Who would have been the best president?

[ZombieNixon]

[corbett]

1. A Decorated Veteran With A Track Record Of Crossing The Aisle!

You can't ask for better than that - oh yeah, with an unsurpassed environmental voting record to boot!

[Nile]

26. So, who are you talking about? n/t

[Prodemsouth]

2. Look at all those defeatist elitist- I voted for Gore at least he won his

election. My first vote I could not bring myself to vote for Carter. He is a big reason why the Democrats are not trusted when it comes to defending the country.

[noamnety]

3. Kerry

wisdom, compassion, responsibility, ethics

Not that the others are lacking, but he stands out as a gem.

[Mojambo]

4. Not flashy

But Gore would have been the most effective President from those listed, IMO.

[ZombieNixon]

5. I just listed all the Dems who lost election from 1952 onwards. n/t

[Liberal In Texas]

6. I worked with George M

he would have mad a terrific president.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

9. Another vote for McGovern here...history would be very different today

had Watergate never happened. Watergate simply emboldened the conservative movement...G Gordon Liddy and Chuck Colsen would be leaders of nothing had Watergate never happened.

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. He lost me

over that Eagleton nonsense.

That was the first election I was old enough to vote in. It was a tough decision. I hated Nixon but taking Eagleton off the ticket because he had had depression was horrible. So I didn't vote for McGovern. I wrote in Pat Paulsen. Hey, I was only 19. And I have voted Dem in every prez race since then.

[devilgrrl]

7. Robert F. Kennedy

He would have been a great President!

[Mojambo]

12. Yes, yes, yes.

That guy had a handle on the effects of economic disparity like no other person to ever seek the presidency.

We were robbed of a president in RFK that could have had just as much influence as FDR on this country.

Not getting RFK was a BIG miss for this nation.

[zacho]

8. Humphrey

This was a tough call, but I chose Humphrey over Stevenson.

[Rowdyboy]

16. Incredible that HHH is so litle respected....Had he derailed Nixon in 1968

thousands of American soldiers wouldn't have died in Viet Nam, Rehnquistwould not be on the supreme court, and historywould have been stunningly different.

[Hippo_Tron]

29. Humphrey supported the War

Arguably why he lost the election, granted it was a close one because of the third party candidate running on racism (can't remember who it was).
Now, had Robert Kennedy not been shot, he could've wiped the floor with Nixon and fundamentally changed history.

[maveric]

30. Eugene McCarthy

Ran as a third.

[Hippo_Tron]

37. Wrong third, George C Wallace is the one I was talking about

He won 13.5% of the electoral vote, most of which would have gone to Nixon because the south was angry with democrats over the civil rights act.

[Lenape85]

10. William Jennings Bryan

[sandnsea]

11. Now that's a sad loss

How different the world would have been with Bryan. I'm feeling the same lost opportunity today. Will we never learn?

[hyphenate]

34. You're kidding, right?

Bryan was a christian fundamentalist and creationist. Never forget the Scopes trial! (And I DON'T mean the dramatized version)

[sandnsea]

41. It was a different time

The good he would have done for American politics far outweighs the Scopes trial. He may well have saved the Democratic Party and populist politics for that matter. I don't hold his religious convictions against him, fighting for creationism then is not the same as those who fight for it now. It's ridiculous to try to take people out of the context of their times and apply today's knowledge and values to them.

[Hippo_Tron]

27. Bryan is such a mixed figure in my book

I love how he was a populist and would've done great things for the people had he been elected. However, he was also arguably more of a Christian Fundamentalist than Pat Roberts or Jerry Falwell. He participated in the prosecution of a teacher who's crime was "teaching evolution". A Bryan administration could have done a lot of things to bring reform to this country, but I have to wonder if his election meant that we would be living in a theocracy today.

[timtom]

13. Dennis Kucinich

Far and away the best America could have done in the past 20 years. A man of consummate honesty, integrity, and wisdom.

But, it never could have happened. America is a land of pleasure-seekers, loath to shake themselves out of their comfort zones. (Present company excluded, of course.)

The world has not been kind to those who espouse peace, love, building instead of destroying.

To quote Malcolm X: it's a case of the chickens coming home to roost.

[LWolf]

17. Thank you.

And, taking a page from Dennis, I refuse to accept that "it never could have happened."

