Who was the worst president?

I agree with those, but I would add Carter for his absolute incompetence.  He shows the results of the "Liberal" answer to the pressing questions (Socialist).  Nixon and LBJ should definately be included too.

Lincoln takes the cake. after all Lincoln isn't just idolized by socialists and neo-cons alike, he was also a hero of Marx, Lenin, Bismark, and Hitler! No other president has meant so much to so many bad men. furthermore Lincoln created an income tax to fund his illegal war. he suspended Habeus Corpes. basically he has given precedent to whatever bad action or law any president wants to do. Wilson and FDR wouldn't have even had the idea much less the oppurtunity or success to do what they did without Lincoln paving the way!

Lincoln was most certainly the worst, by far.  He set the pattern for the excesses that have followed, all the way to the current president.

 FDR was second worst.

 I classify both the above as catastrophic failures as President.

 Adequate Presidents would include Martin van Buren, Grover Cleveland, Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge.  Borderline Presidents would include Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Jackson and Eisenhower.  For the most part, the remaining Presidents, including the current one, are solidly in the failure category.  Couple of the 18th century Democrats not listed above I might classify borderline.

 But only Lincoln and FDR truly deserve their deplorable ranking.

Mark B.:

Lincoln was most certainly the worst, by far.  He set the pattern for the excesses that have followed, all the way to the current president.

 FDR was second worst.

 I classify both the above as catastrophic failures as President.

  But only Lincoln and FDR truly deserve their deplorable ranking.

 

How the hell could Wilson not make the cut? No way.

And to call any of the men "failures" is a gross perversion of language. They succeeded in their statist objectives much more effectively than any freedom-minded president ever has. Failures? No. Evil? YES. Calling them failures is like saying OJ Simpson tried not to kill his ex wife, but failed.

I am not letting Wilson off the hook by any means.  He was a very horrible President.  I categorize Lincoln and FDR in a category by themselves, because their effect and destruction of the original constitutional republic was far more evident than other Presidents.  Also, Lincoln made the abuses of Presidents such as Wilson possible.

 My use of the word "failure" certainly is open to semantic disagreements.  I use the word "fail" in the meaning that they failed in living up to their oath of office and they did not stay within the boundaries of Article II of the Constitution.

 

I used adequate, borderline adequate, failure and catastrophic failure.

 

By adequate, they stayed within their oath of office and Article II and did no damage.  Borderline adequate meant that they did stray slightly, but the damage done was modest and not long lasting.  Failure meant that the strayed grossly and damaged this constitutional republic.   Catastrophic failure meant they strayed EXTREMELY grossly and did extensive damage.

 Anybody listed as a failure or catastrophic failure by me is evil and I certainly view them as evil, take no doubt in that.

Abe Lincoln for centralizing power, FDR for utilizing that centralization of power to ruin America with the welfare state, LBJ for perpetuating and spreading the pestilence and poison that FDR started, and Jimmy Carter for being an incompetent boob and an ass to boot(another mark against him was the Noble prize). Bill Clinton would be included if he had been able to accomplish anything that he wanted to accomplish.  Ah hell, go ahead and include the horndog in chief into the list.  That will be my top 5. 

 As a recap:

1. Abraham Lincoln

2.Franklin D. Roosevelt

3.Lyndon B. Johnson

4. Jimmy Carter

5. Bill Clinton

 

Drop Jimmy and Billy and add Woodrow and Theodore. 

 If I was to do an ordinal list of worst.

 

Truly evil

 #1  Lincoln - His crimes are too many to list.

#2  FDR - The New Deal,WWII, Intimindating the Courts, among other things.

 

Now for the rest of them.

 #1  Wilson - Chief crimes were WWI and creation of Federal Reserve

#2  Theodore Roosevelt - He really initiated the whole "Progressive" i.e. "Socialist" trend in government, most notably "trust busting"

#3  Herbert Hoover - Truly a f***up as President, turned an ordinary panic into a catastrophe, and set the stage for FDR.

#4  LBJ - "The Great Society", nuff said

#5   <not quite sure, McKinley, Truman, Nixon and the current President are in the running for this slot>

 

The Best

Best being defined as they did no damage and honored their oath of office and obeyed Article II of the Constitution

#1  Grover Cleveland

#2  Martin van Buren

#3  Calvin Coolidge

#4  Warren G. Harding

followed by a group that for the most part honored their oath's, etc, yet had serious incidents

#5  Jefferson <foreign policy problems>

#6  Madison <foreign policy problems, War of 1812>

#7  Jackson <brutal treatment of Indians>

#8  Eisenhowever <foreign policy problems>

#9  Washington <suppression of Whiskey Rebellion, Bank of United States> 

Jason Dean:

The big three are fairly obvious: Lincoln, Wilson, and FDR. It is very difficult to rank them, but I think I have to put Wilson at the #1 worst. The income tax and the Fed made possible FDR's schemes more so than anything Lincoln did made Wilson's possible.

