Jim Geraghty at National Review Online’s “Campaign Spot” blog has a post about the top 25 “worst figures in American history” as determined by 43 right-wing bloggers. Let’s just say that hyperpartisanship is effecting everyone this year:
- 23) Saul Alinsky
- 23) Bill Clinton
- 23) Hillary Clinton
- 19) Michael Moore
- 19) George Soros (8)
- 19) Alger Hiss (8)
- 19) Al Sharpton (8)
- 13) Al Gore (9)
- 13) Noam Chomsky (9)
- 13) Richard Nixon (9)
- 13) Jane Fonda (9)
- 13) Harry Reid (9)
- 13) Nancy Pelosi (9)
- 11) John Wilkes Booth (10)
- 11) Margaret Sanger (10)
- 9) Aldrich Ames (11)
- 9) Timothy McVeigh (11)
- 7) Ted Kennedy (14)
- 7) Lyndon Johnson (14)
- 5) Benedict Arnold (17)
- 5) Woodrow Wilson (17)
- 4) The Rosenbergs (19)
- 3) Franklin Delano Roosevelt (21)
- 2) Barack Obama (23)
- 1) Jimmy Carter (25)
Saul Alinsky? Michael Moore? Sharpton? Soros? Noam Chomsky? Did someone confuse “most annoying liberal” with “worst figure in American history”? Geez, what have those five doofuses ever actually done?
Why is Jane Fonda even on there? Sure, she served as a propaganda shill for the North Vietnamese, but how does she get on the list while Robert McNamara does not? He is the one that handicapped American troops which resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of our troops.
For the same reason as McNamara is the list, Lyndon Johnson should be too. Throw in his massive expansion of the government, but that’s just another point when compared to his actions during the Vietnam War.
I would throw in Janet Reno and John Ashcroft for their accusations, respectively, against Richard Jewel and Steven Hatfill. There are few things that I find more disgusting than a government official using his public office to slander an innocent person.
Sidebar: Should Mike Nifong (Duke lacrosse case) be included? Accusing three innocent people of one the most hideous crimes someone can be accused of for the sole purpose of gaining publicity and ensuing you are reelected to a political office?
Reno also gets included for her treatment as the head of the campaign to deport Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez.
At least one of the participants that were polled included Nathan Bedford Forest — founder of the Ku Klux Klan — on their list, however, he didn’t make the top 25. Alinsky et al. make the list but the founder of a society that terrorized blacks for over a century does not?
I would throw in Andrew Jackson simply as the personification of everything that was wrong in the American treatment of the natives on the continent.
You can debate whether Jimmy Carter should be the list. The debates online that I have seen seem to argue over whether someone should warrant inclusion if their actions were based on either stupidity or incompetence, versus actual malice.
But Barack Obama? Seriously, come on.
If you think I missed someone, leave a comment and I may update my post.
More reading:
Doug Mataconis: The Worst Figures In American History.
Michael Powell: Worst Figures in American History.
Jazz Shaw: How Does One Become a “Worst American?”