Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"

[Ripsnort]

..and Bush beat Oprah!  I have to agree, and have stated in the past that Reagan will indeed be remembered as one of the (if not *the*) greatest president to have served the American public.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4631421.stm

[Gunslinger]

This list is a sham.  NO WAY could GWB beat Elvis!


1 Ronald Reagan
2 Abraham Lincoln
3 Martin Luther King
4 George Washington
5 Benjamin Franklin
6 George W Bush
7 Bill Clinton
8 Elvis Presley
9 Oprah Winfrey
10 Franklin D Roosevelt

[lasersailor184]

GWB is a great american, but he at least doesn't deserve to be in the top 10 yet.  At least not until Iraq is a complete success.

Clinton, Presley, and Oprah are good too, but I wouldn't rank any of them in the top 30.

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by lasersailor184
GWB is a great american, but he at least doesn't deserve to be in the top 10 yet.  At least not until Iraq is a complete success.

Clinton, Presley, and Oprah are good too, but I wouldn't rank any of them in the top 30.

Agreed 100%

[rpm]

FDR should have been ranked much higher. Oprah, Dubya and Billy don't belong on the list.

[JB73]

Billary is a great philanderer maybe

FDR? dunno about that one

Oprah too. what has she done to better the country except make women sit at home eating bon bon's watching her show?


if Elvis is up there, shouldn't Michael Jackson be there? based on record sales and stuff? i think Steve McQueen or Jimmy Stewart are in the same league with Elvis, Frank Sinatra too.

[Skuzzy]

I hate lists like this, and 'hate' is not a word I use lightly.

There is a nurse over at the Dallas Children's Hospital, who every day, goes to work to take care of terminally ill children.  She manages to put on a smile everyday for those kids and deal with grieving parents.  She worries her humanity will not be able to hold up, but somehow she finds the strength to keep going and keep helping do a job no one should have to do.

She makes the last days of the lives of children as good as they can be.  She has been doing that for 23 years.  She is an American and has ten fold more respect from me than anyone on that sorry list.

Famous people are just famous.  It does not make them great Americans.  Heck, more often than not they are worse for the fame.

[rpm]

Originally posted by JB73
FDR? dunno about that one.

Brought the country out of the Great Depression.
Led the country thru WWII.
Philanthopist.
Did it all from a wheelchair.

[Charon]

6 George W Bush
7 Bill Clinton
8 Elvis Presley
9 Oprah Winfrey

LOL!

Where's Gerald Ford - he's a better golfer than either of those guys. What no room for Paris Hilton? Oprah's on there but Maury Povich didn't make the cut. Elvis but not Chuck Berry? I know there was the whole ladies bathroom cam thing, but still!

Charon

[Nilsen]

I cant find Alaxander Kartveli anywere

[Seagoon]

Well, lists like this are a little like the "Top 100 songs of all time" play lists on radio stations during the Summer. Does anyone really think those are a true objective summary of the greatest songs of all time? The very fact that Brittany shows up on the pop ones should disuade anyone of that notion.

I like Reagan too, but was he really a greater American than Washington? Probable not, "currently most admired Americans" would probably be a better title.

- SEAGOON

[J_A_B]

6 of those 10 are all from fairly recent memory, showing the common bias of these sorts of polls in favor of people who we can easily remember.   A further two are founding fathers who made their mark when the country was formed, leaving only two names from the 170 or so years between the 1790's and 1960's.  

Washington should be in the top slot.  He made this country and especially the Presidency what it is almost single-handedly.

Elvis?  Oprah?  GWB?  Reagan?  Clinton?  Give me a break!    

In not partifular order....

Swap out Reagan with Teddy Roosevelt
Replace Oprah with Susan B Anthony
Elvis gives way to Will Rogers
Get rid of Clinton to make room for Thomas Edison
And GWB....he can make room for John Wayne, who WAS America to the eyes of the world.

That wouldn't make it perfect by any stretch of the imagine (I'm limited by what comes to mind in the few minutes it takes me to post), but certainly a vast improvement.


J_A_B

[XrightyX]

Originally posted by Skuzzy
I hate lists like this, and 'hate' is not a word I use lightly.

Famous people are just famous.  It does not make them great Americans.  Heck, more often than not they are worse for the fame.

Agree 100%.

Not to put too much of a political spin on it, but I'd vote for any American in a group like "Doctors w/o Borders" before I'd put Bush on there.

[SFRT - Frenchy]

Where's Patton?

Should be called "Greatest American Celebrities", I know a lot of "Greatest American" nominees, people that "You should not wonder what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country". on a day to day basis, offen with limited ressources.

[Torque]

Originally posted by Skuzzy
I hate lists like this, and 'hate' is not a word I use lightly.

There is a nurse over at the Dallas Children's Hospital, who every day, goes to work to take care of terminally ill children.  She manages to put on a smile everyday for those kids and deal with grieving parents.  She worries her humanity will not be able to hold up, but somehow she finds the strength to keep going and keep helping do a job no one should have to do.

She makes the last days of the lives of children as good as they can be.  She has been doing that for 23 years.  She is an American and has ten fold more respect from me than anyone on that sorry list.

Famous people are just famous.  It does not make them great Americans.  Heck, more often than not they are worse for the fame.

my sister could only handle it for 5 years before it took its toll.

i went to see her a few times at the ward, after which my faith in religion was scattered forever.

this lady you speak of is the essence of humanity.