Many Americans say they like American Presidents because they seem like nice guys ?

[tradeunionsupporter]

Many Americans say they like American Presidents because they seem like nice guys but Im sure the Germans thought Adolf Hitler was a nice guy too and yes I would compare America's Capitalist Presidents to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party and the other Nazi Leaders ?


How Bush's grandfather helped Hitler's rise to power

Rumours of a link between the US first family and the Nazi war machine have circulated for decades. Now the Guardian can reveal how repercussions of events that culminated in action under the Trading with the Enemy Act are still being felt by today's president

Ben Aris in Berlin and Duncan Campbell (http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/duncancampbell) in Washington
The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian), Saturday 25 September 2004 23.59 BST
Article history (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar#history-link-box)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar

[RichardAWilson]

As a person, even George W. Bush was a nice guy (even though he was of lesser intelligence). The same can be said for Jimmy Carter and Herbert Hoover. These were "nice, bad leaders."

I only find myself "liking" two men that have served in the White House.

1. FDR and
2. LBJ - though Vietnam was a major error.

Some were bad men and bad leaders - I.e. Richard Nixon

[ComradeMan]

As a person, even George W. Bush was a nice guy (even though he was of lesser intelligence). The same can be said for Jimmy Carter and Herbert Hoover. These were "nice, bad leaders."

I only find myself "liking" two men that have served in the White House.

1. FDR and
2. LBJ - though Vietnam was a major error.

Some were bad men and bad leaders - I.e. Richard Nixon

People very often vote on the basis of superficial "likeability" and so on. These guys are smart- they play to the audience. ;)

[RichardAWilson]

Bush damn sure wasn't an intellectual. Have you seen his college record?

[RGacky3]

People in the uS vote on whether or not the guy is likable because really, the other stuff is irrelivant, the policies of the guys are so similar and the policies they debate are not fundemental issues, also the are usually both corporatists.

[citizen of industry]

Which people are you talking to? Usually there is only two choices (and they are both capitalist). People don't vote for minority parties because they think it will just make it easier for the other party to win. Like my democrat parents. "Why would you support a socialist candidate that won't win? That'll just mean less votes for the democrats and a republican victory. It's practically the same as voting republican!" The republicans are probably saying the same thing to the nazis.

I've never met anyone who admitted to voting on likability. That would just be naive. Everyone knows politicians are scumbags.

[ModelHomeInvasion]

2. LBJ - though Vietnam was a major error.
Millions of deaths and the complete destruction of Vietnam can not be summed up as a "major error".

[RGacky3]

Well Leninists and Maoists answer the charges that Stalin and Mao murdered millions of people by saying "there were mistakes made."

But yeah, it was'nt an error, it was'nt a mitake, a mistake is tripping over something, it was intentional imperialism.

[RichardAWilson]

I don't think LBJ knew how it was going to happen. He listened too much to his advisers. Otherwise, he would have learned from the French experience in Vietnam.

[Column No.4]

The problem with Americans is they vote for leaders based on who seems the nicest, looks the nicest and who posseses that "John Wayne" persona. The US could have the smartest, fairest candidate in history but if he was fat, ugly or relatively dull they wouldnt vote for him. Clinton made some mistakes but i would rate him at the top of the US presidents list.

[eric922]

The problem with Americans is they vote for leaders based on who seems the nicest, looks the nicest and who posseses that "John Wayne" persona. The US could have the smartest, fairest candidate in history but if he was fat, ugly or relatively dull they wouldnt vote for him. Clinton made some mistakes but i would rate him at the top of the US presidents list.
I think that's part of the reason Kucinich never gets elected, he doesn't look good enough, even though he is one of the few decent men in that den of thieves that is Congress.

[Column No.4]

I think that's part of the reason Kucinich never gets elected, he doesn't look good enough, even though he is one of the few decent men in that den of thieves that is Congress.

The same was said about why Kerry lost.

[RichardAWilson]

Dennis doesn't win because his own Party would never endorse him. He's too liberal for the Democratic Leadership Council.

[Rafiq]

Well Leninists and Maoists answer the charges that Stalin and Mao murdered millions of people by saying "there were mistakes made."



But great purges aside those millions that died were a result of great mistakes.

Are you trying to say that the famines were deliberate?

