What is Digg?Sponsored by newegg
Ever want to really be MacGyver? The time is now! view!
newegg.com - Skullcandy gets you started! Thanks newegg!
168 Comments
- jaxter2010, on 06/17/2009, -10/+76How was Cheney a bad pick for VP? Bush got elected....twice. Are we listing ***** VPs or ***** VP picks?
- GregLoire, on 08/27/2008, -2/+5511 pages with a 10-second ad crammed in the middle. Awesome.
- paradox4190, on 08/27/2008, -2/+39Slideshows are annoying.
#10. Andrew Johnson
Big Shoes To Fill, Small Feet To Fill Them
Granted, Abraham Lincoln would be a tough act for anyone to follow, but the drop-off didn't need to be this dramatic. As a Southerner who supported the Union cause, Johnson seemed to be the perfect option to help Lincoln unify the nation after the Civil War ended. This reasoning didn't account for two things. One, Lincoln being assassinated. Two, Johnson being an utter trainwreck. From a drunken inaugural speech through his eventual impeachment, Johnson has long been judged one of America's most incompetent leaders. This, however, is unfair, as through sheer determination and stubbornness he was often quite effective in his single-minded pursuit of one goal: denying rights to former slaves. Historians, you owe someone an apology.
#9. Dan Quayle
Stupid Is As Stupid Does
He had a rich family, a strong resemblance to game show host Pat Sajak, and that's pretty much it. It was enough to convince George Bush the Elder to make him his running mate, possibly because Dan's habit of saying really dumb things ("Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child") reminded him of his boy Dubya. Absolutely demolished by Democratic nominee Lloyd Bentsen in the VP debate -- apparently there was a comparison to John F. Kennedy, and it wasn't very flattering -- Bush/Quayle still cruised into office, reminding political wags everywhere that voters base their decision on the top of the ticket.
#8. Thomas Eagleton
A "Shocker" (Yes, This Is Offensive)
In 1972, Democrat George McGovern was facing a difficult battle against incumbent Richard Nixon. He didn't help himself by unexpectedly choosing Missouri Senator Thomas Eagleton, who was soon revealed to have received shock therapy. Democrats, showing their usual gifts for crisis management, first laughed at the scandal (they joked about Nixon getting a psychiatric exam), then rallied the troops (McGovern announced his full support for Eagleton), then dumped him from the ticket anyway. McGovern went on to lose 49 states. Walter Mondale later tied this record for futility, but George can take solace in knowing no presidential run did more to stigmatize those who seek treatment for mental illness than his.
#7. Spiro Agnew
From the White House to the Court House
We don't expect a lot from our Vice Presidents -- in Spiro's case the public was largely willing to overlook his habit of using terms like "fat Jap" -- but we do like them to turn down bribes or, at least, not pursue them openly. Sadly, that was too much to ask of “Ted” Agnew (as his non-Greek friends called him). Tricky Dick's literal partner in crime had to leave office after the revelation he had solicited $147,500. He was unrepentant post-resignation, insisting the money was actually campaign contributions and unsuccessfully attempted to write off the $268,462 fine on his taxes.
#6. Aaron Burr
One Crafty Colonial
He was brilliant (graduated Princeton at 16), relentlessly horny (when he was 80, his wife divorced him on the grounds of adultery), and had a knack for making enemies. In 1800, he ran as Thomas Jefferson's vice president on the Democratic-Republican ticket. Back then, however, voters chose both men without indicating the intended office, leading to dozens of additional ballots in Congress before Jefferson finally came out on top. (And you thought Florida was a mess.) Jefferson felt Burr didn't do anything to stop these efforts to usurp his presidency, leading to some understandable tension between the two of them and he eventually dumped Burr from the ticket before later trying to convict him of treason. Jefferson should have been thankful he got off easy and Burr didn't just gun him down in a duel, as he did fellow Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.
#5. William Rufus King
Dead Man Governing
Best known for being the only Vice President never to marry and living much of his life with future Commander-in-Chief James Buchanan (who, in what's bound to be a complete coincidence, is the only President never to marry), he has another claim to fame: he took the oath of office on foreign soil. Indeed, he took advantage of Cuba's warm, theoretically therapeutic weather for much of his 45 days in office before dying of tuberculosis, leaving behind a legacy that will not be equaled until a major political party sees fit to nominate an actual corpse.
