Favorite US president?

[Os Cangaceiros]

All US presidents are pretty bad from a left-wing perspective, but who do you find especially interesting?

I like William Howard Taft. He was incredibly obese and got stuck in the White House bathtub. He was so overweight that he couldn't tie his own shoes (he had an assistant tie his shoes for him), and his pants ripped open when he bent over once while visiting the Russian czar. He openly despised his job as president, took frequent naps (including naps during funerals and in open motorcades through cities) and once snuck out of an important treaty agreement between the UK and the USA in order to play golf.

Also, I find Nixon to be a fascinating president. He was kind of like the ultimate politician IMO...he didn't care what he had to do to win, he'd do it. He was the master at dirty politics, plus he had great lines like "you'll never make it in politics, you don't know how to lie." Pretty much every major political figure at that time, from Eisenhower to Truman to JFK to everyone else hated him.

[Let's Get Free]

Andrew Jackson. Yeah, I know he was a blatant white supremacist, responsible for the deaths of countless natives(Trail of Tears) but just looking at his personal life, he was pretty badass.

For starters, he was a hardcore duelist. He fought 103 duels in his life, most of them regarding his wife's honor. Andrew and his wife started hooking up before her divorce had been finalized (she was separated from her husband at the time), and that sort of shit was even more frowned upon back then than it is now. So Andrew Jackson had a lot of people who thought it would be really fucking hilarious to call his wife a dirty whore, leaving him no choice but to duel them and fuck their shit up.

One such stupid motherfucker was a dumb cock named Charles Dickinson. Dickinson was a big-time gunslinger who had been credited with 26 kills in various pistol duels during his lifetime. He bet against Jackson on a horse race, and Jackson won, so this guy did what any hothead douchebag would do and called Jackson's wife a voracious cockmonger. Well I've already mentioned that this was a sensitive subject for Andy, and he felt compelled by duty to defend his woman's honor so he challenged Quickdraw McDickface to pistols at dawn.

When both men hit ten paces, turned, and fired, Charles Dickinson blasted a shot that drilled Andrew Jackson square in the chest. Jackson looked down at the gaping gunshot wound, touched it, licked his finger like Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon and then shot this fucker right in his ***** throat, killing him on the spot.

[Ostrinski]

Would Lincoln be a generic answer? I think he's interesting because of his personal struggles and how they related to his political career. He had a lot of emotional issues and was frequently severely depressed.

Edit: Haha yeah Jackson was a real character. I think it's pretty funny how he literally disregarded every order Madison gave to him in the War of 1812, i.e. occupying Florida without Madison's permission :lol:

[ed miliband]

rutherford b. hayes

[Os Cangaceiros]

What The Insurrectionist wrote sounds like it was plagarized directly from a history textbook! :ohmy:

[Sentinel]

I really must say that Obama's statements in favour of the LGBT community (even though they've certainly been made due to pressure from below and as tactical moves) have been historic. I'm also pretty sure he is a closet atheist. That said, fuck Obama.

[Ele'ill]

No compromise no favorite president fuck them all

[Sentinel]

No compromise no favorite president fuck them all

Abso fucking lutely. It might be an idea to vote for the Green's Jills Stein as a protest against the two-party-system though. ;)

Not to actually support her as a radical alternative or anything, I mean.

[Ostrinski]

It should be noted that Reagan's Soviet jokes are superb.

[Let's Get Free]

Yes

[Os Cangaceiros]

I have a USSR joke:

Two Soviet soldiers are guarding a remote border outpost. As they stare wistfully across the border:

Soldier 1: "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, comrade?"

Soldier 2: "Yes, yes, I think I am..."

Soldier 1: "Then it is my duty to arrest you."

[Ostrinski]

Thats pretty good

[Let's Get Free]

A political prisoner in a gulag asks the other one "What is your sentence?"
"Five years."
"What for?"
"Nothing."
"That's impossible! Nothing gets you ten years!"

[Ostrinski]

that ones a classic

[Os Cangaceiros]

The old user Kleber told a pretty good one here before:

Three men are sitting around in a gulag, talking about why they were sent there.

