i voted bush jr., but not as a president but as a person. it's been a fun 8 years making fun of him, and come on....what president has their own show?!?!? lil bush lol. but as a president, i'd say maybe clinton mostly because of what magnus said. the 90's were just awesome. i'd love to relive them again. i'd put bush jr. probably somewhere in the middle of the pack.

Ike of course. But I'm wondering if it was a "least favorite modern president" with of course the same group of presidents who would win, Nixon or Bush Jr? Or how about Johnson?

Bush Junior. He's the only one out of the group, other than Gerald Ford, for whom I cannot recall any positive accomplishments.

Nixon and LBJ have a close fight, but I give it to LBJ based upon the great society.

LBJ and Nixon are at least interesting, though. How did a people-hating slimeball like Nixon get that far up? And LBJ's "Jumbo"...

Ford: At least for some, presided over the end of the Vietnam war (though that is more Congresses doing) and he elevated John Paul Stevens to the Supreme Court.

Bush II, whatever I say you will write off.

Has anyone ever listened to some of the tapes from when LBJ was in office? The "LBJ Treatment" is also legendary. Taking a shit while talking/making deals, pretty ballsy. The guy is actually pretty funny:

http://tapes.millercenter.virginia.edu/clip/1964-08-09-lbj-orders-some-new-haggar-pants

Click on "main.swf" for a listen. BTW, the Miller Center has lots of cool stuff like this.

Bush 2 did a few things right. He did more for Africa than any other modern president. He created a marine reserve in the pacific that is huge, and he didn't sign Kyoto which was great. Environmental treaties that don't make India and China have restrictions aren't worth it.

But of course, no surprise to any of you that I think the bad outweighed the good.

That was great.

Bush just threw John Bolton under the bus. A point in his favor for that one. That's two points I give him in 8 years.

Rejecting Kyoto would have been a stroke of genius if he didn't do it for all the wrong reasons.

To be honest, Bush improved greatly over the course of his tenure, especially starting in 2007. Diplomacy has grown by leaps and bounds since "you're either with us, or against us": Iranian dialogue, North Korean negotiations, Iraqi withdrawal timetables, the hiring of Robert Gates, the rejection of John Bolton. Sensible foreign policy is not a liberal preserve. We have a choice between stupidity and pragmatism, and Bush is dragging himself out of the shit pit of stupidity.

Bush's worst legacy will be the complete disregard for scientific knowledge, and the detrimental impact that has had on the American people's relationship with science. Apolitically speaking, I have yet to understand why the people that deny global warming do so; most of these folks have no incentive whatsoever to stick their heads in the sand. I don't like to regard national leaders in a partisan manner (I like Nixon, for instance, and respect Bush 1 even more), but Junior tripped my rawest nerves. I still have regrets about supporting the fool twice, like a bad memory that won't go away.

My theory is that there is no apolitical reason for it. I think they deny it for the simple reason that liberals want to do something about it. "If they're fer it, them I'm agin' it." I honestly don't think it goes any deeper than that. No other explanation makes sense.

There are plenty of Republicans that don't ignore scientific truth, but once in a while you bump into somebody of otherwise fearsome intelligence that yap on about the whole ice cap's melting due to natural processes. It's a bit wryly saddening, those "otherwise intelligent" people that do so much good elsewhere.

To be fair, there are a lot of ignorant liberals too, more than most Democrats admit. The "progressive activist" type is a lot less numerous than they themselves acknowledge, and getting the Democratic vote to 50% involves the high art of sheep corralling as well.

Not denying that, but you asked about global warming deniers.

Btw, while Palin accepts global warming, she is a man-made global warming denier.

I accept obesity, I am a food-caused obesity denier.