Martin van Buren

I mean, not even libertarians give the guy his due. He is just forgotten and that is a real loss both for the Liberty Movement and hairstylists.

The answer is simple: gay men have sex in public toilets because they are rebels. They play by their own set of rules and that is why gay people are awesome.

Since post-Cold War American foreign policy has pretty much been the U.S. sends troops to prop up/remove a dictator or intervening in some cause that is selectively called "ethnic cleansing" by the foreign policy elite is it not debatable that President G.W. Bush was the most successful? After all he took that to the logical extreme. 

I have gone to churches where the priests have dressed in all these ways. Traditional clerical dress is my preference.

The priest who wore genes and a Jefferson Starship Church was cool and had a great singing voice, but I just could not take him seriously. I also do not know if he became a priest to spread the word of Christ or advertise for his Creed cover band.

When I went to a Reformed Baptist Church the priest wore a brown suit and was a former dentist. He was smart, but boring. I never thought I would be bored at a Baptist Church but it happened. Thus, that look does not really work.

As an undergraduate I went to a Catholic university and I found that the Black Shirt, suit and white collar was a bad ass look. I also found Catholic priests to have the best sense of humor, the most interesting stories to tell and the best education. Thus, I deem traditional clerical dress as the best for priests.

Tobacco is a fine thing, much like porn, booze and most forms of drugs. It gives people pleasure, like hookers, fast food, sleep and meth. This country and the puritanical do-gooders that make up the 51% of voters are waging a war on pleasure. Sleep makes us happy, TAKE IT AWAY! Hookers give us pleasure, TAKE THEM AWAY! Fast Food gives us pleasure, TAKE THAT AWAY! Smoking causes pleasure, TAKE IT AWAY! The war on pleasure is a real downer it is the reason why the USA has such high divorce, rape, domestic violence rates and sky high prescription drug use. I am not a smoker but I like tobacco products and I say god bless those who produce them.

(Patrick Stewart: "You are quite the powerful speaker, sir, wonder you don't go into Parliament?")

I generally like shrubbery which is easily maintainable and can be shaped into a unicorn. Those are the best.

John Lindsay had a 6% approval rating in NYC in 1972 (and for good reason).  His campaign was quite rightly viewed by everyone as a complete joke.

That is correct, I know, but I found the idea of the conservative former Democrat and the liberal former Republican as just too good. Can we not dream silly things and expect silly answers?

On April 9, 1971 President Richard Nixon is rushed to George Washington University Hospital with what is believed to be food poisoning. However, the supposed food poisoning turns out to be severe kidney failure. The president dies in early morning hours of April 10, 1971, Richard Nixon passes away at the age of 58.

Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew takes office. After appointing Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird to the vacant office of veep to appease the Goldwater-wing of the GOP. President Agnew, however, appeases no one during the term. The Democrats appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the president's financial affairs and allegations of corruption in his earlier career in Baltimore County. The rising tide of neo-conservative Republicans intellectuals at first are delighted by the idea of President Agnew, but soon find that he is little more than a clone of President Nixon in terms of Vietnam strategy. Conservative Republicans find that Agnew, founder of Draft Rockefeller in 1968, is not willing to take on Democrats on the issue of spending or liberals on the issues of culture. By December 1971 Agnew has a 31% approval rating and announces he will not seek a full term in office. This announcement, however, does not stave the tide of investigations into his earlier career by Special Prosecutor Ramsey Clark, LBJ's attorney general.

On the Republican side Governor Reagan easily defeats Vice-President Laird, Governor Rockefeller, Senator Dole and a few other rivals. At the GOP Convention he allows the convention to select a running-mate and they choose Senator Clifford Case of New Jersey.

The Democrats, seeing the chaos on the GOP side, reject most of the reforms offered by the McGovern-Fraser Committee and leave the decision of the nominee generally in the hands of the bosses who controlled the 1968 process. The free-for-all primary produced former Republican New York City Mayor John Lindsay as the Democratic nominee. At the convention Lindsay selects Arkansas Congressman Wilbur Mills for vice-president.  

Governor George Wallace, having been shot in Laurel, Maryland, by Arthur Bremmer, announces that he will not run for the office as an independent and surprises many by endorsing Reagan for president.

The 1972 race is thus Reagan/Case (R) vs Lindsay/Mills (D)   A former Democrat against a former Republican. Who do you like?

Damn, who is going to read me James Thurber stories every Friday now?

I do not see why Romney does not select former presidential liaison officer Linda Chavez for the vice-presidency. She is very conservative, media tested, has run for office before, has the right connections in the Beltway, is Hispanic, a woman and has shown empathy in terms of helping undocumented workers. What is the downside?

I for one do not trust science. It always seems to be out to kill me!

Obviously David Rockefeller has told Obama he has will be reelected. Obama admits to as much! The campaign that will come will be like all campaigns for the White House: simply a charade where one Ivy league elite play fights another Ivy league elite. Obama knows he is going to win. Obviously. To disagree with me makes you a tool of ZOG (and we must all kneel before him!).

I am nearing the end of The Just War Myth by Andrew Fiala. He is an engaging writer but I do not recommend the book for anyone who has a lot of interest in war theory. It is pretty much another book attacking the Bush Administration and the War on Terror (a good thing in my opinion) but at times it strays from critiquing the Christian theories of a just war.

I am also reading a bunch of special education books as I labor towards my doctorate in education and you would have no interest in those (unless you love IDEA 2004 and the Larry P decision!).

Major.

An excellent pick. I find him far preferable to Thatcher.

LOL at Lee making the list and getting a vote.

