FP Magazine: "Was John F. Kennedy the worst U.S. president of the 20th century"

[grumbler]

Of course not.  We cannot forget the greatest British myth since the the myth of The Few!

How many other British PMs could manage to violate the Monroe Doctrine, the Rio Treaty, a pro-Argie OAS resolution Reagan supported before the colonial excursion, and the subsequent unanimous vote condemning the UK?

Maybe Lord Salisbury.  Maybe.

Oh, Maggie was a pistol, all right.  The myth is that the "no time to go wobbly" remark she mentions in her memoirs (1) was a verbatim quote, as opposed to a recollection of her feelings, and (b) that it had to do with the invasion of Kuwait, rather than the sanctions regime.

No country, I think, more deliberately misremembers its history to spare its peoples' feelings than Britain, except maybe Russia.

[Neil]

It's a habit of former imperial powers.  The US will be just as bad in twenty years.

[Ideologue]

Worst president of the 20th century?  Meh, not quite. 
Hoover, Nixon, Carter and Poppy Bush had mediocre/bad presidencies, and Dubya's presidency was so fucking bad, it actually went back in time and stunk up the 20th century.

That's bizarre.

Even you can realize that "mediocre/bad" is not "mediocre-bad".

He was an unimpressively mediocre president.  Watched the Wall fall in a law chair.  Backed the wrong horse in Moscow. Rescued the most hated Arabs in the region from Saddam.  Let Chinese Democracy get run over without so much as a strong letter to follow.  Gets an aircraft carrier named after him while he's still alive. Yahoo.

Now, I don't like him either, but I think a lot of the blame for that last one rests with Axl.

How many other British PMs could manage to violate the Monroe Doctrine, the Rio Treaty, a pro-Argie OAS resolution Reagan supported before the colonial excursion, and the subsequent unanimous vote condemning the UK?

Maybe Lord Salisbury.  Maybe.

That's silly.  Argentina deserved to be nuked for their naked act of aggression.  The British were models of restraint.

[Barrister]

Of course not.  We cannot forget the greatest British myth since the the myth of The Few!

How many other British PMs could manage to violate the Monroe Doctrine, the Rio Treaty, a pro-Argie OAS resolution Reagan supported before the colonial excursion, and the subsequent unanimous vote condemning the UK?

Maybe Lord Salisbury.  Maybe.

The Monroe Doctrine only spoke about expanding European colonies.  It even said that the US would not interfere with existing colonies.

[jimmy olsen]

Worst president of the 20th century?  Meh, not quite. 
Hoover, Nixon, Carter and Poppy Bush had mediocre/bad presidencies, and Dubya's presidency was so fucking bad, it actually went back in time and stunk up the 20th century.

That's bizarre.

Even you can realize that "mediocre/bad" is not "mediocre-bad".

He was an unimpressively mediocre president.  Watched the Wall fall in a law chair.  Backed the wrong horse in Moscow. Rescued the most hated Arabs in the region from Saddam.  Let Chinese Democracy get run over without so much as a strong letter to follow.  Gets an aircraft carrier named after him while he's still alive. Yahoo.

Now, I don't like him either, but I think a lot of the blame for that last one rests with Axl.

I was really confused there for a minute.

[Gups]

Oh, Maggie was a pistol, all right.  The myth is that the "no time to go wobbly" remark she mentions in her memoirs (1) was a verbatim quote, as opposed to a recollection of her feelings, and (b) that it had to do with the invasion of Kuwait, rather than the sanctions regime.

No country, I think, more deliberately misremembers its history to spare its peoples' feelings than Britain, except maybe Russia.

Maggies is mythologised far more in your country than mine. Most of us hate her. I doubt if more than 1% of the population remember the wobbly remark and hardly any of those give a shit either way.

[grumbler]

Maggies is mythologised far more in your country than mine. Most of us hate her. I doubt if more than 1% of the population remember the wobbly remark and hardly any of those give a shit either way.

I doubt that even 1/2 of one percent of Americans have read Thatcher's biography, which is where the "wobbly" comment comes from.  As far back as I can recall, every time the myth of Thatcher saying that to Bush to get him to act in Kuwait has been brought up here, it has been brought up by a Brit.  I may have missed an American saying it, but not in this case.

[Ed Anger]

At least she closed the coal mines and broke Josq's heart.

[grumbler]

At least she closed the coal mines and broke Josq's heart.

And she alienated most of the Guptaites.  I think Agelastus likes her, but we cannot hold her to blame for that.

[CountDeMoney]

Of course not.  We cannot forget the greatest British myth since the the myth of The Few!

How many other British PMs could manage to violate the Monroe Doctrine, the Rio Treaty, a pro-Argie OAS resolution Reagan supported before the colonial excursion, and the subsequent unanimous vote condemning the UK?

Maybe Lord Salisbury.  Maybe.

The Monroe Doctrine only spoke about expanding European colonies.  It even said that the US would not interfere with existing colonies.

The Monroe Doctrine is whatever we say it is, whenever we feel like it.  Lawtard.

[Malthus]

The pinko-liberal-bleeding-heart liberals of the 1960's spent all their political effort destroying the man who did more for civil rights and social justice than any other man in US history.

I am a big admirer of LBJ but he sorta brought it on himself.  The guy, for all his domestic wizardry, was a bit of a bull in a china shop internationally.  Texans have a hard enough time dealing with Mexicans and Oklahomans, much less Frenchmen and Chinese.

You gotta admire the man who popularized the term "pig-fucking" as a political term of art. 

[Malthus]

The year or so of many President's terms are often shaky as they are learning the ropes.  If we judged them all by that short time period  many would look pretty crappy.

Hey, Obama earned a Nobel Prize in *his* first year. 

[derspiess]

Until he barfed all over Japan.

A scene brilliantly re-created in Hot Shots.  And by that Japanese monkey that was trained to act like he was barfing whenever they told him "Bush-san!"

[Valmy]

You gotta admire the man who popularized the term "pig-fucking" as a political term of art. 

It is almost a moral imperative.

[grumbler]

You gotta admire the man who popularized the term "pig-fucking" as a political term of art. 

You do.  The problem is, no one knows who started that whole "pig-fucking" story.