No Right Answer: Best U.S. President Ever

[the7ofswords]

TR fought in a war HIMSELF before he was president.

W sent OTHER people to war for no reason while he was president. (AND he went AWOL from the National Guard during Viet Nam.)

There's no friggin' comparing those things!

 

[Azuaron]

Lincoln's the obvious shoe in because, you know, Lincoln. JFK's up there for the space program, if nothing else. Washington, 'cause, you know, Washington.

But Teddi? I mean, obviously the man was a total badass, but this wasn't "most badass president", this was "best president". How about the other Roosevelt, who brought us out of the Great Depression and led us through World War II? The only President in our history to serve more than two terms, and he served FOUR, after which Congress said, "We can't handle so much awesome," and legislated that no one would ever be able to replicate his feat.

Also, you guys should totally do a "worst US president" episode.

So much flame bait, but hell, why not.

Psst, they're both Republicans.

The values of Democrats and Republicans switched at FDR (FDR ushering in the modern Democrat party, and the Republicans taking something approximating their current stance to oppose him).

Thus, if they were to identify with a modern party, they would both be Democrats.

Although, actually, wasn't Teddi a Bull Moose? I seem to remember him getting kicked out of his party, and he said, "I'm the forerunner of the BULL MOOSE PARTY! WHO'S WITH ME!" And the people were with him.

*Wikipedia* Oh, it was only nicknamed the Bull Moose Party. Official name of the party?

Progressive Party.

So, yeah, Democrat.

 

[Krantos]

So much flame bait, but hell, why not.

Psst, they're both Republicans.

Except back in Lincoln's day, the Republicans were the liberals and the Democrats were the conservatives. The parties have seen nearly a complete ideological switch since then.

As far as current politics are concerned, Lincoln was a democrat.

Just sayin'.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

Awesome episode, and I was ready to be disappointed in you guys for going off the usual debate material.

On that note, though, this episode needs a follow-up for best *Fictional* US President.

 

[ShadowHand25]

FUN FACT: Abraham Lincoln mastered in law and became a lawer without attending a post-secondary school.

 

[doublenix]

FDR would have been a better choice for a debate, but TR makes it fun.

 

[Blazing Steel]

Gonna have to go with Lincoln for my vote. As for everyone saying George Washington, you realise that he was a huge racist and when it came to war, mercy was never his strong point.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Judge fails for taking idiotic logical fallacies to be worth points. Bad judge! *whacks with newspaper* You don't do that anymore! On topic, Lincoln was a good president, and Teddy was easily one of the most badass presidents, but I'm just gonna leave this one here:

James. K. Polk.

In one term, accomplished all of his goals, ended a war, seized Oregon from Britain and the Southwest from Mexico, started naval academies and a separate treasury, was an outstanding orator, and came up from out of nowhere to be the strongest candidate, even against the incumbent. Boom.

 

[Triaed]

Hmmm... couldn't care less if I tried.
I guess as long as they do not invade other countries they are good presidents in my books, but there is a fat chance of that happening

 

[not_the_dm]

Just going to point this out, not because it's important to the debate, but because it's mildly interesting. The Canadians don't have Queen Elizabeth II of England on their currency, they have Queen Elizabeth of Canada. Physically the same person, but leagally and politically two different people.

 

[Chunga the Great]

Neither, F.D.R was the best president.

 

[MattValtezzy95]

Am I the only one who caught Kyle's George Carlin reference at the end?

 

[TConti]

Great video to prove how little some of us Americans know about our own history.

 

[Bill Nye the Zombie]

James. K. Polk.

In one term, accomplished all of his goals, ended a war, seized Oregon from Britain and the Southwest from Mexico, started naval academies and a separate treasury, was an outstanding orator, and came up from out of nowhere to be the strongest candidate, even against the incumbent. Boom.

Well, he did end a war, but only after starting it. Other than that, yeah, he did those things.

But best President ever? James Madison.

He started the war that brought together America from a collection of like 15 or 16 states, and made them a nation in more than name, his major rival political party, the Federalists, managed to self-destruct itself, which propelled the US into the Area of Good Feelings, and he brought backwoodsmen like Andrew Jackson and officers like Winfield Scott from nobodies and next to nobodies to people known all across America as Heroes. Plus his chosen successor, James Monroe, and his Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, created the Monroe Doctrine.

So, in closing: James Madison,*in comic book guys voice* Best. President. Ever.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to put away my inner APUSH student.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

James. K. Polk.

In one term, accomplished all of his goals, ended a war, seized Oregon from Britain and the Southwest from Mexico, started naval academies and a separate treasury, was an outstanding orator, and came up from out of nowhere to be the strongest candidate, even against the incumbent. Boom.

Well, he did end a war, but only after starting it. Other than that, yeah, he did those things.

Well, yeah. You don't take the entire American Southwest from Mexico without a fight. But really, a three year war, over and done with a clear victory and cessions of land to the victor, ending on reasonably diplomatic ground, opening up the road for a second transfer of land a few years later? Haven't seen that quite some time.

 

[gphjr14]

FDR is automatically FTL because of Japanese interment camps and court packing threats. Truman was a little ***** who instead of backing the Vietnamese backed the French(First rule of modern warfare, NEVER BACK THE FRENCH) which led pretty directly to the Vietnam war. Eisenhower agreed with FDR to work with the Russians instead of letting Patton steamroll them out of Europe which led to the cold war. JFK was utterly bankrupt as a human being and cheated on his wife every chance he got and was killed before anything but the Cuban Missle Crisis could occur. Don't even get me started on LBJ.



In any case, the answer is obviously Washington, original American Badass.

Hey LBJ had a pretty aggressive civil rights reformation. He knew he couldn't win an election so he might as well piss off a bunch of southern democrats. In retrospect if you're not a minority you probably don't care about all that...

 

[Darth_Payn]

Wow, this was a difficult one to take sides on. And I don't mean politically (let's leave that out of this comment thread), I mean interms of shear badassery. TR looked to have that one locked up to me. His accomplishments made Lincoln's wrestling look mundane in comparison.

 

[Nghtgnt]

"that's not canon in American history by the way"

I love that phrase, even though it makes me feel like American history is being treated like comic books or the Star Wars expanded universe. Yes, I'm aware of what canon means and other usages of the word.

As pointed out above, Teddy Roosevelt actually fought in a war. Like, on the ground, pulling the trigger, shooting people IN THA' FACE.

Also as pointed out by someone else above, this kind of shows how little we Americans know about our history. I'd really like to make the argument that Eisenhower was the best because there's like a metric fu*kton of good he did behind the scenes that the public never saw and people don't realize, but I'm not knowledgeable enough on the subject to be able to make a good argument.

 

[The Grim Ace]

Just finished watching if I don't see the Photoshopped twenty five dollar bill of Teddy and Abe in a wrestling ring by next week, I'll lose all faith in the internet.

If not that, at least two separate bills, one with Roosevelt hunting down death and the other of Lincoln choke-slamming Jefferson Davis. You know what, no, I want all three of these to be on actual currency now.

OT: With the amount of pretty badass presidents we've had, narrowing it down to just two (and not mentioning how Teddy just loved to bust trusts) feels a bit lacking. Maybe a four-way tag team debate of Lincoln v. FDR v. TR v. Washington?

 

[DarklordKyo]

Someone probably beat me to it, but I know one thing Lincoln did that Roosevelt didn't, he faced off against Chuck Norris and held his own.