Which President(s) Of The Last 50 Years Have Done The Most Damage To The Country ?

[Vidi]

Clinton did far more LONG term damage than Obama and Carter combined.

But in the end, I had to go Bush 43...9/11, 2 wars, stacking the supreme court with judicial legislators, the tax cuts, the economic collapse...

and in the end only ONE of those presidents lost an entire American city...Bush 43. ( not really his fault though...unless the government has weather machines hehe )

 

[Synthaholic]

Oh, I absolutely did NOT like Bush 43's policies one little bit. But permanent damage?

In my humble opinion it was definately James Earl Carter. That was a man that was so in over his head that he looked not only to the world like an inept imbecile, but at the end of his term this country KNEW they had sent a man wholly unqualified to be President to the Oval Office.

1. The Iranian/Islamofacist Situation - Jimmy wanted to be everyone's friend (sound like someone you know?) and when the Ayatollah started that little mess, he stood by and watched while the American embassy was stormed and hostages were held for 444 days. If Jimmy had acted and acted DECISIVELY at the beginning of the situation, it is likely that we would not have the major headache of Islamic terrorists now. Imagine an Iran that holds democratic elections? But I was in the military when that happened. After two years of this putz, we didn't even have ammunition and about half of our vehicles did not run for lack of spare parts. Even if Jimmy had wanted, I'm not sure he could have cobbled together a force to go there and do something. Let's remember that Diego Garcia and the pre-positioned ships were NOT available (that didn't happen until Reagan). Jimmy was closing overseas bases as fast as possible up to that point, the remaining open base closest to Iran being in Turkey. Additionally, about half the airlift, bomber and combat aircraft that would have gotten us there and protected us enroute, was grounded because lack of spare parts as well. This is very possibly one of the most incredible mistakes made by a President in the last 150 years.

2. Nicaragua - We know now (due to the Soviet Union collapsing) that our friends the Soviets had been fermenting trouble in Central and South America for 20 years PRIOR to Jimmy's fiasco. They formed and armed rebel guerillas all over Central and South America, who were NOT effective until Jimmy pulled advisors out because we are not supposed to interferring in other peoples business. The Sandinistas and other rebels (refer to the FARC in Columbia) were a direct result of this wanting to be friends with everyone and refusing to take a stand against what was happening. The direct result? Reagan was forced to invade Grenada as the Cubans were building a military air strip there. You can also trace the invasion of Panama directly to Jimmy's inability to directly and firmly deal with the KGB sticking there finger in this festering shit hole.

3. Afghanistan - By God Jimmy didn't let us go to the Olympics did he? After sitting on his thumbs and allowing the Russians to invade (read the information from the Kremlin, they invaded because they KNEW Carter had no stomach to oppose them in any form) the only way to effectively combat the Russians was by arming the Majahudeen (SP?). Osama bin Laden was one of those that we armed. That worked out great for us, didn't it.

I could go on and on about this ignorant individuals blunders. But you get the picture here. We are just now wrapping up TWO WARS that is a direct result of this man's bent to destroy the Department of Defense and the intelligence agencies. Our dealings with Iran are just now heating up and you have Jimmy to thank for them. This man will go down in history as one of the FIVE WORST PRESIDENTS that this country has ever had. Thank God one of the FIVE BEST PRESIDENTS in this countries history came right after him.

What a bunch of revisionist crap!


"he stood by and watched while the American embassy was stormed and hostages were held for 444 days."


I'm pretty sure the storming of the embassy happened too quickly for any president to have stood by and watched.

Tell me - what do you think would have been the response of the American people, and the Republican Party, had President Carter sent in troops, and 100, or 200, or 300, or all of the hostages were killed? Were their lives expendable? Did their lives have no value?

Since reading comprehension is apparently NOT a strong suit of yours, you will notice that in the rest of my information, I referred to Carter's systematic dismantling of the Department of Defense (prior to the embassy seizure) and the inability of units to respond to a situation such as the embassy take over, even if he wanted them to respond.

If you are going to make asinine statements, you need to back them up with proof.

The lack of any bases close to the incident for the purpose of staging, the lack of military air lift capability, and the command wide lack of basic parts and equipment, all played a MAJOR role in Carter's inability to respond adequately. Because of this, he was religated to simply respond with economic and politcal sanctions to a situation which should have been responded to IMMEDIATELY militarily.

And that's Carter's fault? The Turks were in turmoil, about to launch a coup.

Which bases in the ME did Carter close? And which bills to defund the DoD did Carter sign? Be specific, poseur.

And why didn't you answer my question, Mr. Reading Comprehension?

I realize that this may be too difficult for a knee-jerk political hack, but go back and read about unit readiness during the period of 1976 to 1980. Look more specifically for unit preparedness for the 5th and 6th fleets AND units such as the 82nd Airborne AND the 101st Airborne. Read the Department of Defense information, not some political white-washed propaganda. Additionally, there are about five books that are very good on the hostage situation, the reasons for it, the intelligence that Carter ignored, and why the US was unable to respond other than to cry 'foul' at the UN. The best one I found was written by the CIA's Iranian expert at the time.