#4. Dick Cheney
Evil's Never Been So Electable
He voted against the Head Start program (in fairness, he's since stated he supports feeding poor children). He voted against a resolution calling on South Africa to release Nelson Mandela (in fairness... actually, he still stands by this one). He trumpets his successes in the private sector, but when he actually ran Halliburton his primary "accomplishment" was purchasing a company that eventually had to pay out $4 billion in settlements related to asbestos lawsuits (relax, he made it up to them when he became veep and started doling out no-bid contracts). How did he get picked to be No. 2 again? No one's certain, but it may have something to do with everyone's favorite quail hunter heading Bush's search committee; it's surprising how much easier it is to get a job when you're doing the hiring.
#3. John Edwards
His Star Is In Remission
Nausea inducing as Cheney may be, he still obliterated his Democratic opponent in the 2004 Vice Presidential debate. Indeed, while John Kerry had plenty of his own problems winning an election, they paled before the sheer incompetence of his running mate, who, after failing to take the presidential nomination himself, repeatedly botched the primary mission of every vice presidential candidate: ripping apart the other guys so the presidential nominee can pretend to be above the fray. As former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe put it, "Kerry said that Edwards told him several times, 'Watch the news tomorrow! I'm really going to go after Bush.' Then Kerry would watch the news the next night, and Edwards was nowhere to be seen." Frustrated as the party was by John Edwards' performance, he managed to win one fan: John Edwards. When explaining why he was cheating on his terminally ill wife, he declared, "In the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic." If Cheney ever wants to shoot anyone else, we have just the target.
#2. Henry A. Wallace
Nearly The Hippie-In-Chief
Harry S. Truman has received a lot of criticism from both the left and the right over the years, but even his staunchest foes have to concede that the Berlin Airlift was a humiliating defeat for the Eastern Block. Henry A. Wallace would have handled things differently. How much differently is impossible to predict, because Wallace marched to his own unique political funky drummer. A respected Secretary of Agriculture -- no small accomplishment back in the 1930s when a huge amount of Americans still lived on farms -- he earned the respect of Franklin Roosevelt and became his Vice President in 1941. Unfortunately for Wallace, he was doomed by a combination of odd mysticism (he once wrote, "I am neither a corn breeder or an editor but a searcher for methods of bringing the 'inner light to outward manifestation'" -- and hey, who isn't?) and tremendous naiveté about the world, which is why he never viewed the Soviet Union as a particular threat (the tens of millions Stalin killed begged to differ). Combined with a Sting-sized Messiah complex, it all added up to him being forced out before the 1944 election in favor of a humble Senator from Missouri who would ascend to the presidency when FDR died in 1945, denying us what doubtlessly would have been our trippiest administration.
#1. John C. Calhoun
Too Much Man For One Party
During the Peloponnesian War, Alcibiades made himself a legend by switching between the Athenian, Spartan, and Persian sides. Calhoun is his American equivalent. In 1824, no presidential candidate won a majority of electoral votes, resulting in John Quincy Adams defeating Andrew Jackson in the House of Representatives. Divisive as the election was, everyone agreed on one thing: South Carolina's John C. Calhoun should be the Vice President. He served under Adams for four years, during which he decided he didn't really see eye to eye with Adams on most things and worked to undermine him. In 1828, it was a Jackson vs. Adams II, only this time Calhoun ran with Jackson. The Jackson/Calhoun ticket breezed to victory and Calhoun vowed things would be different second go round; instead of seeking to impede his President, he would strive to tear apart the entire nation. Calhoun championed nullification, whereby if states didn't like a federal law, they could just ignore it (and yes, this did lay the groundwork for secession, the Civil War, and 600,000 dead Americans). Jackson disagreed completely with this policy, leading to the two men becoming estranged. Sadly, by this point Calhoun had run out of presidential candidates to switch his allegiance to and had to resign the vice presidency. For the rest of his life Jackson expressed regret over not executing his former running mate as a traitor, making the backroom conflicts between JFK and LBJ seem pretty trivial. - joe90210, on 08/27/2008, -2/+29"For the rest of his life Jackson expressed regret over not executing his former running mate as a traitor"
ahh the good ol'days - ClamDip, on 08/27/2008, -1/+27I hate it when they write a top 10 list and make it span across 10 pages. Like I'm really going to bother to click through ten pages of ads to see a bunch of crap :-(
- inactive, on 08/27/2008, -43/+67Joe Biden - Is a dumb pick.