"I was arrested for supporting Karl Radek," says the first man.

The second man gives a start. "That's strange, I was arrested for opposing Karl Radek!"

They both look at the third man, waiting for his answer.

"I am Karl Radek."

[MarxSchmarx]

As a leftist I feel a bit ashamed saying this, but I've always been somewhat less repulsed by Eisenhower than the rest of the lot.

Eisenhower did a lot of horrible things, but at the same time, he was remarkably prescient and comparatively progressive for his time. He had a patience in his style that strikes me as rather admirable. He was crucial to help keep the robust public sector that developed in WWII America part of the broader social framework. And I think more than most presidents he truly detested war.

Eisenhower will probably be America's last president that captured a certain sensibility about the American character that I think a lot of the world responds to positively. He reminds of Katuzov, a man humbled by the futility of power.

[Ele'ill]

Kleber and I played a steam game together once and it sucked cause my mic was down and now they won't talk to me on steam.

[Ostrinski]

Jefferson was a pretty cynical guy. Constantly either flip-flopped on positions or said one thing and did another. Kind of reminds me of the qualities OC listed under Nixon.

[Art Vandelay]

My favorites have been the ones that have been assassinated.

[bad ideas actualised by alcohol]

Pretty surprised that not a single Maoist has yet come out and call Nixon their favorite here.

[Rugged Collectivist]

What The Insurrectionist wrote sounds like it was plagarized directly from a history textbook! :ohmy:

Is sounds like it was plagiarized from cracked.com. They love old Andy too.


Would Lincoln be a generic answer?

Probably, but I don't care. He's the only president, as far as I know, who did something worthwhile.


It might be an idea to vote for the Green's Jills Stein as a protest against the two-party-system though. ;)

Eh, you could vote for one of the socialist parties as a protest. Your candidate isn't gonna win anyway and it'll send the same message.


My favorites have been the ones that have been assassinated.

William McKinley.

[Comrade Samuel]

Me.

[Sentinel]

Eh, you could vote for one of the socialist parties as a protest. Your candidate isn't gonna win anyway and it'll send the same message.

I think the point, unfortunately, is that Stein just might get enough support to even be noticed at all. I'm optimistic however, that in the next elections the situation might be different.

The Insurrectionist and Os Cangaceiros, where is the thanks button when you need it..

:lol::lol::lol:

[sixdollarchampagne]

Abso fucking lutely. It might be an idea to vote for the Green's Jills Stein as a protest against the two-party-system though. ;)

Not to actually support her as a radical alternative or anything, I mean.

I have to say that Dr. Jill Stein won my heart (though I intend to vote "socialist" by supporting Peta Lindsay, who is also on the ballot where I live. Funny thing about that: if the PSL ever got control of the state machine, Trotskyists, including yours truly, would probably be headed for jail).

But, anyway, Dr. Stein got busted for trying to get into one of the presidential debates, and, according to one report, she was chained to a chair for 8 hours. Anyone who would go through that for the sake of principle, is a great human being, IMHO.

I also thought the joke about the two Russians (excuse me, Soviet soldiers) was funny, Orwellian, but amusing, and thank you to the comrade who contributed it.

[Rugged Collectivist]

I think the point, unfortunately, is that Stein just might get enough support to even be noticed at all. I'm optimistic however, that in the next elections the situation might be different.

That might just piss people off though. They would say "look at these stupid greens! If it wasn't for them Obama would've won."

[smellincoffee]

John Adams and FDR; I also like MarxSchmarx's answer.

[brigadista]

none of them :D:D

[Prometeo liberado]

Abso fucking lutely. It might be an idea to vote for the Green's Jills Stein as a protest against the two-party-system though. ;)

Not to actually support her as a radical alternative or anything, I mean.


Stein is an ugly joke. A Zionist apologist who refuses to answer the tough questions on this matter posed to her by her own party. She is laughed at by the establishment and looked down upon by those within her Party. She walks in that dark place where the proverbial "people without a country" go. Never to return except as a political analyst of some kind.
Na, you could do better. Why deal in the absurd and settle for less and lose when you could demand and expect so much more, and lose?

