27-06-2005 06:56									#1
	About that whole "Greatest American" poll Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

Well, that's what you get when AOL runs an election.

	27-06-2005 07:01									#3
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Why? Who won?

	27-06-2005 07:02									#4
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http://tv.channel.aol.com/greatestamerican

They'll probably post the result online in a few minutes.

Has everyone with a computer or a phone gone f*cking crazy?

	27-06-2005 07:04									#5
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Stop being an ass and tell me who won.

	27-06-2005 07:05									#6
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I'm going to guess it was the Gipper, from your reaction

	27-06-2005 07:06									#7
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Well come on geniuses, out of Franklin, Washington, King, Lincoln, and Reagan, which one would I be pissed off about?

spoiler(highlight to read): Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

	27-06-2005 07:30									#9
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That's why a poll of the Plebes is not actually worth anything.

Historians will know what to do with the Gipper.

	27-06-2005 07:32									#10
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<-- sits back, grabs popcorn...

	27-06-2005 07:33									#11
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My God, what a moronic list, and what a moronic set of priorities....

	27-06-2005 07:37									#12
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Where's Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky? I don't see them on this list? What the ******* bloody **** is ******* wrong with theses people?

On another note, I don't see any Latinos or African-Americans, so I guess blacks, hispanics, and commies are all on the same level in the eyes of D.C...

	27-06-2005 07:39									#13
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JohnT, you cannot laugh. OPRAH WINFREY beat out Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

I know you may not like ol' FDR because he did so much for the conditions of all the workers under your iron capitalist fist, but it pretty much makes the list lose all worthwhile value that him nor Bill Clinton nor any artist at all are in the top 5.

	27-06-2005 07:41									#14
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Ah, given that Lenin and Trotsky were Russians and Stalin Georgian, they would hardly be on the "100 Greatest Americans" list, now wouldn;t they?

Hmm, and Marthin Luther King is African American...did you even look at the list?

My question is, why is Einstein on that list? his greatest ideas came to him in Europe and did not immigrate to the US until an older man in the '30s. Certainly great American physicists could have made the list, though I greatly doubt your normal AOL user has a clue who they are.

	27-06-2005 07:43									#15
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quote: Originally posted by mrmitchell JohnT, you cannot laugh. OPRAH WINFREY beat out Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I know you may not like ol' FDR because he did so much for the conditions of all the workers under your iron capitalist fist, but it pretty much makes the list lose all worthwhile value that him nor Bill Clinton nor any artist at all are in the top 5.

Why would Clinton be in the Top 5??

FDR certainly a valid contender- take out Reagan and put FDR in and you have a very valid list, but CLINTON? He shouldn't be in the top 5 anymore than Reagan.

	27-06-2005 07:58									#16
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quote: FDR certainly a valid contender- take out Reagan and put FDR in and you have a very valid list, but CLINTON? He shouldn't be in the top 5 anymore than Reagan.

Clinton didn't come from riches like many of the other tops; he is a mental genius; he is probably the greatest single national politician in the last 50 years; he's quite the philosopher; he understands the average man's issues AND politics and can achieve goals satisfying both concerns; he is insanely well liked (ie find me someone who doesn't like Clinton and I will prove to you he is insane.)

It doesn't really have much at all to do with being from AR; hell, for that, I could nominate Maya Angelou, Johnny Cash, Win Rockefeller, Hillary Clinton, William Fulbright (william?), or jillions of others. No, Bill truly soars above the average and out of that list there is to pick from, he DEFINITELY merits being in the top 5.

The only reason he is as overlooked as he is is that his Presidency was so universally successful for our great nation. No controversy, no memory span...

But I'm not totally loony Gepap. I would place FDR and Washington easily above Clinton (so far, but I have a feeling he'll keep on impacting America for long to come.)

	27-06-2005 08:06									#17
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Plenty of Americans have risen from lowly backgrounds to go far and have been very succesful, reaching top places in the government.

That does not mean they trully belong in the Top 5 Americans.

I mean, Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton- all of them were crucially important to the development of the country. Yet none of them made the top 5. Were are the great Justices of the Supreme Court? Thurdgood Marshall, the first African American on the Bench? He would have as good a claim to the top 5 as Clinton, but in reality I don;t think either wpuld belong.

I disagree with Regan's politics, but you know what? He would have as much claim to be in the Top 5 as Clinton, so how can one complain about Regan but think Clinton shjould be there?

hell, Theodore Roosevelt belongs up there more than either of them. Edison would belong up higher than them.

	27-06-2005 08:08									#18
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Also, why the **** is Aussie Catholic Nut Mel Gibson there?

And Bret Favre!?
Pat Tillman!?

Jesus, if you want great football stars, we have better ones.
If you want some patriotic Hero, why not Sgt. Murphy, or some actual winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor?

Edit: Murphy is on the list.

Let me add my outrage at Rush Limbaugh, Michal Moore, Elen Degeneres and Dr. Phill being even in the Top 100.