It is really a breath of fresh air to see someone else who does not buy into the Lee Myth. I applaud you, sir! Honestly, has no one ever heard about the Cheat Mountain Campaign of 1861 (well, except for Samuel R. Anderson).

I'm a Libertarian and have no national politicians so I don't really dislike any of them. You see, there are some benefits to joining a third party!

What! No option for Charles XII? I shall report this anti-Swedish bigotry ( ). This is the Swede that nearly toppled the czarship of Peter the Great and would have, in my opinion, had he not been shot in the foot and forced to lead from a stretcher at Poltava.

The Lives of Others- a German film about a Stasi agent who becomes the guardian angel for an East German artist and dissident. A well written film which entertains and enlightens (like most foreign films). 

The Democrats pushing this "War on Women" issue is tiresome. Everyone knows Republicans have issues with women, why do they have to talk about it all the time?

Because if they don't the Republicans will get away with it, duh. You don't just ignore an issue like this if you want it to go away.

QFT.

Never used that term before, but this post deserved it.

Yes, but is there not the slightest chance that the wagging of this issue may be easily spun by Republicans as one brought up ONLY to distract from the economy thus minimizing the rights of women to a mere campaign side-show? Is that really in the best interest of the community?

The Democrats pushing this "War on Women" issue is tiresome. Everyone knows Republicans have issues with women, why do they have to talk about it all the time? They remind me a great deal of the man who was angered at a dog barking at him and beat the dog to death. After the dog was dead the man continued to beat the corpse of the dead dog. "Hey, why are you hitting that dog?" a neighbor asked, "It is already dead!" "I know," the man responded, "But I believe in punishment after death."   

Obama/Biden (Democratic): 421 EV
McCain/Romney (Republican): 117 EV

2008 was the worst environment for an incumbent party to run in since 1932 and the GOP Ticket of McCain and Romney would have been crushed because no one could get excited about that. Palin, despite the myths, saved the perennially unlikable McCain from the above scenario. I could see McCain/Ridge or McCain/Lieberman (which I think were the top two choices of the senile Arizonan) winning four or five states, so Romney was probably the second best choice after Palin.

Too many McCain staffers have decided to spin the fact that they could not run a campaign by blaming Palin, whom all the hopes of the campaign were pinned on, for losing the race. The fact is McCain was selling a ketchup Popsicle and Palin was almost able to sell it to the American people. That's some talent that one has to be born with. 

True fact: the US was hardly better at ruling places like the Philippines than the Spanish were.  To quote William J. Bryan: "All we did was replace an oppressive Spanish regime with an oppressive American regime."

One may also argue that the U.S. saved the Filipino from being ruled by Imperial Germany or Japan, which arguably may have been worse in the long-run.

As for the most racist election 1864 definitely comes to mind if one wishes to use the modern idea of "racism." Shortly before Christmas, 1863, a 72-page pamphlet appeared for sale on newsstands in New York City. It cost a quarter and was titled Miscegenation: The Theory of the Blending of the Races, Applied to the American White Man and Negro. The pamphlet sought to interject race into the encroaching Fall Campaign by advising the Republican Party to add a "miscegenation plank" to the platform calling on "mandatory white and Negro unions." The pamphlet, written by New York World reporter named David Goodman Croly, was cited by Democratic Congressman Samuel S. Cox in a speech blasting the Lincoln Administration social policy towards newly liberated freedmen in occupied territory. In fact, the whole thing was but a hoax that introduced racial issues into an already toxic campaign.

FUN FACT: David Goodman Croly's wife Jane Cunningham Croly was a leading female journalist and feminist who was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1994. She helped her husband write the miscegenation pamphlet.   

Well, Truman actually did play a role in the fall of China to the Reds and the much heralded General George C. Marshall played the leading role. In the Spring of 1945 Communist Chinese forces took the Manchurian cities of Changchun, Harbin and Siping and with it control of the China Eastern Railway. By the fall of 1945, however, Nationalist General Jiang had effectively reversed the Reds and taken back most of the major cities and rail lines in Manchuria. However, the Communist Central Committee ordered Red commander Lin Biao to hold Harbin, Changchun and the East Central Railway at all costs. This made little sense because of the reversals until one looks at General Marshall and his "peace plan."

Marshall arrived in China in December 1945 at the behest of President Truman. Truman apparently wanted to stave off a civil war which was silly and naive, but that does not surprise anyone who knows about the President from Pendergast. Marshall tried to save the Communists by convincing Jiang to abandon Manchuria, but he refused to do so. He actually was able to take Changchun and Siping from the Reds. In June 1946 Marshall was able to attain a cease-fire and it gave the Reds enough time to use the railway hub of Harbin to escape from the surrounding Nationalist forces in Manchuria. It was from here where the Nationalists lost the momentum and the Red victory of 1949 was achieved.

So Truman and Marshall did indeed "lose" China by snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. 

I do not know what a "butthurt" is or looks like, but I can tell you that you should not be surprised when a lawmaker gets upset about something from the past that is now viewed as racially charged.

Also, has any other political cartoonist ever had such a long legacy as Nast? I can not think of one off the top of my head (perhaps Herblock).

George Clinton and Aaron Burr since I republicans from New York State were pretty cool back in the 18th Century.

For the record I would vote that, if the Constitution allowed you to vote for two guys from the same state.
Since it doesn't, I would vote for the guy who helped author the Anti-Federalist Papers.

Oh, I didn't know that we were playing those type of rules. I applaud you for thinking ahead. However, since these men are long since dead and this election is long since over and Aaron Burr was a pimp my vote still stands.