- inactive, on 08/27/2008, -4/+20overreaction to FISA
- PhilLesh69, on 08/27/2008, -3/+18astitute?
- gfxluvr, on 08/27/2008, -12/+26I am probably going to get Dugg down for this, but I am curious, when did Digg stop being Obama's internet henchmen?
- G_money, on 08/27/2008, -1/+14Johnny Edwards - wasn't he brought on to win southern votes? didn't even deliver his home state of NC.
- sockpuppets, on 08/27/2008, -9/+22You can pick your VP and you can pick your nose but if you pick your VP's nose you'll be waterboarded.
- cnot3, on 08/27/2008, -2/+13Digg is (or at least used to be) a tech site. You should not be surprised that many of us are passionate about keeping the internet free. As for Biden's stance on other issues, I disagree with him on just about all of them.
I mean, the man ***** said in the primaries that Obama is not qualified to be president and that he would rather run with McCain, and then Obama picks him as his VP? What a joke.
I'm voting Libertarian. Barr might not be ideal, but he is slightly less corrupt than the rest. - inactive, on 08/27/2008, -2/+13Edwards actually improved that ticket. It was before his fall from grace.
- inactive, on 08/27/2008, -2/+12Valid point. Two victories in Presidential elections is evidence enough.
- boydrew, on 08/27/2008, -3/+13I agree with you. He sucks, but he did a damn good job helping Bush get elected.
- ericjohnson0, on 08/27/2008, -15/+25Biden was such a great pick, McCain took the lead.
http://thesaloon.net/blog/_archives/2008/8/26/3856 ... - BetterOffEd, on 08/27/2008, -3/+13Did you really want him to pick Hill-dog? Really?
Because you know if you pick Hillary, you get Bill too. And you just know that that crazy, power-hungry mofo would be looking over your back trying to tell you how to do your job for the entire presidency.
Bill Clinton had a great presidency. No doubt. But sorry... After the way that the primaries went, my impression of the Clintons has been badly soured. Besides, we've had a Bush or Clinton in the white house (prez or veep) for 24 years now. It's high time for a total, complete change.
. - tommyjwall, on 08/27/2008, -3/+12No James Stockdale?! You gotta be kidding me! His opening line in the 1992 VP debate was "Who am I, why am I here?"
- nemo001, on 08/27/2008, -1/+10Compound word combining astute, astronaut and asti spumante.
- ouzome, on 08/27/2008, -5/+14This is lame, Quayle should be a lot further up than Cheney who shouldn't even be on the list.
- septicmadman, on 08/27/2008, -3/+12It isn't so much about being able to download the latest episode of Lost so much as free information. To quote Stallman, "Think free as in freedom, no free as in no cost."
- marc54, on 08/27/2008, -3/+11Buried for the crap website and crap web designer.
- B3N3, on 08/27/2008, -3/+11Watch McCain pick Hillary. What will everyone do then?
- eth3l, on 08/27/2008, -2/+9Typical Obama support deflect. If the choice was Hillary it would be all about how important the Veep is.
- inactive, on 08/27/2008, -6/+13hopefully McCain picks Lieberman so the republicans lose for sure
- cnot3, on 08/27/2008, -1/+8The VP is next in line to be President should anything happen to the actual President. You should definitely care where they stand on the issues.
- oneredeye, on 08/27/2008, -1/+7Yea.... So I'm gonna like bury this 'cause I don't want to click through ten pages of magazine ads.
- jsffive, on 08/27/2008, -1/+7One of the bravest, articulate, and considerate men that I've ever met. We would have done well to have put that man in a position of power. He was one of the first men in and out of Vietnam. He went through horrors at the Hanoi Hilton that left him crippled, unable to lift his arms above his head for the reat of his life...
This is the guy who flew of the battle ships on the second night of the Gulf Of Tonkin Incident, when we had pulled our destroyer OUT of Vietnamese waters, where they had been attacked two days before, and STAGED a battle in International waters, to give the American warmongers legitimacy, and Stockdale was the one who debunked the whole thing, saying at the time, "there's nothing out here but black water and naval firepower."