	27-06-2005 08:15									#19
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Reposted from someone somewhere else:

quote: Re: Reagan winning "Greatest American" -- I am **AMAZED** . . . . . . that anyone actually watches the Discovery Channel. But seriously, here's why he won: 1) The poll was conducted by AOL. Hence, it was most heavily advertised on AOL. 2) AOL is the country's most popular dial-up service. 3) With broadband internet becoming steadily more popular and less expensive across the nation, the largest group of AOLers today are probably rednecks -- or, more broadly (and more politely), those who live in rural parts of the country where broadband is not available and cheap. 4) Rednecks vote Republican. 5) There was only one real Republican in the top five. Everyone else was on our side.

	27-06-2005 08:16									#20
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quote: Originally posted by mrmitchell JohnT, you cannot laugh. OPRAH WINFREY beat out Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I know you may not like ol' FDR because he did so much for the conditions of all the workers under your iron capitalist fist, but it pretty much makes the list lose all worthwhile value that him nor Bill Clinton nor any artist at all are in the top 5.

This isn't my poll. And I would've had FDR in my top-10, possibly 5.

As for artist, the only American artist due a top-5 listing is Elvis Presley. No if, ands, or buts about it.

Clinton would make a top-50, possibly top-30, imho. But I would rank the other Bill, Gates, higher.

Oprah is just a joke and is an example why this thing isn't due anybody's attention. Except as a means to feel superior.

	27-06-2005 08:20									#21
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quote: 3) With broadband internet becoming steadily more popular and less expensive across the nation, the largest group of AOLers today are probably rednecks -- or, more broadly (and more politely), those who live in rural parts of the country where broadband is not available and cheap.

IIRC the broadband situation in Mississippi is pretty bad (something like only a few small cities have high speed access) but everywhere else in the country I'd say even in rural areas things are starting to go high speed.

Hell. Even in Camden we had 900 people on cable internet a couple years ago (definitely more, and plus DSL too, by now.)

	27-06-2005 08:31									#22
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quote: Originally posted by mrmitchell Clinton didn't come from riches like many of the other tops

Neither Lincoln, Franklin, or Reagan came from families of "riches."

However, despite expectations, Martin Luther King Jr. came from a long-standing respectable family based in SW Atlanta - his father, in his role as head of Ebenezer Baptist Church might have been the most politically connected black man in Atlanta from the Depression to the start of the Civil Rights Movement, when his son took over. Coretta Scott was a well-heeled young lady when King met her in the early 1950s while they were in school in Pennsylvania.

	27-06-2005 08:31									#23
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quote: Originally posted by mrmitchell IIRC the broadband situation in Mississippi is pretty bad (something like only a few small cities have high speed access) but everywhere else in the country I'd say even in rural areas things are starting to go high speed. Hell. Even in Camden we had 900 people on cable internet a couple years ago (definitely more, and plus DSL too, by now.)

Well, don't expect your local city councils to develope public broadband access available. The Big ISPs are trying to squash such plans in some communities.

	27-06-2005 08:33									#24
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quote: Originally posted by DRoseDARs Well, don't expect your local city councils to develope public broadband access available. The Big ISPs are trying to squash such plans in some communities.

You talking about that Philadelphia thing?

	27-06-2005 08:35									#25
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quote: Originally posted by DRoseDARs The Big ISPs are trying to squash such plans in some communities.

Substitute "in some communities" with "everywhere in the US."

	27-06-2005 08:38									#26
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I voted for Reagan every time the poll was linked to, but only to annoy people.

	27-06-2005 08:39									#27
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I can see why Oprah is in the Top 100. She makes well over 150 Million a year, and I don;t think a bucnh of men really have a clue just how immensely popular an entertainer she is. She has a day show and yet all the Presidential nominees have to go on her show and kiss her ass.

She is probably the most successful, richest, and most influential black woman ever in the US. (by this I do not mean she is more historically important than Rosa Parks, or the first ever black congresswoman, or so forth, but she certainly is more influential)

As for the Broadband thing- thank God I live in NYC, were the providers of broadband have far more political and finalcial pull than anyone in dial-up.

	27-06-2005 08:46									#28
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I don't have any problem with Oprah being a nominee, but she's not as important or "great" as FDR. And that's not opinion.

	27-06-2005 08:47									#29
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quote: Originally posted by Urban Ranger Substitute "in some communities" with "everywhere in the US."

They aren't doing it in Reno; our city council is perfectly happy bending over and taking it (or rather, letting the citizens take it...) from the cable companies and the ISPs. Our council is very business-friendly. Never met a bad deal they didn't like...

	27-06-2005 08:49									#30
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Of course she is not. Though if you had a more comprehensive, less redneck national poll I bet you she still makes it in.

What astounded me is I caught a minor glimpse of one of these circuses on Discovery, and they were talking about Reagan, and Ann Coulter was on some sort of judgin panel.

Ann Coulter! The show lost any and all shreds of dignity in my mind after seeing that.