Post your worst errors in judgement in US history here

[Doctor_J]

1. "I can whip Sitting Bull's ass" - George A Custer

2. "No one will ever find out" - Richard M Nixon

3. "Having a stupid ne'er-do-well as president will be great" - Big Media, in 2000.

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Condi: "No one could've ever imagined using airplanes as misslies":

[bluerum]

5. Unless of course you had any interest in military history.

:thumbsup:

[skipos]

2. There is no difference between Gore and Bush - Nader 2000 voters

[GrantDem]

8. Good one

[napi21]

3. "They'll welcome us with cheers and flowers!" Cheney & Rummy

re: Iraq!

[Pepper32]

4. "Bring them on!" *

"America is a friend to the people of Iraq. Our demands are directed only at the regime that enslaves them and threatens us. When these demands are met, the first and greatest benefit will come to Iraqi men, women and children." *

[niallmac]

6. "This war is unwinnable but I'll just keep my mouth shut."

Robert S. MacNamara Secretary of Defense. This was his decision in late 1965...

[tocqueville]

7. "Mission Accomplished"

[hobbit709]

9. "Give me 80 men

and I'll ride through the whole Sioux Nation" Captain William Fetterman at Ft. Phil Kearney 1866

[Hardrada]

10. Moving the Pacific Fleet to Pearl Harbor.

[Hardrada]

11. Moving the Pacific Fleet to Pearl Harbor.

[salinen]

12. Perle

something like "I wouldn't be surprised if the Iraqi's erected a monument to *."

[dajoki]

13. SCOTUS appointment of shrub n/t

[AusGail]

14. The occasion when Barbara submitted to George snr

and conceived baby George

[saltpoint]

15. The guy who took the bet to fire on Fort Sumpter. "Well, why not!? They

ain't gonna do shit about it."

Also: Franklin Pierce's appointment to Secretary of War of Jefferson Davis.

Also: The questionable judgment of Teddy Roosevelt to have Geronimo ride in an automobile for his Inauguration Parade.

[CTLawGuy]

16. worst US Supreme Court decisions

Dredd Scott v. Sandford (overruled: 14th amendment US constitution) (1856) (slave tried to claim that he was free because his master brought him to a free state where slavery was banned). Decision said that the framers of the constitution did not intend black people to be "citizens" and thus they have no standing to sue for their own freedom.

Plessy v. Ferguson (overruled: Brown v. Board of Education) (1896) (black person sued to be allowed to sit in "white" car on a train) Equal protection under the 14th amendment doesn't require that the state outlaw segregation.

Lochner v. N.Y. (overruled: West Coast Hotel v. Parrish) (1905) (bakery owners challenged wage and hour laws for their workers) There is a liberty of contract inherent in the constitution that says the government cannot interfere with the right of worker and employer to make a contract. The laws are unconstitutional. (this decision was used to fight against the New Deal)

United States v. Curtiss-Wright (1936) (President Roosevelt (pursuant to a law of Congress) ordered a ban on sales of arms to Bolivia and the Curtiss-Wright export compnay was charged with violating it. It defended, saying the ban was unconstitutional) The constitution doesn't apply to the federal government's actions with regards to foreign policy becuase the constitution was a grant of power to the federal government by the states, and the states did not have the power of foreign policy to give. Thus, the federal government has inherent unfettered authority in the foreign policy arena. (This is a candidate for worst decision ever)

Korematsu v. United States (1944) (Japanese-American citizen was jailed for violating order telling him to leave his CA home and report to an internment camp) National security is a compelling enough interest that the government may discriminate against people who are of the race of the enemy, at least in this instance.

Marsh v. Chambers (1984) (legislator sued to hold pre-session prayer in state legislature unconstitutional) Holding prayer in the legislative chamber does not violate establishment clause.

Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) (overruled: Lawrence v. Texas) (two men were found having sex by cops in one of the men's bedrooms) There is no fundamental right to sodomy.

Bush v. Gore (2000) (Bush sued to stop hand recount of FL ballots ordered by FL supreme court) Bush should be president. All hail King George! (I can't think of another way to sum it up)

Kelo v. New London (2005) (City of New London wanted to take homes of residents by eminent domain to give to Pfizer to build a plant) "Economic development" is a "public use" and government may take land for that mere purpose.

[Son Of Spy]

17. Worst error in judgement EVER

[theanarch]

18. i agree with Mark Twain...

"It was nice that Columbus discovered America. It would have been so much better had he missed it."

[saltpoint]

19. The Missouri Compromise.

Kit Carson's elective destruction of the Navajos' peach groves.

Poppy's selection of Dan Quayle as his veep nominee.

George Romney's "I was brainwashed" remark during a presidential campaign.

CREEP's decision to hire Donald Segretti, G. Gordon Liddy, and Howard Hunt for 'special projects.'

The Donner Party's decision to push ahead through the Sierra Nevadas despite the possibility of climatological obstacles.

Peter Best's decision to leave that band he was in.

Gov. Maddox's decision to stand before a school with an ax handle to bar entry of any black student.

Anita Bryant's decision to crusade against gay males in Miami. It cost her a lucrative contract hawking orange juice and a year or two later, her marriage.

George Slam-Dunk Tenet's inclination to genuflect before White House power and sign on to the invasion of Iraq, coupled with Colin Powell's deceitful speech before the United Nations.

The United States' strategy to dismantle its rail corridor.

[MethuenProgressive]

20. Gore not using Clinton '00, Kerry picking Edwards over Clark '04

THE worst errors in judgement by Democrats since Johnson's Vietnam policy.