CNN Poll: JFK tops presidential rankings for last 50 years

CNN ^ | 11/22/2103

[skeeter]

He did a pretty good job muffing up our relationship with Vietnam, as well, and got an ally assassinated in the process.

[fortheDeclaration]

The Kennedy myth!

[426cuda]

All this undulating genuflecting at the memory of JFK almost matches the unparalleled worship given to MLK at his praise and worship ceremony. The American people could hardly have picked two more reprobate men to set up as idols.

[Clump]

He retired in 1993.

[Hojczyk]

90 % probably never heard of him.. well maybe fifty percent

[bigheadfred]

Recently opened White House taped conversations and other documents reveal a president who recognized the inherent dangers of military intervention in Vietnam and who had devised an exit strategy

Hmmmm....not that Bush and Obama did/didnt/wtf/owtfwc have exit strategies...maybe both of them only wanted to do as much damage to this country as possible and exit...stage left...only history will tell...because the people living/lived through it can't

[AlexW]

We don’t call CNN the “Communist News Network” for nothing.
I am proud to say that JFK did not win my home state of Tennessee. I was a 16 year old campaign worker for the Republican party.

[wetgundog]

PURE MYTH AND FICTION

[Clump]

I don’t think 50% of lawyers could tell you who Kennedy put on the SCOTUS.

[Ole Okie]

When will he be canonized a saint?

Say what?? He achieved sainthood on Nov. 22, 1963.

Jackie's sainthood was expunged, though, after she married Ari.

And Teddy's sainthood was somewhat smeared after Mary Jo Kophechne drowned.

[CatherineofAragon]

"When will he be canonized a saint?"

bump

[CatherineofAragon]

"I don't know anyone could rate him anywhere near the top. His bungling of the Bay of Pigs almost started WWIII with the Cuban Crisis. He did a pretty good job with that, but otherwise, nada."

Naps just likes playing devil's advocate on the forum.

[stevem]

If they take another such poll starting Saturday, Kennedy can’t even be included.

[Liberty Valance]

He had his good points. I have tremendous respect for his positive outlook
in his short time as President.

[SunkenCiv]

Off-the-record loose talk by a Dead Kennedy doesn’t mean much. I think JFK would have done a better job (at first), but he planned to escalate in Vietnam, despite having spent his Senate years bitching about the Eisenhower administration’s pretty minor involvement in “Indo-China”, particular in “Lay OS” (that’s how the Hyannisport Hustler pronounced it).

Kennedy campaigned on “missile gap” and the need for “brushfire wars”, but once in office crippling the Bay of Pigs and (as quoted in “Conversations with Kennedy”) said ‘watch the generals’ because they don’t necessarily know what they’re doing (IOW, his mistake, owning it in public, desclaiming it in private); then taking the US closer to the brink than the brinkmanship years of Truman and Eisenhower during the Missile Crisis. Oh yeah, great president.

Jake Javits referred to JFK as “a lousy president”, and I can’t but agree. Despite his massive blundering into Vietnam and escalating beyond comprehension, while micromanaging it from DC, LBJ got a lot more done and dealt with problems far more effectively. And he only had two more years in office than JFK.

JFK and his brother picked a fight with the Mob and both were assassinated in retribution. That’s pretty much diagnostic of “not too bright”. They were smart, but arrogant beyond belief (IOW, quintessential Demwits), and despite being wildly popular and charistmatic to the great unwashed, the brothers and their Ivy League genius brigade alienated everyone else.

Joe Sr’s plan was for Joe Jr to run for President. At a large private gathering, Joe Sr toasted his eldest son as “a future president of the United States.” Jr blew up trying to fly a planeload of high explosive (bailing out at the last minute) into the French coastal cliffs where the London Guns were being constructed. When he heard the news, JFK reportedly told his shipmate, “I can feel Pappy’s eyes on me now.”

JFK was to have eight years, followed by Bobby in 1968 (and he did indeed run on schedule, but, uh, didn’t finish the race), and then by Fatso Teddy in 1976. Ted had a press conference declining to run, and not expecting to ever run again. But Carter effed things up so badly in Fatso’s opinion that he ran against him in 1980. When Carter heard he’d announced his challenge, he said, “I’ll whip his ass.” And he did.

Kennedy’s campaign included no specifics on Israel, instead redirecting questions about it to inquiries about what Carter’s actual position was. (we know now, don’t we? Carter had his various family proxies taking different positions on US-Israel relations, one of these was a call for “undivided Jerusalem”). He also wanted to push for universal health care, and said “I’d let the Blues do it.”

[bigheadfred]

but he planned to escalate in Vietnam

let me review this and that and get back to you on 'tall

and any further commentary on your comments will be held in said abeyance

SHUT UP OBIWAN! (oops did i say that out loud)

[napscoordinator]

I was not born for another 7 years. Catherine was right.....Reagan than JFK....lol. Come on.

[N. Theknow]

Obama/Hillary-Benghazi=4 dead.

JFK-Bay of Pigs=1400 killed or captured to spend the rest of their lives in one of Castro's prisons.

Same Shit Different Democrat!

[LibLieSlayer]

The man was not a bad President but he was not assured reelection. Like obama... he stole the election with help from evil doers. His murder was unconscionable and evil but you are correct... Camelot was a fantasy. That entire family is cursed with sadness and failure. ted kennedy tried to sell us out to the Soviets and the KGB released the proof a decade ago.

[LibLieSlayer]

Camelot was more like the Sopranos than Camelot.