It is sort of funny that no one mentioned LBJ until recently. Not as surprisingly, Nixon hasn't been mentioned (that I've seen). He does not rank with Lincoln, Wilson, and FDR, but he's certainly on par with LBJ. Not just Watergate, etc., or even the lies and bombs on Vietnam and Cambodia, but let's not forget the price and wage controls, affirmative action, the EPA, etc., and of course, the final severing of the gold standard. That's all pretty bad stuff!

 

 

 

I thought this was:  Who was the worst president?

Thus I only differ with you in my ranking FDR the top worst.

Gotta love your way of explaining what a "failure" would mean as applied to FDR, for example. LOL. Agree. Evil, evil presidents, and evil human beings. Not failures.

tylerturtle:

 As a recap:

1. Abraham Lincoln

2.Franklin D. Roosevelt

3.Lyndon B. Johnson

4. Jimmy Carter

5. Bill Clinton

 

 

I am utterly shocked that someone could exclude Wilson on the worsts list. And Bill Clinton? Worse than Wilson? Bill Clinton may have been really horrible if he had been given a chance -- but he wasn't. In fact, I would argue that his presidency was one of the least bad (i.e. best) ever. I think he's closer to 5th best president -- which is an indictment of the office, not a celebration of the war-criminal / draft-dodger Slick Willy -- than he is to the 5th worse.

What did Clinton do on par with lying us into WWI, unconstitutionally installing the Fed, and presiding over the adoption of the 16th amendment? Even on a personal level, Wilson was worse. He was a notorious racist, a former Klansman, and as president, he re-segregated D.C., undoing one of the only positive legacies of the Republican domination of the post-War Between the States period. 

Mark B: Could you please explain your "less-than-great" status attributed to Jefferson? I am not challenging you; I'm seeking insght into your opinion of him as a president. 

As far as national defense and warfare is concerned, I follow the Chicago School of econo-political thought, so I have no problem with Wilson for the war.  I have issues with his creation of the Fed, which led to the Great Depression.  Bill Clinton, if it weren't for the Republican dominated House and Senate, would have gone further in destroying the economic freedom that we once had, as well as taking away our liberties.  If I remember correctly, he promised to raise taxes.  If he had been given free rein, he would have turned the country into a socialized state with Hillary running your health care.  Yeah scary.  The Clinton's are socialists and they actually surrounded themselves, like FDR, with other socialists and Communists.  I don't have any regrets for my # 5

I forgot about Wilson.  Put him as number 5.  I was just looking at the date of the 16th amendment.  Yeah, forget Bill.  Wilson did start the country on the road to socialism.  Lincoln gave them the tools by centralizing, Wilson started the government invasion, and FDR finished it.  I do, however believe that if Clinton had been able to do what he wanted to do, we would be totally socialized a la Europe.

I can't really comment as to who the worst President has been, as I'm not familiar with all the presidents that have ever existed, but certainly Islom Karimov is a horrible, horrible president. Of course, you did say presidents who have completed their term, and the above-mentioned tyrant is still in office, so maybe you won't like that answer...

Lincoln was quite bad for all the reasons listed above.  He did, however, get his comupence in the end. 

Wilson's foreign policy did great harm.  America's entrance into WWI, along with his views on economic sanctions, qualify him as one of the worst.  The Fed stuff wasn't good, but I find it more disturbing that he made people believe that killing foreigners was a moral obligation of the United States.

I personally dislike LBJ.  I would rank him as one of the worst. 

1. Woodrow Wilson - Insane elitist *** that instituted the Fed by signing the Federal Reserve Act.

2. Abraham Lincoln - War to eliminate slavery? Suspending habeas corpus? Expanding the breadth of the Federal Gov't? WTF Talk about neoCON.

3. George W. Bush the II. - Enough Said.

tylerturtle:

I follow the Chicago School of econo-political thought, so I have no problem with Wilson for the war. 

 

Thanks for reminding me why the "Chicago School" is nothing but a semi-moderate brand of socialism.