Nixon vs. Bush II: FIGHT!

[shift6]

Who was/is the more evil President of the US? You can define evil however you like as this is a poll about opinions. I'm also not saying either was the WORST OF ALL TIME. Just compare these two with each other.

[extarbags]

For the first and last time in my life, I voted for Bush.

[Charles]

Man, I read that last entry as "poop elections". Pertinent? Maybe.

[noun]

OK see, now phrased this way my answer is different. Nixon is clearly more evil; Bush honestly thinks what he's doing is best for America.

[Unicorn McGriddle]

Evil is the wrong word. I reject the terms of your question. Next time, try asking us which one is "more unspeakably horrific."

[Shadarr]

OK see, now phrased this way my answer is different. Nixon is clearly more evil; Bush honestly thinks what he's doing is best for America.
The road to hell isn't paved with dead babies alone.

[Robert Sharp]

OK see, now phrased this way my answer is different. Nixon is clearly more evil; Bush honestly thinks what he's doing is best for America.

Yep. That's why I voted Nixon too.

[arctangent]

Nixon looked scarier than Bush does, though. That has to account for something, doesn't it? Doesn't it???

[extarbags]

No he doesn't. Nothing's scarier than the prospect of someone as visibly stupid as Bush being in charge of the most powerful nation on Earth.

[Eduardo X]

Nixon did a lot of good things in his horrid abortion of a presidency. Bush has done very little good in his.
I vote Bush.

[Cosmic Hippo]

Nixon did a lot of good things in his horrid abortion of a presidency. Bush has done very little good in his.
I vote Bush.I was gonna say... if you actually look at some of Nixon's policies, compared to Bush he was a hippie.

I wasn't around when Nixon was president, but I know a lot of people who were, and they say Nixon had nothing on Bush. Then again, they're mostly leftists, and Bush is happening right now but still.. I say Bush is worse.

Though not necessarily evil. I too reject the terms of this poll.

[John Many Jars]

Nixon founded the EPA and passed the Clean Air Act with a bipartisan effort in Congress. Nixon ended a war that we weren't going to win. Nixon went to China.

Bush appointed a panel of oil executives to decide whether to drill for oil in a national wildlife refuge (among many other profit-protecting environmental atrocities). Bush thinks that simple faith in his own losing strategies will win a war he started under false pretenses. Bush "stands tall" against any country that doesn't do what he tells it to.

Both Presidents lied a lot.

[Eduardo X]

Don't forget that Nixon gave back a lot of land to Native Americans.
And also the "end" of COINTELPRO and the passing of the Freedom of Information Act.

Then again, none of the "good" stuff he did was out of the goodness of his heart; it was all the result of massive grassroots organizing and political mobilization on the part of the citizens.

[JeffL]

Wow. Liberals citing all the good works of Nixon. They are now officially having a snowball fight in Hell.

[Eduardo X]

Wow. Liberals citing all the good works of Nixon. They are now officially having a snowball fight in Hell.
We can start a "what did Nixon do wrong" and a "what did Bush Jr. do wrong" thread if you want.

[noun]

Wow. Liberals citing all the good works of Nixon. They are now officially having a snowball fight in Hell.

The thing is, Dubya's term really put Nixon's accomplishments into perspective. It's a hell of a thing when a racist, genocidal thug has a better performance record than our current commander in chief.

[JeffL]

I would encourage people who only know Nixon via the newer personal "elder statesman" redesign to go get copies of the Nixon tapes, expecially the ones released in 1997, and listen as he talks about the "rich Kikes" he's going to "take out", the list of people whose personal and professional lives he's going to destroy via "all the power of this office" including CIA and FBI and IRS resources, speculating with people like Haldeman on "well, what if, just what if one day that person just disappeared?", discussing break-ins to many other institutions beyond the Watergate, laughing at stories of villagers suspected of being Viet Cong being tossed out of helicopters ("hell, one less gook in the world is a good thing no matter whose side they're on!") etc.

[noun]

Jeff, no one's denying Nixon was a monster. We all agree. But despite the shit he was talking, he never actually did any of those things. Whether it was intentional or not, the fact still remains that Nixon's list of accomplishments is greater than Dubya's, and his list of actual evil accomplishments is smaller than Dubya's.

[Eduardo X]

I've heard it, Jeff. I also know people who were in prison for 30+ years thanks to Nixon's (and Hoover's, of course) COINTELPRO BS.

[arctangent]

No he doesn't. Nothing's scarier than the prospect of someone as visibly stupid as Bush being in charge of the most powerful nation on Earth.

Come on, Nixon is much scarier-looking than GWB, especially now that he's been dead a while.

[extarbags]

If I was being accosted by one of them, I agree that Nixon would be scarier-looking. But when it comes to running the country, I'm less frightened by someone who looks like he might kidnap and murder me AND EAT MY BRAINZ than someone who looks like he might tie his own shoelaces together.

[arctangent]

Don't make me use smilies, extarbags...

[extarbags]

Edited. Happy?