Monday, February 16, 2009

Worst President (And Presidential Survey) Ever

Started this post yesterday, but technical difficulties ensued.

C-SPAN has published a survey of (putative) historians which places George W. Bush 36th out of 42 Presidents in terms of presidential leadership. The Unelected One finishes beneath Herbert Hoover but above Millard Filmore, the cartoon duck.

I'd imagine part of the reason Bush scored higher than 41st is the selection of "historians" which, upon closer observation, are "historians and professional observers of the presidency."

The survey of 65 included the votes of numerous right-wingers, such as AEI-affiliated hacks Steven Hayward and Walter Berns, gag writer Andrew Ferguson, Ronnie-humper Lou Cannon, outvoted Bush-is-no-Hoover apologist Alvin Feltzenberg, and professional Republicans/Nelson Rockefeller biographers Dick Norton Smith and Joseph Persico. The presence of Reagan Administration stooges, such as Hooveroid Annelise Anderson, also explains why Saint Ronnie ranked so highly. (Peggy Noonan must have been drying out when the survey made the rounds.)

The entire list has a let's - e-mail - everyone - on - our - guest - list - and - see - who - responds quality to it, and includes at least two misspelled participant names. All in all, the survey is a miserable failure, like the man who ranked 36th in it.

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