Today on this date, the year 1732, George Washington was born.

I was thinking today that it's really too bad that great men like him and Lincoln, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and a few of our other far-seeing and influential presidents ( and the word great is used so often anymore that it's lost its meaning--but I think it's safe to say that these men were GREAT)--have to share a day, in one rather meaningless holiday, all lumped together with nogoodniks and incompetents like Harding ( who BTW is a relative of mine), Coolidge, Chester Arthur, and other nonentities.

Really a shame. Washington deserves his own day.

I like the way Andy Rooney (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/15/60minutes/rooney/main1320679.shtml) put it. There was some talk of Reagan being placed on a dime, but that seems to have quieted of late.

es347fan,

It would hurt way too much for the Left to acknowledge that Reagan was a truly great presient and the only two recent democratic presidents Carter and Clinton, one known for the misery index and the malaise, the other known for cigars and frisking interns. Neither would make good material for having his face on a coin or bill.

BTW, the only reason why Kennedy got his face on a coin is because he was shot while in Office.

I would suggest that the true greatness of any President is best judged after the passage of considerable time. The consequences of decisions often take decades to play out. I would suggest that no Presidency be judged until a century has passed.

Agreed, Imagineer.

The rush to name schools, roads, airports, federal buildings, et al after deceased presidents has risen to idiotic proportions. It was much too soon to name an airport after Reagan and the plethora Kennedy named objects approaches being obscene. The only thing of note the man did while in office was screw up the Bay of Pigs invasion. He is memorialized mainly because he died in office, not while doing the people's business but while campaigning for a fellow Democrat.

There should be a moratorium on the naming of streets and buildings until the person has been dead at least fifty years.

Emotionally I still fly out of Idlewild International Airport, not JFK.

I wonder how many would have thought of Lincoln has being great back then?

Bush could go down in history as being great but is he great at this time?

History has away of making things look better as time goes bye. There have been countless rulers that are considered great now but what about those that actually had to deal with them?

Lincoln was despised even by members of his own party and ridiculed by the bigwigs in Washinton DC for his backwoods ways . Few knew that a razor-sharp mind was behind his homespun exterior which was basically an act. Edwin Stanton referred to him as an "ape " but Lincoln, knowing full well this man's personal animosity, still called him into his office and asked him to serve on his Cabinet. As the months went by Stanton grew aware of Lincoln's personal integrity and grew to love him. He was at his deathbed and when he died, and said, "Now he belongs to the ages" and wept uncontrollably.
Common men cried in the streets when previously they had had nothing but contempt for the dead man.

I have read that JFK's shooting is considered the most influential crime in American history. I strongly disagree with this assessment. Lincoln's assassination had a much bigger impact on our history--witness Reconstruction. This would have gone a lot differently if Abe had still been in office.

Lincoln was widely impugned for one other thing he did, although the deal was finalized after his death. Remember Seward's Folly aka purchasing Alaska. It was widely regarded as a foolish waste of money at the time. Looking back, it was precisely the right thing to do about that. The tactical advantages in World War II alone made it worth the price a hundred times over, not to mention the gold found there or the oil.

Lincoln, widely aknowleged ta be a President with a hole-in-his head, turns and makes a simple request: Would you PLEEEEEEEZE hold it DOWN? I'm TRYING to watch the play! Guards, could you pleeeze seat me next to some other...



...Booth?



:(



www. president abraham "t are strong" lincoln still REMAINS my favorite of the REPUBLICAN prezes... edu



www. odder than that, it's jfk, all the way! .edu



;)



www. fdr gits honorable mention, but some say he left our boys at pearl harbor with... zero... options .edu

"I would suggest that no Presidency be judged until a century has passed..."--Imagineer




"Congratulations, Odder! You are now more than a hundred years old! Have you anything to say about the FACT that Reagan was once an

American President?"




Odder: I guess facts can INDEED be stewpid thingz...





"Facts are stupid things."
Ronald Reagan
40th president of US (1911 - 2004)
http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh071702.shtml