History/Politics/Government Question

Forums: Humor, Politician, U S A, American, Republican
Email this Topic • Print this Page

Who do you consider , the most evil AMERICAN person in politics/government of the 20th./21st. century?

I will withhold my opinion so it doesn't look like I'm trying to influence or poison the well. In addition, I might learn something from one of our expert historians I didn't know that will cause me to change my opinion.

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Question • Score: 10 • Views: 3,383 • Replies: 23

No top replies

@blueveinedthrobber,

What leaps to my mind was Dubyah...but he wasn't evil. He clearly was unaware of the big picture and that made him dangerous. I felt that his lack of results and his non-action caused evil things to happen, but I don't feel he personally was evil. I cursed him during hurricane Katirna and during the 9/11 tragedies.

Now, within his administration, when it comes to evaluating VP Cheney, I would say he is where the evil is and was.

Being that I'm 62, perhaps I have a longer view of US political history. I would categorize the late Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, as evil.

These are my top 2!

0 Replies

Apart from Richard M Nixon and President Andrew Johnson, Governor George Wallace of Alabama springs to mind. From his inaugural speech of Jan 14 1963:

Quote:

I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.

Others include Barry Goldwater, Gov. Dennis Daugaard, State Sen. Jane Cunningham, the members of the All American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) who stole American secrets in 2005 to give to Israel.

0 Replies

Totally agree with Ragman, totally. Mostly disagree with Contrex except for George Wallace. Tricky Dick Nixon wasn't evil, just pitiable. Nor do I sense anything evil about the others mentioned (again, with the exception for Geo. Wallace). But Dick Cheney? Whew! I can smell the sulphur from way out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean whenever I picture that caricature of a gnome's face.

1 Reply

@Lustig Andrei,

My memory had blocked out Wallace. I'd include him on the list of evil-doers. Add Lester Maddox to that list, in that same vein.

3 Replies

@Ragman,

And don't forget Orville Faubus.

0 Replies

@Ragman,

In a larger sense, of course, people like Wallace, Maddox, Faubus and others were not truly "evil." They were woefully ignorant haters who simply did not realize which way the wind was blowing and acted from their twisted instincts and upbringing. Cheney, now, that's something else. So is Sen. Joe McCarthy something else. These are people who acted from selfish self-interest with never a second thought for such concepts as "right" or "wrong."

1 Reply

@Lustig Andrei,

Lustig Andrei wrote:

These are people who acted from selfish self-interest with never a second thought for such concepts as "right" or "wrong."

There is a disconcertingly large number of people like that around: some wind up in prison, some get executed, some go to institutions for the criminally insane, and some achieve high political office.

1 Reply

@contrex,

I'd have to go for Nixon, mostly because of Pinochet.

Quote:

Like Caesar peering into the colonies from distant Rome, Nixon said the choice of government by the Chileans was unacceptable to the president of the United States. The attitude in the White House seemed to be, "If in the wake of Vietnam I can no longer send in the Marines, then I will send in the CIA."

Senator Frank Church, 1976

0 Replies

What's most disturbing about the use of the CIA in the Nixon era is that they were employed not just against perceived enemies like Allende, but even against the governments of allies who offended Nixon. There is more than ample evidence that the CIA colluded in the overthrow of Gough Whitlam in Australia.

That being said, i don't go for best/worst kinds of questions. Many people in the past have been rotten enough . . . sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

1 Reply

@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

That being said, i don't go for best/worst kinds of questions. Many people in the past have been rotten enough . . . sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Quite so. It is dangerous to see politicians as heroes or villains.

0 Replies

I would certainly agree that McCarthy deserves a seat at the "table of evil". Nipping at his heels is Speaker Boehner, who is evil because he does not care enough to lead and willingly obstructs. Ron Paul deserves a seat because he proposes the absurd. He filibusters while musing the president might order a drone hit here in the US, why not raise the alarm and force Obama to swear he will not poison members of Congress. Rush Limbaugh ratchets up the crazy because he cashes in and loves the sound of his own voice, Glenn Beck spouts crazy because he is crazy. I also would save three seats for Cheney, Rumsfeld and the cherubic Carl Rove. Let me know when you want candidates for the most arrogant, Bear, I can name names. I guess I should have mentioned Michelle Bachman, but frankly she dumb as a box of dirt and married to the only gay man in America who can't dance. Poor Bachman.

1 Reply

@glitterbag,

All well and good, Glitter, but Bi-Polar asked for "evil", not crazy or stupid or incompetent.

0 Replies

@blueveinedthrobber,

nice post

0 Replies

Now that many have answered, I will make my statement. I had forgotten to consider McCarthy but I think he deserves a spot. My choice however is hands down Dick Cheney. I'm almost 64 and I've seen a lot of assholes, but never one as completely unrepentant, as full of Hubris and a barely concealed happiness with himself for what he's done. I believe with all my heart that were he not restrained by law, he would do everything Hitler did and more and would do it with malice and meditation.

3 Replies

@blueveinedthrobber,

blueveinedthrobber wrote:

I believe with all my heart that were he not restrained by law, he would do everything Hitler did and more and would do it with malice and meditation.

Whoa steady on. Don't get carried away, I think you're being a bit extreme. Hitler never shot anyone in the face.

0 Replies

@blueveinedthrobber,

I'm with you, brother Bear. I'm 10 years older than you and I have never seen anyone quite as wickedly evil in American politics as Dickhead Cheney, especially not one achieving so high an office. Tail-gunner Joe McCarthy was just a spoiled brat when compared to Cheney. That man carried the odor of sulphur about him.

0 Replies

@blueveinedthrobber,

I can't take a pass on Cheney, he was so determined to prove his hopes that Iraq did have weapons of mass destruction, that over reaching asshole, actually showed up at CIA demanding to see the evidence they already rejected as invalid, so our Shining Knight Cheney got them to drag out everything for Chief Intelligence Analyst, and overhead expert Sir Cheney the Brilliant, could view irrigation canals whose purpose was to water cattle and other livestock, and cleverly discern they were tunnels that smarty pants Iraq was using to move the weapons of mass destruction somewhere else. What a joke. Burn in hell, war criminal Cheney, now just go away and spend time with your family.

1 Reply

@glitterbag,

Dog gone it! Someone must be up to the challenge of topping Dick Cheney as an answer?

My history is sketchy, but, lest we forget, the eugenics movement took place in the 20th century:

Quote:

Euthanasia programs

One of the methods that was commonly suggested to get rid of "inferior" populations was euthanasia. A 1911 Carnegie Institute report mentioned euthanasia as one of its recommended "solutions" to the problem of cleansing society of unfit genetic attributes. The most commonly suggested method was to set up local gas chambers. However, many in the eugenics movement did not believe that Americans were ready to implement a large-scale euthanasia program, so many doctors had to find clever ways of subtly implementing eugenic euthanasia in various medical institutions. For example, a mental institution in Lincoln, Illinois fed its incoming patients milk infected with tuberculosis (reasoning that genetically fit individuals would be resistant), resulting in 30-40% annual death rates. Other doctors practiced eugenicide through various forms of lethal neglect.[59]

In the 1930s, there was a wave of portrayals of eugenic "mercy killings" in American film, newspapers, and magazines. In 1931, the Illinois Homeopathic Medicine Association began lobbying for the right to euthanize "imbeciles" and other defectives. The Euthanasia Society of America was founded in 1938.[60]

Overall, however, euthanasia was marginalized in the U.S., motivating people to turn to forced segregation and sterilization programs as a means for keeping the "unfit" from reproducing.[61]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_in_the_United_States#Euthanasia_programs

History/Politics/Government Question

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know