Don't despair. Have faith in your ability to make a difference. Have confidence in what you believe. Speak it.

So connected are we that each of us has the power to be the eyes of the world, the voice of the world, the conscience of the world or the end of the world. And as each of us chooses, so becomes the world.

--Dennis Kucinich

I choose to allow my courage and determination to rise to whatever level is necessary to make it happen.

:hi:

[timtom]

18. What a great response!

I am humbled by your determination. I am also recharged somewhat.

Thank you.

[LWolf]

24. Any time.

:hi:

[GreenPartyVoter]

42. You said it!

[Zynx]

14. Carter in a second term could have been really good.

[timtom]

19. Even though I did Kucinich as a write-in

(above), Carter comes just after Kennedy in my hierarchy of great Democrats. I have always been shocked and saddened that he didn't win. I guess that was the second great shock whereby I knew the game was rigged. (The first was the Kennedy assassination). Kucinich would have made an excellent member of the triad.

[Nile]

28. Carter screwed up when he pardoned the draft dodgers.

Not a politically smart move.

[PowerToThePeople]

35. If a draft happened now...

I would dodge it. Hell if I am gonna kill someone for anothers financial gain. * and his Texas oil cronies should take m-16s and head to Iraq themselves and say "give me your oil or face our wrath!!"

edit- Voted Carter, imo he was most pro-peace on the list.

[Nile]

36. How is it for anothers financial gain?

That is just plain BS and you know it.

[PowerToThePeople]

39. No, I don't know it...

http://www.corp-research.org/mar03.htm

http://www.corp-research.org/mar03.htm

http://www.educationnews.org/privatizing-war-in-iraq-nclb-fuel.htm

Just a few things I pulled from google...

Where are the WMDs? If not them, what was "true" reason? And don't f&%$ing say "liberating the Iraqi people from an opressive regime." Because there are MANY opressive regimes which we still support, yet they let us use their natural resources how we want..

[MasonJar]

15. It was hard to decide between all these potentially great American

presidents. I know that America needed Gore and Kerry instead of Bush. The world also needed a man of compassion, of vision, of compromise and of concern for the environment. All of these men are the un-Bush, especially Kerry and Gore. The greatest ever ex-president of course is Carter. What a determined and courageous statesman! It was officious behind the scenes Conservative plans that caused Carter to fail. And immense suffering was generated by Reagan's victory.

[Deja Q]

21. Kucinich or McGovern. Maybe Gore. And given what we know, NOT KERRY.

n/t

[njdemocrat106]

22. Kerry's still my man

Definitely a tough choice, though.

[Liberal In Texas]

23. I still think Kerry would have made a good president.

Much better than what we're going to get.

[Vidar]

25. Gore would have spared us the evil one . Surprized so few for Humphrey.

[Hippo_Tron]

31. Considering the merits of the people alone, Carter

In my opinion, four more years of Carter could've meant the cold war ending in a truce. Raygun might have come to power in '84, but if that had happened, I'd like to think that Bill Clinton would've run in '88 instead of '92. Clinton vs Raygun would be the most amazing thing ever.

[cali]

32. the man who said this:

We travel together, passengers on a little spaceship, dependent on it's vulnerable reserves of air and soil, all committed, for our safety, to it's security and peace. Preserved from annihilation only by the care, the work and the love we give our fragile craft.

(and yes he's on the list)

[NoodleBoy]

33. Adlai Stevenson-- he would have continued the New Deal of FDR and Truman's

Great Society.

Not that Eisenhower was a bad man-- he actually was what many conservatives have turned in to now, people who aren't against big governments but are socially conservative, instead of tax-cutting free marketeers.

Stevenson would have been great. Great policy man, great thinker. If only.


By the way, for anyone who voted for Carter in this poll, remember that one of the reasons he lost so bad was that he promised to restart the draft in order to look stronger on defense.



besides all that, this country was truly robbed of great leaders, in Jack and Robert Kennedy. Sigh. If only, if only, if only... Nixon would be only a pitiful VP under Eisenhower, Reagan would probably be barely remembered as the guy who made a movie with those monkies, and the Bushes would probably be scrounging around, frustrated by the lack of oil in Connecticut.

[against all enemies]

38. RFK - without a doubt.

[spooked]

40. WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON: Had He Been Allowed to Be President

hands down