Opinion of Lyndon B. Johnson

[King]

Obvious racist, obvious dick....but he did something that was inevitable so clearly he is the greatest President ever.

He did something inevitable despite being from a part of the country and society that was largely against it, and not needing to do it in order to win the 1964 elections.

He was a man of great courage, (though abrasive) a true leader, and one of the only Presidents serious about eliminating poverty.

The good seriously outweighs the bad in this case.  Same is in cases of fellow internet scapegoat Presidents Nixon and Wilson.

[AggregateDemand]

Why would you just judge a president on his belief instead of his actions? Even if he was personally a virulent racist (which is debatable), he did more to advance the position of black Americans than arguably any non-Abraham Lincoln president.

He was the Senate majority leader during the 1957 Civil Rights Act. He gutted Eisenhower's bill for the reasons he listed in his quote. Then he claimed Eisenhower's reforms as his own in 1964 because he thought it would expand his political power. He helped black Americans by delaying Civil Rights by 7 years?

The Great Society "welfare" policies were born of paternalistic racism. He believed black Americans couldn't take care of themselves; therefore, the government would keep them out of the system by putting them on a government allowance and government healthcare plan. He was pro-abortion because he knew it was a form of backdoor eugenics, and Democrats basically teamed up with Alan Guttmacher to make sure that contraceptives and abortions were readily available to "low-income" (read: black) Americans. In LBJ's defense, it was soulless Nixon who put Title X through.

Johnson's vision for a Great Society was nothing we would support today, yet people defend his legislation as if it were religious canon. I just wonder how many more years it will take before people come to their senses.

[publicunofficial]

Total asshole, shady as hell, one of the most craven political operators of the 20th century


FF

[morgieb]

I think he was enough of a shady asshole to outweigh the good he did on domestic policy. Lean HP.

[DevotedDemocrat]

Why would you just judge a president on his belief instead of his actions? Even if he was personally a virulent racist (which is debatable), he did more to advance the position of black Americans than arguably any non-Abraham Lincoln president.

Because he passed liberal commie social programs to help poors. We can't have that.

[windjammer]

Disgusting war criminal.

Also...other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

Lenin, Trotsky, and other communist you seem to support weren't war criminals maybe?

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Wow. The vote is almost the same as Harrison.

[DevotedDemocrat]

It's amazing that Nixon and GW Bush will probably get a higher rating than LBJ

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

It's amazing that Nixon and GW Bush will probably get a higher rating than LBJ

Nixon maybe, but Bush will be very low.

[AggregateDemand]

It's amazing that Nixon and GW Bush will probably get a higher rating than LBJ

It's more amazing that LBJ is probably higher rated than Hoover

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

HP on foreign policy
FF on domestic policy

Net FF, but Johnson really doesn't lend himself to this question format.  Also, I always find it amusing how some of the people who hate Johnson the most for Vietnam are quick to rush to Kennedy's defense whenever the subject comes up.

[AggregateDemand]

HP on foreign policy
FF on domestic policy

Net FF, but Johnson really doesn't lend himself to this question format.  Also, I always find it amusing how some of the people who hate Johnson the most for Vietnam are quick to rush to Kennedy's defense whenever the subject comes up.

Kennedy didn't lie about the Gulf of Tonkin, and Kennedy didn't undermine the middle class with the Great Society.

The lack of understanding about the Great Society is quite stunning. It essentially took middle class spending, and transferred it to voting demographics that LBJ thought he could buy. LBJ was right, and our country has never recovered from his Machiavellian brinksmanship. We are $17T in debt, trying to bolster the middle class he gutted. Unconscionable.

[Peter the Lefty]

HP on foreign policy
FF on domestic policy

Net FF, but Johnson really doesn't lend himself to this question format.  Also, I always find it amusing how some of the people who hate Johnson the most for Vietnam are quick to rush to Kennedy's defense whenever the subject comes up.

What is amusing is that those who attempt to blame Kennedy do everything and anything possible to ignore that he had already begun the process of withdrawing troops from Vietnam (and state department documents have been revealed which show that he had given instructions to find a way to quietly pull out all the way), until Johnson reversed the policy.  One can't blame someone for getting shot before he/she was able to finish carrying out his/her plan.  

[TNF]

It's amazing that Nixon and GW Bush will probably get a higher rating than LBJ

It's more amazing that LBJ is probably higher rated than Hoover

It's amazing that anyone would vote FF on either one of them.

[windjammer]

Disgusting war criminal.

Also...other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

Lenin, Trotsky, and other communist you seem to support weren't war criminals maybe?

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

One more HP vote and it's a tie.

I predict Nixon's going to have similar results because of liberal Nixon apologists.

I also predict Bush having approval ratings almost as low as Fillmore-Pierce-Buchanan.

[Lief 🗽]

By the way, the quote AggDem keeps posting comes from an Air Force One steward who supposedly heard LBJ said it and only reported it thirty years later. No one else has corroborated the quote. It's likely made up.

[AggregateDemand]

By the way, the quote AggDem keeps posting comes from an Air Force One steward who supposedly heard LBJ said it and only reported it thirty years later. No one else has corroborated the quote. It's likely made up.

He gutted 1957 Civil Rights as Senate Majority Leader. The quote is widely circulated and printed in books by respected authors because it seems to offer an explanation, in his unique vernacular, for why he did it.

[Lief 🗽]

The quote originates in the book called "Inside the White House" by Robert Kessler, published in the 90s. It's basically just a collection of gossip and hearsay from staffers (drivers, secretaries, secret service, plane stewards, etc.). There's no other evidence that LBJ ever said that.

[AggregateDemand]

The quote originates in the book called "Inside the White House" by Robert Kessler, published in the 90s. It's basically just a collection of gossip and hearsay from staffers (drivers, secretaries, secret service, plane stewards, etc.). There's no other evidence that LBJ ever said that.

Okay, assume the quote is fabricated. LBJ fought Republicans on Civil Rights in 1957 because.......he was interested in racial equality?

The man was racist in his sentiments, political means, political ends, and in apocryphal rumor. Denial by modern day Democrats will never vindicate him.

[Sec. of State Superique]

HP on foreign policy
FF on domestic policy

Net FF, but Johnson really doesn't lend himself to this question format.  Also, I always find it amusing how some of the people who hate Johnson the most for Vietnam are quick to rush to Kennedy's defense whenever the subject comes up.

Kennedy didn't lie about the Gulf of Tonkin, and Kennedy didn't undermine the middle class with the Great Society.

The lack of understanding about the Great Society is quite stunning. It essentially took middle class spending, and transferred it to voting demographics that LBJ thought he could buy. LBJ was right, and our country has never recovered from his Machiavellian brinksmanship. We are $17T in debt, trying to bolster the middle class he gutted. Unconscionable.

The Middle Class destruction is LBJ fault? Give me a brake of baloney!

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

LBJ only barely an FF? I though we were better than that.

[7,052,770]

A on domestic policy
F on foreign policy

Probably the only president with an A/F split.  Voted FF on balance.

[ElectionsGuy]

Wow. The vote is almost the same as Harrison.

Yeah, except the Harrison thread only had 30 votes, so I don't think people cared a whole lot about him.

It's amazing that Nixon and GW Bush will probably get a higher rating than LBJ

No. They'll almost certainly get lower, especially Bush.

[AggregateDemand]

The Middle Class destruction is LBJ fault? Give me a brake of baloney!

You can blame Nixon, too, if it makes you happy