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General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Ripsnort on June 29, 2005, 01:51:43 PM

Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: Ripsnort on June 29, 2005, 01:51:43 PM
..and Bush beat Oprah! :aok  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
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: Gunslinger on June 29, 2005, 01:54:40 PM
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
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: lasersailor184 on June 29, 2005, 02:10:10 PM
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.
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: Ripsnort on June 29, 2005, 02:11:32 PM
Quote
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%
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: rpm on June 29, 2005, 02:19:44 PM
FDR should have been ranked much higher. Oprah, Dubya and Billy don't belong on the list.
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: JB73 on June 29, 2005, 02:26:39 PM
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.
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: Skuzzy on June 29, 2005, 02:30:02 PM
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.
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: rpm on June 29, 2005, 02:32:22 PM
Quote
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.
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: Charon on June 29, 2005, 02:40:52 PM
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
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: Nilsen on June 29, 2005, 02:44:14 PM
I cant find Alaxander Kartveli anywere
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: Seagoon on June 29, 2005, 02:44:25 PM
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
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: J_A_B on June 29, 2005, 02:45:21 PM
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
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: XrightyX on June 29, 2005, 02:46:52 PM
Quote
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.
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: SFRT - Frenchy on June 29, 2005, 02:49:47 PM
Where's Patton?:D

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.
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: Torque on June 29, 2005, 02:50:38 PM
Quote
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.
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: Sandman on June 29, 2005, 03:00:09 PM
What, no John Wayne? Pffft.
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: indy007 on June 29, 2005, 03:05:14 PM
Quote
Originally posted by SFRT - Frenchy
Where's Patton?:D


Where's Chesty Puller is a better question. He didn't even get a movie.
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: Skydancer on June 29, 2005, 03:08:20 PM
Skuzzy you are right on the button there.:aok
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: DREDIOCK on June 29, 2005, 03:09:23 PM
personally my top 3 woulda been
1-Franklin
2-Washington
3-Teddy Roosevelt
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: storch on June 29, 2005, 03:18:46 PM
the greatest Americans can be found in every one of our cities and towns quietly going about their business which is often a tough and thankless job.  A person which comes immediately to mind is a male nurse at a local hospice.  my 102 year old grandmother was placed in this facility for the last two months of her life.  this nurse went about his business helping the terminally ill live out their last days with as much dignity and as much comfort as possible, a marked contrast to many of the other workers at this facility which seemed to be there for a pay check.  I was glad he was there and that he was concerned.  to me he personifies a great American much moreso than all on that list.  you can find other great Americans pastoring our small struggling churches.  the very same guys that many of us on this bulletin board and in our society ridicule for their faith and service.
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: DJ111 on June 29, 2005, 03:56:07 PM
Quote
1. Ronald Reagan


Good.
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: 6GunUSMC on June 29, 2005, 04:27:16 PM
Glad Reagan took top billing BUT I would have said he was the tops of the 20th century... Sadly Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine (although he was born in England) and James Monroe should have received higher ratings.  Chalk high spots going to oprah and clinton going to the decline of the education system in our country.
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: eagl on June 29, 2005, 04:35:54 PM
6gun you got that right.  The absence of historical figures says nothing about how relatively great anyone is, but it says a LOT about how crummy our basic education system is when it comes to US history.  If I ever have kids, they're going to get a little home-schooling in history to round out the education they get at school, because I do not buy into the multiculturalism that assumes all cultures are equal, have equal value, and need to be taught in equal measure.  I'm sorry, but a pre-industrial civilization that lives in mud huts and has a 70% infant mortality rate and sub-1% literacy rate is not of equal value to modern western civilization, and learning about such a culture does not deserve the same amount of time and attention as learning about (for example) how historical factors, the crusades, and trade with the western world led to the modern islamic states in the middle-east.

Fair and balanced is not how you teach a child.  You have to pick and choose what you stuff into their brains because time is limited and some information is more valuable than others.  I happen to believe that US history and a firm understanding of the constitution is more important than at least 80% of the other junk that passes for "history" and "government" in schools nowadays.
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: Ripsnort on June 29, 2005, 04:42:22 PM
Quote
Originally posted by eagl

Fair and balanced is not how you teach a child.  You have to pick and choose what you stuff into their brains because time is limited and some information is more valuable than others.  I happen to believe that US history and a firm understanding of the constitution is more important than at least 80% of the other junk that passes for "history" and "government" in schools nowadays.
:aok
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: DREDIOCK on June 29, 2005, 05:21:39 PM
Quote
Originally posted by rpm
FDR should have been ranked much higher. Oprah, Dubya and Billy don't belong on the list.


Agreed. should take Presley off too
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: spitfiremkv on June 29, 2005, 06:51:15 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Gunslinger
This list is a sham.  NO WAY could GWB beat Elvis!



6 George W Bush
7 Bill Clinton
8 Elvis Presley


this shows there are more Americans who have **** for brains than there are Americans who love Rock'n'Roll and a good shagging story.
Sad :(
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: Maverick on June 29, 2005, 06:51:45 PM
Quote
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.


Well said Skuzzy. I agree with your example.

Eagle, historical figures can't compete wiht the media attention that mere entertainers get. Why should anyone care about the opinion of someone who makes their living pretending to be something they are not? Entertainers and sprots people make far more than they are worth IMO. The real heros are the ones who put their lives and sanity on the line to help others. The heros are not the pampered spoiled and grossly overpaid entertainers that get the publicity from a media that makes IT'S money off of showing them on some kind of screen.
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: lasersailor184 on June 29, 2005, 07:23:55 PM
Just a FYI, but we aren't negotiating on Reagan even being moved out of the top 3.
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: sling322 on June 29, 2005, 10:57:36 PM
This was part of the Discovery channel thing, right?  

Stupid.  As soon as I saw some of the names on the top 100 I stopped caring about it.
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: Holden McGroin on June 29, 2005, 11:20:15 PM
T. Edison, T. Jefferson, H. Ford, Jonas Salk, Wilbur and Oroville, Chester Nimitz, Ike, all are lesser than Elvis and Oprah.

Obviously something wrong with the qualification procedure of the poll.
Title: Ronald Reagan voted "Greatest American"
Post by: SOB on June 29, 2005, 11:27:02 PM
What happened to Dr. Phil?!