snuffbox

While Reagan doesn't deserve all the credit for ending the Cold War, he does deserve plenty. And he managed to do it without a ground war. He did have alot of corruption in his Administration and if people indict Harding/Grant for that then they must also indict Reagan. Personally, I feel that Cabinet/Administration corruption takes a backseat to Executive corruption/horrible policy. Reagan was a middle-of-the-pack, 'good' President.

Yeah, and that whole bank thing really panned out well!

Brownback endorsed McCain. Pat Robertson endorsed Giuliani.

Let's not try to compare the South to Iraq either. I dont want to have to call anyone a John Boehner.

I'm always amazed at people giving Nixon credit for ending Vietnam. By 'amazed', of course, I mean 'saddened'. Nixon could have allowed the Paris Peace Talks to end the war in either 1968 or '69 but instead decided to continue the war for FOUR MORE YEARS, and attack both Cambodia and Laos, then finally let it end under the EXACT SAME TERMS that would have been reached in 68/69. He cost an additional near 30,000 American deaths, fosterd Kent State, and that Cambodian thing had some pretty grisly effects down the road. And there was that whole Kissinger-in-Paris thing in 1968, too. America had another opportunity to shave a few months off the war in 1972 but instead chose to believe the Nixon campaign that George McGovern, one of the great World War 2 pilots, was a dope-smoking hippie. I still don't get why the historical comebacks, so to speak, of Truman or Lincoln matter at all to Bush Jr's future. Neither of those guys left an entire region completely shattered (after it was already dangerously unstable to begin with). None of those guy let a guy orchestrate an attack on American soil, kill thousands of people, and get away. Look at the economy, recession for his first few years and we're either going into one now or already there (could easily go beyond recession, and soon). Has Hoover turned a historical comeback yet? And then there's the whole record-deficit thing that we will be paying for decades.

Sakio Bika won a classic tonight.

I don't think 'shit' would really be a slang-term here.

There have been plenty of good ones. Only a few great ones.

Well-dressed coach, though

You have been dragging out excuses left & right for Nixon. I said that other Presidents (and contenders) have handled as bad, or worse, conditions as well as stolen elections far better than Nixon. I didnt say you impugned anything. I said that FDR worked beyond his handicap (far worse than anything in Nixon's own life) rather than ever use it as an excuse. Basically, there are NO excuses for Nixon. Only speculation based on his life as to why he was so fucked up.

He injected cortisone to be able to stand upright. He was handsome, no homo. Yes, the public were unaware of the extent of Roosevelt's handicap. But he helped foster that by managing to hold himself upright with his arms during speeches, heave himself forward using railings and shoulders, etc. A lot of people would give up under those conditions...FDR won 4 Presidential elections. Bob Haldeman would approve of your theories, Czech.

Andrew Johnson and Franklin Pierce would be 6/7 on my list. Harding, Grant, and Carter would round out the top (or bottom) ten.

Nixon didnt want Ike's help in 1960. He really felt he could do it all on his own & have his 'own' reign. By the time he was convinced otherwise and Ike was invited in, it was too little/late. Politcally, the only comparison that can really be made to the Nixon Machine (Haldeman, etc) is Bush Jr's. Nixon seemed to always have an excuse handy (poor family, abusive father, damn liberals, mean old Ike, Daley, media, etc) but as bad or worse events/circumstances didn't impede or define others. John Adams (and many other Founders) was lacking teeth, Lincoln was ugly as hell, FDR was in a wheelchair, Clinton had a rough childhood, and, as already mentioned, several others have had elections stolen from them and didn't go batshit crazy.

I was lazy last night & almost put my game face on to order a bbq chicken pizza. Didn't, though. I'm glad.

Nixon also once slapped a woman in public & probably (at least verbally) abused Pat. Classy guy. If he could have tied his own shoes he could have been popular amongst pro wrestling fans.

Funny as South Park is, Al Gore hasn't in fact had numerous public meltdowns since a Presidential election was stolen from him. That, no matter how much you want to blame the Kennedy Machine or Daley, is not even close to an answer. Nor is Eisenhower's treatment of him a possibility. Before Kennedy, none of the Presidents gave much, if any, attention to their understudies. Truman didnt even know about the Manhattan Project until he became President himself. Nixon was very introverted (the Brodie book goes somewhat deeply into childhood events that may have made this so prominent in Nixon) and that, combined with his paranoia, vindictiveness, and poor social confidence/grace were major factors in his lacking for personal relationships. No, it was not that Everybody was out to get him. It was more that Nixon himself was a repellent to so many people. His political actions, personal corruption, and greed only furthered the distance. On top of this, his poor physical ability probably drove him further into himself and compounded the jealous/paranoid aspects of his character. Remember, Nixon was doing the red-hunt bit before he was VP. The dark side of him, the side that almost completely dominated his Presidency, was already apparent during his first run at Congress. Samuel Tilden, Grover Cleveland, and Andrew Jackson all handled stolen elections without becoming totally helpless weirdos, as well.

Nixon is only sympathetic in a what-went-wrong kind of way. Fawn Brodie wrote a really good psychological bio of Nixon that, though well-researched, well-written, and extensive, still doesn't answer the deepest questions of why Nixon was so incredibly fucked up. The guy had some serious issues. He was extremely paranoid and physically very clumsy (to the point where he could not handle pill bottles or anything else with a modicum of hand-eye coordination). He had a drinking problem that was exacerbated by him being an alcohol lightweight. Nixon's psyche deserves another book. Harding & Grant were both terribly ineffective but the problems in their Administrations were almost entirely due to various Cabinet members. They weren't so much "bad" as they were ill-equipped for the job. LBJ, Nixon, Buchanon, Hoover, and Bush were bad Presidents. They are the five worst. Of the 5, only Johnson had a really high-mark moment with his Civil Rights legislation that he pushed through with the help of Kennedy's ghost. Bush could have had numerous great moments but failed each...Katrina ignored/forgotten, Afghanistan neglected for Iraq, fall of Baghdad eclipsed by the failed follow-up. Hoover and Buchanon couldn't handle, and only fueled the fires, of slavery/secession and the depression. Nixon is the worst by default for his resignation more than anything else. 1. Richard Nixon 2. Herbert Hoover 3. James Buchanon 4. George W. Bush 5. Lyndon Johnson Grant and Harding, the easy choices, shouldn't even be in the top 5 for worst Presidents.

I enjoy chewing tobacco & sniffing permanent markers.

President Flightsuit says he dont matter.

San Francisco was becoming an Espn darling down the '06 stretch.

MISSED A LETTER!

The last three songs on are the best on the entire album. See, when Neil Young makes an album I find terrible (Are You Passionate), I just try to ignore it entirely & focus on the next release/earlier music I enjoy. I don't see where it would benefit me to compare songs I dont care for to stuff I already really like. All that would do is reiterate the bad songs & would add nothing to the good with the comparison. This is definitly not worth an argument, though.

You obviously dont like it. Why listen? It is like an awful relationship being dragged on for reasons unknown even to the participants.

Their other back, old What's His Name, deserves an opportunity.

And remember, we can't do anything at all in Pakistan. If we do then the terrorists win, Rudy masturbates furiously to 9-11, and Jesus dies all over again. The ultraliberal media doesnt seem too interested that, with almost two full months to go, America has already seen its worst year of war casualties in decades.