But no, as Dennis Miller has said, he made the mistake of being bad on TV. And the rest of the nation, led like lemmings by the Press, marginalized one of the greatest war heroes of that war.
Way to go America. - eawgoalie, on 08/27/2008, -0/+6the first time I saw the "Obama/Biden" add on facebook, I thought it said Osama Bin Laden for a second.
- BetterOffEd, on 08/27/2008, -0/+5Same *****? You have no idea how many times I've had the "Loose Change" videos shoved in my face by people like you.
- BetterOffEd, on 08/27/2008, -2/+7...don't forget fear-mongering.
- ucbmckee, on 08/27/2008, -2/+7The page had ads? Huh, didn't even notice. Have you tried using Firefox with Adblock Plus?
- Homerr, on 08/27/2008, -3/+8McCain/Cheney '08!
- chicagospur, on 08/27/2008, -0/+5Anyone else think that Andrew Johnson looks like Tommy Lee Jones?
- Konrad9, on 08/27/2008, -3/+8Yeah, uh. I voted for Obama in the primary specifically because I didn't want Hillary.
If he chose her as his VP I would have completely lost the reason why I wanted him. - c010rb1indusa, on 08/27/2008, -2/+7The master of propaganda
- eth3l, on 08/27/2008, -2/+7Cheney was a bad pick because the GOP has no incumbant to run.
- BetterOffEd, on 08/27/2008, -0/+5Good point indeed—as is the current situation with the junior senator from Illinois... If Obama does get elected in November and doesn't get dethroned in 2012, Biden will be 74 in 2016. No chance of an incumbent there either.
- ericjohnson0, on 08/27/2008, -0/+5Easy. Vomit.
Honestly, that would be bizarre. Besides, McCain doesn't want to end up "Vince Foster"-ed... - BetterOffEd, on 08/27/2008, -0/+5That debate with Cheney and Edwards was like watching The Penguin debate Gomer Pyle.
- omegared, on 08/27/2008, -1/+5Cheney wants democracy and freedom for all, as the article says
"He voted against a resolution calling on South Africa to release Nelson Mandela (in fairness... actually, he still stands by this one)."
what a guy.... - nemo001, on 08/27/2008, -1/+5She wouldn't accept but that would make for some interesting politics.
- MacSuxWindozSux, on 08/27/2008, -2/+6From the Nation's perspective Cheney was a bad pick. Yeah Bush won twice but that doesn't make Cheney any better of a pick. Bush still picked a really horrible VP. The country still got a really horrible VP.
Ability to win the election isn't a redeeming quality when the VP is so terrible at everything else. - eh123, on 08/27/2008, -9/+13Let's see, who do I choose to be my VP -someone who got 9000 votes in a primary, or someone who got 18 million votes? hmmmm - I'll go with that knucklehead Biden!
- jsdratm, on 08/27/2008, -1/+5Check out the video of the "Kennedy" moment. This kicks ass:
http://www.freeinfosociety.com/media.php?id=2209 - 4321234, on 08/27/2008, -0/+4A prostitute that only takes it anally.
- TheWorm, on 08/27/2008, -3/+7Because on Digg, the mob mentality works so that once something becomes too popular, the only thing to do is turn on it.
- bitteroldmann, on 08/27/2008, -0/+4Because no VP has ever really held most of the power... *cough*DickCheney*cough*
- Mallhew, on 08/27/2008, -1/+4Read the article, it's talking about bad leaders:
"From a drunken inaugural speech through his eventual impeachment, [Andrew] Johnson has long been judged one of America's most incompetent leaders."
"[Dick Cheney] voted against the Head Start program. He voted against a resolution calling on South Africa to release Nelson Mandela. He trumpets his successes in the private sector, but when he actually ran Halliburton his primary "accomplishment" was purchasing a company that eventually had to pay out $4 billion in settlements related to asbestos lawsuits. How did he get picked to be No. 2 again? No one's certain, but it may have something to do with everyone's favorite quail hunter heading Bush's search committee; it's surprising how much easier it is to get a job when you're doing the hiring." -
Show 51 - 100 of 176 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is