[ВАЛТЕР]

Whichever one wasn't an imperialist, bourgeois, class enemy.

Oh wait, these labels apply to all of them. Never mind then.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Maybe I should have rephrased the question. It's not about who you thought was a "good guy".

[bad ideas actualised by alcohol]

Wall Street

[Ostrinski]

Alexander Hamilton probably should have been president. He was like the Lenin of the federalists in that he was the undisputed yet unofficial leader of the federalists and its leading intellectual.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Alexander Hamilton is always kind of portrayed as one of more dickish founding fathers. He didn't seem to have as much of the revolutionary ferment as some of the others did.

[Ostrinski]

He was a cynical guy, not unlike the rest of the crew. He was a talented politician, economist, and political philosopher though and was a leading theoretician and intellectual of the early republic and was the leading author of The Federalist Papers, an important work on political theory of the Enlightenment. He particularly admired the aristocracy, as did most of the Federalist Party. The Democratic Republicans had more populist rhetoric, but they were the more pro slavery party.

[Delenda Carthago]

George Washington, the founder and the revolutionary. Great and progressive mind.

Jefferson, the inspirator.

Van Buren, the founder of the leftist party of its time.

Lincoln, the man who lead to the crush of the last reactionary feudalistic pieces in the USA, bringin the country to a new era.

After them, capitalism kinda lost its proggresive nature, so this was reflected to the politicians too, but I would also say that Obama, JFK and Wilson are not the worst of the US presidents.

[Ostrinski]

Wilson is one of the greatest enemies that American communists have ever faced. The Red Scare, Palmer Raids, and arrests of anti-war, labor, and socialist activists will never be forgotten.

[zoot_allures]

My favourite US president is William Harrison, because he was in office for about a month and then died. It's a shame none of the others chose to follow in his footsteps. They're all vile motherfuckers.

[Os Cangaceiros]

If length of presidential term is your qualifier, shouldn't you like David Rice Atchinson more? He was president for one day. (Because Zachary Taylor wouldn't be sworn in on a Sunday.)

[zoot_allures]

If length of presidential term is your qualifier, shouldn't you like David Rice Atchinson more? He was president for one day. (Because Zachary Taylor wouldn't be sworn in on a Sunday.)
He didn't quit by dying, though.

[Delenda Carthago]

Wilson is one of the greatest enemies that American communists have ever faced. The Red Scare, Palmer Raids, and arrests of anti-war, labor, and socialist activists will never be forgotten.
Maybe I was wrong on this one.:blushing:

[Rugged Collectivist]

There are a lot of them with admirable qualities though.

There's LBJ, who, when asked by a reporter why the US was in Vietnam, pulled his dick out, pointed to it and said "This is why!".

Then you have Calvin Coolidge, who had the wittiest lines but preferred to stay quiet. He also liked dressing up as a cowboy.

There was that one president who died shortly after his inauguration because he ate too many cherries. I unfortunately forget his name.

[smellincoffee]

There are a lot of them with admirable qualities though.

There's LBJ, who, when asked by a reporter why the US was in Vietnam, pulled his dick out, pointed to it and said "This is why!".

Then you have Calvin Coolidge, who had the wittiest lines but preferred to stay quiet. He also liked dressing up as a cowboy.

There was that one president who died shortly after his inauguration because he ate too many cherries. I unfortunately forget his name.

Zachary Taylor, if memory serves.

[Avanti]

emperor norton I

[thriller]

Wilson is one of the greatest enemies that American communists have ever faced. The Red Scare, Palmer Raids, and arrests of anti-war, labor, and socialist activists will never be forgotten.

Which is why I would almost vote for him for "most interesting." He had "Birth of a Nation" privately screened to him, and it became his favorite film. His entrance into WWI and all the thing you mentioned are just awful. Yet, progressives alway cite him as a great President, which helps me to point out (usually to them) how bullshit their ideas about a regulated capitalism and "fair democracy" really are.

