James Polk vs. Zachary Taylor, 1848

[Emsworth]

I vote for James Polk. He was, without doubt, one of the best Presidents we have ever had.

Assuming that Polk was not plagued by his ill health, he probably would have won. The voters would have surely rewarded him for keeping his campaign promises.

[Emsworth]

Polk was a brutual slaveholder, you sorry excuse for a Democrat.

I was not judging Polk as a person. I was judging him as a president. The fact that he personally held slaves is totally irrelevant to whether he was a good or bad President of the United States.

Polk discarded old Whig protectionist notions and substantially reduced tariffs, and established an Independent Treasury. More importantly, his foreign policy was excellent. The expansion of the United States was a laudable objective, and the acquisition of what is now the Western United States from the United Kingdom and Mexico was entirely beneficial. No other Democratic President approaches him in greatness, except perhaps Grover Cleveland.

P.S. Taylor owned slaves as well.