something to give us a laugh. Consider if you will, the Carter clan. Miz Lillian, aka Ma Carter, was only too happy to tell Tito how serious she had taken "Jimma's" dental hygiene. And of course with Billy there was always something. At his gas station in Plains, Georgia, you could have a seven course meal, Carter style, consisting of a Moon Pie and a six pack of Billy Beer. Even more impressive was the day Billy stepped around behind the nose wheel of Air Force One and took a leak.

Do I need to mention strange bedfellows? What did Sam Giancana and Jack Kennedy have in common?   But wait! Am I leaving out the Republicans? Yes. Ike didn't have any friends. I don't think he even took his dick out to whizz. I've learned much more about him later but I swear to you when I was a kid I couldn't figure that Ike ever took a piss or a crap unless he was fully clothed with a tie on. But some Repubs were funny all by themselves, I mean no Democrat ever got stuck in a bath tub!

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: pdq
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 07:33 PM

What did Sam Giancana and Jack Kennedy have in common?

          A: Both shared the same girlfriend, Judith Exner.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Little Hawk
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 07:36 PM

Maybe they shared Marilyn Monroe too...

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 07:38 PM

Bill Clinton sacrificed his own cardiac health to a diet heavy in Big Macs and French fries just to show the rest of us what not to eat.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 08:26 PM

They were American.

On the contrary -- the first few were born and raised British and would have stayed British if they could have done so.

FDR provided jobs, via the WPA and the CCC, for some very hungry families (mine included).

Even though pushed hard because of the XYZ Affair to go to war with France, John Adams instead sent a peace mission.

A champion of the "spoils system" as President Chester A. Arthur came down very much against it, working for and signing into law the Pendleton Act which set up the US Civil Service Commission.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Bert
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 09:14 PM

Didn't Ike have something to do with the interstate highway system?

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: catspaw49
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 09:23 PM

Millard Fillmore, the only President to have double letters in both his first and last name, once turned down an honorary degreee from Oxford, saying that no one should accept a degree they could not read. Sadly this set no precedent and Dubya got a degree with being able to read. Also, old Millard gave no inaugural address which, sadly once again, did not set a precedent.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Little Hawk
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 09:42 PM

Not only that...he was rapidly climbing to the top spot on the ToyPresidents.com website, till they wised up and tampered with the voting records. What perfidy! Millard coulda been a contendah! We may have to wait several more years now to see Millard enshrined in a 12" plastic form for future generations to marvel at, and to get to hear his little electronic voice say....ummm...whatever Millard is remembered for saying.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 09:53 PM

And how about Franklin Pierce? Frankly, no one even remembers him, except for a few of us who went to the same college as he did.

Apparently we never had a president who had seven of his wives executed. Some played around but none of that domestic violence stuff.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 10:44 PM

In 1835, under Andrew Jackson, the US became briefly debt-free for the only time in history.

William Henry Harrison died a month after his inaguration. He was sick for most of that time, so he didn't have time to do much of anything.

Rutherford B. Hayes signed the act that permitted women lawyers to plead before the US Supreme Court.

Grover Cleveland personally answered the White House telephone.

In 1853, while President, Franklin Pierce was arrested for running over an old woman with his horse, but the case was dropped due to insufficient evidence. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow were fellow classmates at Bowdoin College, but not Charley Noble, who graduated some years later.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Peace
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 10:50 PM

"Bill Clinton sacrificed his own cardiac health to a diet heavy in Big Macs and French fries just to show the rest of us what not to eat."

Or who to get eaten by . . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: heric
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 12:32 AM

I don't feel like opening a thread on it, but I must say PM Howard of Australia sure did a great job of giving Mr. Obama a FastTrak pass to the international echelon today. Turbocharged his campaign engine, really.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: John O'L
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 01:01 AM

From ABC news:

An adviser to Hilary Clinton, the Democrats' frontrunner in the presidential race, says Mr Howard's opinions do not matter.
"First of all, the Prime Minister has been a great friend of George Bush," Terry McAuliffe said.
"He has been with him locked-step from day one on this war on Iraq - he and George Bush, they can go off and talk to each other. We don't care what he says."

Maybe Mr. Bush will prove to have been instrumental in removing the most dangerous Prime Minister Australians have ever had to put up with.
(In a future thread on the good things done by Australian prime ministers, perhaps we will be able to report that Mr. Howard was able to reciprocate.)

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: kendall
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 08:34 AM

When I was a boy in school, I was told that anyone can be president. Well, the last few have proved that statement.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 09:56 AM

Richard Nixon, for getting term limits on the Presidency.

Maybe if they were limited to one term, so they weren't concerned with re-election, then maybe they night actually govern for more of the term than currently. I'll leave it to others to decide if this is a good thing or not...

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: GUEST,Dickey
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 10:36 AM

Bunn:

That is a really good idea.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 10:41 AM

Excellent idea. It would produce more responsible government, at least on the part of the President him(her)self.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Riginslinger
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 01:23 PM

Jesse Ventura was trying to promote the concept of having the president serve one six year term when he was the governor of Minnesota, but of course, the Democrats and Republicans spent all of their energy making sure he couldn't run for a second term, so it didn't get much press.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: JeremyC
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 02:36 PM

Bunn - My thoughts exactly. If politicians weren't so focused on increasing their campaign fund and sucking up to poorly-informed voters, they might have time to do something useful.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: DougR
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 02:56 PM

Take care, McGrath, "articulate" has become a negative word in the U. S. (providing you are Black).

Interesting (but not surprising) that a thread intended to be positive is mainly negative.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Ebbie
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 03:10 PM

Nixon and term limits? How so? We've had presidential term limits for generations, from long before Nixon.