Other than him, W. His presidency and legacy will go down history as complete... lunacy. Almost all Republicans have distanced themselves from him in the past 4 years. He was just all around dumb, naive, ignorant, and no one will want to remember him as president, which how everyone should feel about US presidents.

This is my list for most interesting btw, none are my favorites.

[GoddessCleoLover]

Lincoln and FDR.

[Jimmie Higgins]

A: Eugene Debs


Which is why I would almost vote for him for "most interesting." He had "Birth of a Nation" privately screened to him, and it became his favorite film. His entrance into WWI and all the thing you mentioned are just awful. Yet, progressives alway cite him as a great President, which helps me to point out (usually to them) how bullshit their ideas about a regulated capitalism and "fair democracy" really are.

Other than him, W. His presidency and legacy will go down history as complete... lunacy. Almost all Republicans have distanced themselves from him in the past 4 years. He was just all around dumb, naive, ignorant, and no one will want to remember him as president, which how everyone should feel about US presidents.

This is my list for most interesting btw, none are my favorites.And he officially segregated federal jobs in Washington! Oh, but he was a peacemaker and the Democrats are pro-civil rights!:rolleyes:

Obama is our Wilson.

Who was the one killed by an anarchist? He'd be a good choice.

[Ostrinski]

Harding.

[Althusser]

I don't like Jill Stein. I watched the third party candidate

debate on Russia Today. She looked like she was reciting

phrases she memorized the whole time.

Shit, Gary Johnson carried out a better argument.

Gary Johnson 2012
http://scm-l3.technorati.com/12/06/21/69151/gary-johnson1.png?t=20120621175952



Also for favorite president... though I realize the Progressive era put

the idea of worker revolution aside, relieving some (very little) of the

tension from the workers. I still kind of Like Teddy and Taft for trust busting

and what-not. If anybody has any info on these two that would definitely change

my opinion of them as a leftist, I'd appreciate it.

[GoddessCleoLover]

FDR was more progressive than Teddy or Big Bill Taft.

[Weezer]

In terms of ideology, probably FDR and Lincoln.

In terms of personality, Theodore Roosevelt and Obama for sure. Obama can be hilarious, and Roosevelt was a very sincere human being.

[Rugged Collectivist]

Who was the one killed by an anarchist? He'd be a good choice.

The president was William McKinley, and the anarchist was Leon Czolgosz.

I'll let Neil Patrick Harris educate you.

hb1fWW17bnY

[Ele'ill]

http://www.nndb.com/people/196/000057025/

http://media1.shmoop.com/media/images/large/czolgosz.jpg

[Jimmie Higgins]

^yeah any of the Presidents who were in office for a short time. They are my favorite because they make good triva :lol:

EDIT: the photo of Czolgosz after he was arrested is crazy-looking. He's all beat the hell up and looking out of the cell. Has that been used as an album cover to anyone's knowlege - cos it'd make a good one. Just a suggestion for anyone with a band out there.

[Sir Comradical]

I'm going to be predictable and say Lincoln because of the Civil War, but for interesting ones I'd say Kennedy because of his relationship with Marilyn Monroe - a communist sympathizer according to the FBI. Plus all the conspiracy shit and his wacky Boston mick accent.

[thriller]

EDIT: the photo of Czolgosz after he was arrested is crazy-looking. He's all beat the hell up and looking out of the cell. Has that been used as an album cover to anyone's knowlege - cos it'd make a good one. Just a suggestion for anyone with a band out there.

Dibs.

[cynicles]

None! We don't settle for that electing a head of state funny business up here! We inherit our head of state like any god fearing people!

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

. Funny thing about that: if the PSL ever got control of the state machine, Trotskyists, including yours truly, would probably be headed for jail).


Probably not, the PSL actually have their roots in the trot movement, and apparently alot of them uphold permant revolution.

[The Machine]

clinton was a dog

[Drosophila]

Plus all the conspiracy shit and his wacky Boston mick accent.

Are you aware that "mick" is an ethnic slur against Irish people?

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Darth Vadar

[LiberationTheologist]

They were all war criminals and tools of large capital. To talk of a favorite US president is to be brainwashed.

[Ostrinski]

Let's all not read the OP.