Military readiness is the responsibility of the Pentagon and the unit commanders. Period.

And experts? How much credence do wingnuts like you give to experts like Paul Krugman, who is being proven correct with each passing day? How about expert weapons inspectors like Hans Blix?

Additionally, you will recall that when Carter finally agreed to let Colonel Beckworth and his operators attempt a hostage rescue, one of the major problems was that the helicopters that they were forced to use were old and unprepared for use in the desert. Sand clogged the air intake filters, causing some of them to have to return. When they finally figured out that they didn't have enough helicopters to proceed, they had the conflaguration in the desert. As always, because of liberals setting their sites on the military and making drastic cuts, Americans died.

Then the military really fucked up, didn't they? Or was Carter supposed to disregard their advice, because he was supposed to know more about helicopter capability than they did?

One of the first acts of Ronald Reagan was to reconstitute the military sealift command. Prepositioned ships with equipment, parts and ammunition were stationed at Diego Garcia. Negotiations with the sheiks at Bahrain began, in an attempt to secure a base in the area.

Who de-constituted it in the first place? Link?

You know, you can disagree all you like... if you have the facts to back up your position. You do understand what facts are? Oh, obviously not...

Oh, I understand facts, alright. Provide some, with the proof to back them up.

 

[Cowman]

It was a tossup between LBJ and Nixon for me... because of the Vietnam war. Nixon ended up winning for me as most damaging.

 

[initforme]

I wasnt a big fan of Carter, nor Reagan.

 

[Lovebears65]

Carter.... 444 days that convinced Islamic fundamentalists that there were no repercussions for terrorism and ultimately led us to today.

This was my pick too with Obama a close 2nd

 

[whitehall]

LBJ was the most completely dishonest dumb ass ever to sit in the Oval Office. His political career was so dishonest that the left wing media actually laughed about whole cemeteries voting for him. Every dirty trick that the left wing media blamed on Nixon was a LBJ invention. LBJ had Barry Goldwater's plane bugged and the media laughed about it. The fake "Tonkin Gulf Crisis" got us in to VietNam and LBJ decided the US Military would fight a different kind of war and we won every battle and still abandoned the field. Just when Americans needed leadership after the hard won victory of Tet LBJ quit on national TV and gave the V.C. a new lease on life. The "War on Poverty" and the Great Society" were abject failures that tore Black families apart and kept Americans on the dole for forty years. LBJ was the worst in history.

 

[Vidi]

LBJ was the most completely dishonest dumb ass ever to sit in the Oval Office. His political career was so dishonest that the left wing media actually laughed about whole cemeteries voting for him. Every dirty trick that the left wing media blamed on Nixon was a LBJ invention. LBJ had Barry Goldwater's plane bugged and the media laughed about it. The fake "Tonkin Gulf Crisis" got us in to VietNam and LBJ decided the US Military would fight a different kind of war and we won every battle and still abandoned the field. Just when Americans needed leadership after the hard won victory of Tet LBJ quit on national TV and gave the V.C. a new lease on life. The "War on Poverty" and the Great Society" were abject failures that tore Black families apart and kept Americans on the dole for forty years. LBJ was the worst in history.

Hell no. LBJ didnt invent ANY of the dishonest shit Nixon did. He did however perfect it.

LBJ had a habit of pulling his cock out and showing it to people. How the hell could that man become President? Its mind boggling.

 

[Synthaholic]

I have yet to see anyone explain why they picked Ford or Bush The Wiser.

 

[Duped]

Bush 43: He did such a bad job a socialist was elected!

 

[Artevelde]

We did

Taking us from an essentially unarmed nation to a world power, assisting in the defeat of the Third Reich, and ending Japan's fascism was "bad" huh?

???

Has Common Dreams ever mentioned "World War I?"

Yeah, I'm thinking America was already an established world power...

We didn't become a world power till after WwII you dumbass.

That is ridiculous. The US was a major World Power at least from 1898 on, if not earlier.

 

[Artevelde]

Carter was indeed a disaster as president... but he did no long-term damage to speak of...

Without Carter caving to the Muslims, there would have been no 9-11 attack.

Come to think of it, while Carter may not have been the worst US President in history (James Buchanan and Franklin Pierce are strong competition), he is certainly by far the worst ex-President in history being consistently wrong on virtually every major international issue.

 

[Troubadour]

There are two damaging strains, which somewhat intertwine - Nixon's authoritarian, murderous right-wing ideology of monarchial governance, and Reagan's delusional free-market mullahs who literally believed that "greed is good." Both are now endemic to the GOP, and together represent an existential threat to the survival of the republic. They've already transferred massive amounts of wealth from the hands of the American people into the hands of a few corporate executives, and killed countless people doing it.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Toss up between LBJ or GWB.

Who do you think the greatest was?

Obama, or Obama?

The greatest undoubtedly was Lincoln.

You would choose either Coolidge or Hoover.

 

[Peach]

Obama leading Bush 43 is absurd. 9/11, Iraq & the failure to fund the ACE levee project, which allowed New Orleans to be inundated seem forgotten.

