No, not really, 2WL. At least blankflag is bipartisan about it.

@ butterhead

Nope. Theodore Roosevelt ran for his second *elected* term. For his first term, he was serving out the remainder of McKinley's term. Good try.
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I think Coolidge had the best demeanor out of any president. The dude kept his mouth shut and let the country run itself, a skill lost on almost every other president.

Coolidge was great at what he wanted to do with the Presidency; don't have to agree with him to get that.

And, by the way, great job at completely avoiding the point about Grant.

@ckroberts
"Special consideration for William Howard Taft for being our fattest president."

Dude, don't fuck with the Taft. I've already given my (serious) reasons why he's a favorite.

Taft was the only politician to ever serve in all three branches of government, but only ever gets remembered for getting stuck in a fucking bath tub.

He also, as I pointed out earlier, instituted the first corporate tax *and* reduced federal spending by more than 10%.

"but only ever gets remembered for getting stuck in a fucking bath tub."

Because it's fucking hilarious.

Taft also has the disadvantage of serving in the oversized and overrated shadow of Teddy Roosevelt.

I like Taft enough, particularly compared to both his successor and his predecessor. But he wasn't particularly good at being a politician, and the bad leftovers of dollar diplomacy are still with us.

Although, to be fair, that's a lot better than what the jingos were asking for.

Hey, don't disrespect Theodore Roosevelt. I could argue that Theodore Roosevelt is the number one biggest badass of all time. He literally did every badass profession in existence in the time period in which he lived.

@ bo_sox

What point about Grant am I missing?

"I like Taft enough, particularly compared to both his successor and his predecessor. But he wasn't particularly good at being a politician, and the bad leftovers of dollar diplomacy are still with us."

He wasn't much of a self-promoter, but he was excellent at building consensus and reaching compromise. He was also an exquisite legal mind.

@Gun... Grant ran for a third term but didn't get his party's nomination.

The 22nd Amendment would have happened eventually, but it's too bad that it is a massive check on the President's power considering that there are practically no other high political offices that have term limits. They should establish some kind of limit on Congresspeople and other elected officials, but it's not like Congress would pass that against themselves.

@ bo_sox48

So?

The 22nd Amendment is a good idea. It basically codifies Washington's precedent which was unbroken until that dictator named FDR came along. Furthermore, I would strongly favor the idea of term limits on Congress. Congress wouldn't have to approve of it either; the states can call a constitutional convention and do the amendment themselves.

Aren't legislated term limits a little anti-democratic?

If you want to see an elected official ignore the will of the people, give them four years of power without the possibility of re-election.

Then again, if you want to see someone stop worrying about fundraising and instead get about the business of governing, give them four years of power without the possibility of re-election.

George Washington, he was the only President who wasn't arrogant enough to think he would be the best person to run the country. Not to mention he was unanimously elected/forced into office, the only case in history. Plus his warnings against political parties before leaving office was some of the best advice possible...too bad nobody listened.

@Gun ... the people voting for the states are state legislators. No politician will ever vote to limit their own power; the only time they'd do it is when a single party has over 66% of Congress - which was true - and they were pissed off by someone like FDR and even more when Truman won.

I'm with hecks in saying that term limits are anti-democratic. In theory, yeah, it's a good idea, but FDR was good enough to get elected four times even when people knew he might die in office. Hell, Reagan would have been President till he died if there hadn't been term limits.

@hecks .. there are other ways to limit a candidate's time spent campaigning and fundraising than that, and the reason is because of the first thing. They need to get rid of the Electoral College and the minimum poll votes in order to debate as well.

@jmo.. +1

Monroe's tenure was known as "the era of good feelings" and ran unopposed his second time. Only one member of the electoral college threw a vote to someone else so Washington would be the only unanimous choice ever. I think we need to give a little more love to Monroe, eh?

Teddy Roosevelt started many of the things that later came to be associated with New Deal policy -- the foundations of the regulatory administration that makes Big Government possible. Teddy Roosevelt had an unshakable confidence in government knowing best; he was a progressive, after all. He encouraged irrigation and subsidies that have created such an imbalanced and ecological harmful agricultural system in modern America. He used executive orders and the bully pulpit, anticipating the modern imperial president.

TR was also a war-monger who helped get us into the war with Spain, WWI, and imperial adventurism in general. He was also exceedingly racist, even in a racist time, with a belief in racial conflict we would later associate with Nazi Germany.

@ ckroberts

If he was so racist, why did he have Booker T. Washington over for dinner at the White House?

Yeah some of his best friends were black!

And some of Thomas Jefferson's best slaves were black! Clearly not racist, either

More love for James Monroe here. Though it helps that he's my great-great-great-.......-uncle.

Ben Franklin, he invented stuff
- answer 20% of Americans have for this question

I bet you could get higher than 20% if you asked the question, "what president is on the $100 bill?"

Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton were both awesome! You don't get your face on a bill if you weren't a great president.

franklin and hamilton were completely different

hamilton was nothing but a pawn of the bankers. franklin was ok though, he was honest. he said that the reason the colonies were successful is that they had no central bank, and he also said the prime reason for the revolution was the currency act and england forcing them under its central banking system. (saying something like we would have been fine with some taxes on tea or something if they let us create our own money).

@blankmind ... Seriously? You're going to compare Franklin and Hamilton as presidents? You're really going to do that?

@y2kjbk: I think we found one of the 20%right here!

And ckroberts finally Godwins the thread. Is this the longest a Webdip thread has gone without Nazis coming up, or did somebody already say Hitler and I missed it?

Lol @ Franklin and Hamilton... way to give blankflag an erection over the banks...

Just saying, if he was as racist as you claim him to be, surely he wouldn't tolerate a black man at his dinner table or in his cavalry unit.