[RGacky3]

But great purges aside those millions that died were a result of great mistakes.

Are you trying to say that the famines were deliberate?

No, I'm trying to say the gulags were deliberate.

[RichardAWilson]

Some of the famines (in the Ukraine) were deliberate.

[Demogorgon]

Some of the famines (in the Ukraine) were deliberate.
You have to be careful with that as it is so highly charged. The Soviet famine was concentrated in grain producing areas and Ukraine was a major grain producing area leading to the tragic results. The claims of deliberately targeting Ukrainians is one that comes heavily down to political interpretation. Part of the difficulty of course is the right attempting to minimise the Holocaust by painting an equal crime on the "other side". That muddies the waters. What it is actually more like is the callous indifference of the British to the Bengal famine in 1943. The British didn't specifically want to kill Indians, they just didn't sufficiently care when their policies led to it happen. Of course the British Government would have acted if British people had died so there is a clear racial element there, in the Soviet case one has to ask if the Soviet Government would have responded any differently if the famine was concentrated in Russia. There were parts of Russia hit with famine and it did not, so presumably it was indifference to human life in general rather than targeting Ukraine.

As for the question of people electing politicians because they seem like nice people, they do sadly, politicians try to portray a good public image. The fact is however that you don't get far in politics by being nice.

[RGacky3]

Which people are you talking to? Usually there is only two choices (and they are both capitalist). People don't vote for minority parties because they think it will just make it easier for the other party to win. Like my democrat parents. "Why would you support a socialist candidate that won't win? That'll just mean less votes for the democrats and a republican victory. It's practically the same as voting republican!" The republicans are probably saying the same thing to the nazis.


I think this is absolutely missguided, politicians respond to pressure, not support, if democrats know they don't have to work for progressive votes they'll move to the right, to pick up the more center votes, or move to the right to get buisiness support.

When democrats start loosing progressive votes to minor parties on the left, guess what, they start to fight for it, in words first, and eventually action.

BTW, the myth of the independant voter being inbetween republicans and democrats is idiotic conventional wisdom that makes politicians like Obama make stupid policies trying to look centrist. An independant voter is just as likely to be a socialist than a centrist, hell, how many people here are regestered democrats? I'm guesssing not many. Polls show that the majority of the US is progressive on issues, that includes independants.

You won't get independants by looking centrist, you'll get them by pushing good policy.

[citizen of industry]

Yeah I totally agree. My parents have voted democrat for like over 40 years though so no changing them. I read some statistic somewhere about that said most people vote based on where the majority votes, rather than voting based on principles or policies. Rather like a lemming...

[Rafiq]

No, I'm trying to say the gulags were deliberate.

No, they weren't actually.

The Maximum sentence in a gulag was ten years, and when people died it was a result of famine, which was a result of War.

The Stalinist bureaucracy would gain nothing from mass murdering people.

[Red Commissar]

A good part of of a politician's success anywhere nowadays, particularly with the advent of mass media, is the way they sell themselves on camera, in the papers, and elsewhere.

Just look when they all run for election. They will shed what ever lofty high position they occupy and attempt to paint themselves in such a way that make themselves appealing to the electorate they wish to win over, in appearance and action.

For example, it's not uncommon (to the point it is often parodied) to see politicians going to a local bar to get a beer, hugging a child, engaging in some "down home" activity (football, fishing, hunting, etc), or going one-on-one with people before or after a 'town hall' meeting.

It works in a populistic sense too. Lot of politicians might emphasize their 'common roots' as opposed to the more elite position of an opponent. This can be taken to odd lengths, Governor Perry in an attempt to distance himself from Bush (and to emphasize the 'rural' roots and political outsider status) has pointed out that whereas he went to a regular state college, Texas A&M, Bush went to Yale. This ties into the RINO/DINO stuff too.

Even after they've gained election they will continue doing that. Obama, like any other president, frequently visits workplaces, lets camera catch him eating 'regular' food, or going to church (this particular aspect is rather important for a president here unfortunately. Obama goes to Church like any other president did, but many right-wing emails often insinuate he doesn't because he's a Muslim). Remember the so-called "Beer Summit"? It's all because of that. All people hoping to win a political position or hold on to employ people specifically to market and 'advertise' them to gain the desired effect. This is essentially marketing, fitting considering this is capitalism we all live in.