A single six-year term makes sense to me. Unless we get a parliamentary system that lets us turn 'em out sooner.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Amos
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 03:27 PM

I owe George W. Bush a great vote of thanks, for bringing the Presidency down to my level and giving me someone to heap well-deserved scorn upon, to know better than, to see through, to recognize the idiocy of, to mock with reason, to expose without effort, to plumb the depths of without half-trying, and to make me look good in comparison. My sincere thanks to him for these and other similar favors.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: GUEST,Dickey
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 03:38 PM

Amos:

So you would look bad without GWB to compare yourself with?

I have heard of people that have to put others down in order to build themselves up.

Is there a scientific or medical term for this?

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: John O'L
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 04:02 PM

"Potitics"

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: pdq
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 04:03 PM

Dear Ebbie:
         
Here is the answer to your question.

          The Twenty-second Amendment was proposed on March 24, 1947, and ratified on February 27, 1951. The amendment imposed term limits on the office of president of the United States.

The Republicans won back both houses of Congress in the 1946 elections and this was one of several measures they implemented to prevent the abuse-of-power demonstrated by FDR.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: kendall
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 04:16 PM

What abuse of power? Putting people back to work?

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 04:24 PM

I have always thought it was funny that until Clinton only Republicans were kept from running for a 3rd term (Eisenhower and Reagan) by that amendment.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: pdq
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 04:26 PM

FDR had a large majority in both the House and Senate. Together they passed piece after piece of un-constitutional Socialist legislation. That pesky Supreme Court threw out many of the bills, prompting FDR to propse increasing the size of the SC until he had his Socialist majority. FDR's abuse of power ranks with Lincoln and Lyndon Johnson, with only Lincoln having good cause.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: robomatic
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 04:30 PM

In the original post Alanabit wrote:

"George Bush Snr – his wife did not go into politics."

No, but she went into production: of Jeb and 'W'.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 04:33 PM

Wow. Impressive. I bet if FDR had known in advance that you were coming along, pdq, he would have arranged for some secret government action to prevent that eventuality from ever occuring. After all, he is reputed to have been a "socialist", and socialists are all inhuman monsters, capable of ANY atrocity! ;-)

Do I think he stayed too long in the presidency and had some delusions of grandeur? Yes, I do. But not because he was a "socialist". LOL!

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: alanabit
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 04:54 PM

There seems to be a substantial number of Americans, who would identify "socialist" as a term of disapproval on a level with "paedophile" or "psychopath". I am sure this is not true of all, or indeed a majority. However, for those who do think this way, it must be equally baffling for them to come to terms with the fact that a lot of people from elsewhere have difficulty in taking them seriously.
I actually intended this thread as a light hearted affair and perhaps a chance to show a little of that ironic Mudcat humour. Still smiling...

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Charley Noble
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 04:54 PM

pdq-

I challenge you to name one Socialist that ever made it to Congress before Bernie Saunders from Vermont.

There were some liberal Democrats during FDR's administration, but there were also a lot of conservative Democrats from the South.

FDR's vice-president, Henry Wallace, for the term before Harry Truman, certainly talked like a Socialist. It's a pity that FDR dumped him for his 4th term run.

FDR's wife Eleanor was certainly liberal, and active politically, more so than any previous Presidential wife.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: pdq
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 06:57 PM

I'm not trying to pick a fight with Socialists, I just suggest that they be honest enough to tell people what they are. Bernie Sanders did. If people relly want Socialism they should pass ammendment to the US Constitution that allow such activities. The measures would then need to be ratified by 38 states. Since doing it the right way won't happen, the rules are quietly changed by people who cannot be seen or who will not be held accountable.

Problems come when Socialists start confiscating the real and personal property of others. They always give it to their friends, their supporters, and yes themselves. We just had a huge kick-in-the-nuts by the liberals on the Supreme Court who changed the eminent domain standard from for public use to for public benefit. That is a huge step toward Socialism since the term benefit can mean anything the confiscators want. Your property (and mine) is no longer safe from them. There should be more outrage than there seems to be.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Riginslinger
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 06:59 PM

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Reagan could have served another term. As it was, his handlers finally admitted he was suffering from Alzheimers and turned off his teleprompter after only two terms.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Amos
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 07:15 PM

Dickey:

I do not, as a rule, have to put others down in order to look good. I manage to look all right just on my own devices, although not anything particularly special, just okay enough. But Bush is the first President who was so transparently illiterate, uninformed, and incompetent at the evaluation of information that I felt completely confident in analyzing his flaws, so egregious were they, and commenting on his morals, so dubious were they.

I didn't bother with Nixon, as I had no interest. I thought LBJ was too crafty for me and didn;'t understand what he was doing. Under Carter I had my attention on other things. JFK outmatched me all over the place. This particular daisy, though, came on to the scene full ripe for plucking..."he thinketh...he thinketh NOT...he thinketh...he thinketh NOT...".

A

Subject: RE: BS: Positive things about US presidents
From: Amos
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 07:47 PM

Socialism comes in all kinds of degrees, and flavors. To the fatcat capitalist who lives well on others' labor, because he did the initial risk-taking and investment, any effort to shift some of the money supply from those who already have it to those who do not can be stamped as rank socialism. A little safety net to dampen the extremes of inequity in the social arena is not an unwise thing, and offsets the threat of more severe disruptions due to deep widespread discontent. Healthcare and education have done more to strengthen the middle classes of America than all the big tycoons, except for the creation of jobs. The hard-over socialists often overlook how trying it is to make a company good enough to be able to support lots of salaries and wages for working people. Conversely the hard-over capitalist sometimes fails to notice that ROI alone is no guarantee of longevity or loyalty, while a loyal and motivated group can often guarantee those things. As usual the wise course of action is not at either extreme.

A