Wednesday, May 24, 2006

A new type of literacy tests?

Okay take a look at this list courtesy of Wikipedia. I have bolded those who are way to high(although to be honest Reagan getting 1/5 does not seem so bad) I have italicized those who are way to low. Okay yeah I know Lincoln has been dead for a long time and so has FDR but you are telling be that FDR is only 7 points better than Dubya. Also how the hell did 10.08 people select Richard Nixon as the greatest President. Maybe they were laughing as they said this and the poll taker was simply an idiot.
Gallup poll
A Gallup poll about presidential greatness, taken 7-10 February 2005, asked 1008 adults nationwide, "Who do you regard as the greatest United States president?" This poll had a margin of error of plus or minus three percent.
1. Ronald Reagan (20%)
2. Bill Clinton (15%)
3. Abraham Lincoln (14%)
4. Franklin D. Roosevelt (12%)
5. John F. Kennedy (12%)
6. George W. Bush (5%)
7. George Washington (5%)
8. Jimmy Carter (3%)
9. Harry Truman (2%)
10. Theodore Roosevelt (2%)
11. Thomas Jefferson (2%)
12. George H.W. Bush (1%)
13. Dwight Eisenhower (1%)
14. Richard Nixon (1%)
15. Other/None/No opinion: 5%
This article also explains how in a recent poll of historians conservative historians ranked Dubya the #6 greatest president of all time. Okay stop yeah I know what you are thinking. Lets play a game lets place 6 presidents(conservative or liberal who are equal to or not better than Dubya) This btw is bases soley on achievement not ideology. I am ranking them in order of greatness.(BTW I am excluding the big 3 Lincoln FDR and Washing)
1 Woodrow Wilson.(League of Nations, brought he United States out of isolantionism) 2 Teddy Roosevelt (First Modern president. Established a strong international prescence and strong federal government)
3 Harry Truman (Cold War leadership and intergration of armed forces)
4 James K Polk.(He accomplished everything he planned to do in 4 years and expaned the country by many leaps and bounds).
5 Andrew Jackson (Charisma, strong federal government. Nullification crisis)
6 Ronald Reagan (won the cold war peacefully)

With the exception of Harry Truman even a conservative historian has to admit that those 6 are at least equal or better than Dubya. Add in the big 3 and it is not even close. Next up a blog on Historical conservativism.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Speaking of Bush and Truman, don;t you find many historical parallels?