 

[OldUSAFSniper]

What a bunch of revisionist crap!


"he stood by and watched while the American embassy was stormed and hostages were held for 444 days."


I'm pretty sure the storming of the embassy happened too quickly for any president to have stood by and watched.

Tell me - what do you think would have been the response of the American people, and the Republican Party, had President Carter sent in troops, and 100, or 200, or 300, or all of the hostages were killed? Were their lives expendable? Did their lives have no value?

Since reading comprehension is apparently NOT a strong suit of yours, you will notice that in the rest of my information, I referred to Carter's systematic dismantling of the Department of Defense (prior to the embassy seizure) and the inability of units to respond to a situation such as the embassy take over, even if he wanted them to respond.

If you are going to make asinine statements, you need to back them up with proof.




And that's Carter's fault? The Turks were in turmoil, about to launch a coup.

Which bases in the ME did Carter close? And which bills to defund the DoD did Carter sign? Be specific, poseur.

And why didn't you answer my question, Mr. Reading Comprehension?



Military readiness is the responsibility of the Pentagon and the unit commanders. Period.

And experts? How much credence do wingnuts like you give to experts like Paul Krugman, who is being proven correct with each passing day? How about expert weapons inspectors like Hans Blix?




Then the military really fucked up, didn't they? Or was Carter supposed to disregard their advice, because he was supposed to know more about helicopter capability than they did?

One of the first acts of Ronald Reagan was to reconstitute the military sealift command. Prepositioned ships with equipment, parts and ammunition were stationed at Diego Garcia. Negotiations with the sheiks at Bahrain began, in an attempt to secure a base in the area.

Who de-constituted it in the first place? Link?

You know, you can disagree all you like... if you have the facts to back up your position. You do understand what facts are? Oh, obviously not...

Oh, I understand facts, alright. Provide some, with the proof to back them up.

You want to rely on Paul Krugman (his blog - Conciousness of a Liberal) and Hans Blix (the head of the Swedish Liberal People's Party)? Readiness is the responsibility of unit commanders (forgetting about how spare parts, ammunition, and equpment are purchased and disseminated in the military)?

Wow... straight ideological propaganda... careful, you'll spill some of the left's water... never mind.

 

[bigrebnc1775]

Obama leading Bush 43 is absurd. 9/11, Iraq & the failure to fund the ACE levee project, which allowed New Orleans to be inundated seem forgotten.

The city of New Orleans took the money allocated for the levees and used it else where.

 

[Uncensored2008]

If you are going to make asinine statements, you need to back them up with proof.

Translation: If he's going to make factual statements, syndi is going to throw a hissy fit.

And that's Carter's fault? The Turks were in turmoil, about to launch a coup.

Which bases in the ME did Carter close? And which bills to defund the DoD did Carter sign? Be specific, poseur.

You're such a fucking retard; syndi.

{Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President

I transmit herewith for consideration of the Congress proposed legislation to extend the appropriation authorization for the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and for other purposes, together with a letter from the Acting Director of the Agency in support of this legislation.

The United States Government's interest in arms control agreements has gained widespread public and bipartisan political support. The ultimate goals of these agreements are to lessen the danger of war and to promote peaceful settlement of disputes. We are currently pursuing these goals in many forums, including negotiations bilaterally with the Soviet Union, and multilaterally with the Warsaw Pact countries, in the Geneva based Conference of the Committee on Disarmament and in the United Nations.

Read more at the American Presidency Project: Jimmy Carter: U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Letter to the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=7147#ixzz1toa9ZDEp}

And why didn't you answer my question, Mr. Reading Comprehension?

Change your tampon, syndi.

Military readiness is the responsibility of the Pentagon and the unit commanders. Period.

Even for a fucknut, you are amazingly stupid, syndi.

{Section. 2.

Clause 1: The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States;}

And experts? How much credence do wingnuts like you give to experts like Paul Krugman, who is being proven correct with each passing day? How about expert weapons inspectors like Hans Blix?

Krugman gets no credit because he is a hack, discredited in the academic community and only through partisan attack columns does he make a living.


Standard Disclaimer: I quoted the United States Constitution; no doubt synthia is writhing on the ground screaming "it burns, IT BURNS."

 

[JakeStarkey]

Link and relevance, or shut up, bigrebnc, as well as you ignored 9-11 and Iraq. Peach wins hands down.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Krugman is a good economist but he is a far lefty politically, and all his work has to be filtered through that lens. Having noted that, Krugman is a true American, Uncensored is a farbot losah who is fun to laugh at.

 

[Uncensored2008]

The greatest undoubtedly was Lincoln.

You would choose either Coolidge or Hoover.

Hoover was a big government moron, one of yours.

The greatest President was Washington, hands down. Second I would put as Warren Harding, followed closely by Reagan.

Harding brought about healing from the damage done by open Fabian, Woodrow Wilson. Harding ushered in a wave of unprecedented prosperity and growth, never eclipsed, not even by Reagan.

Figures you would pick the guy who suspended habeas and imprisoned opposition voices.