Hulver's site || Comments || God Save George Washington

If I didn't know by sasquatchan (2.00 / 0) #13 Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 07:34:05 PM EST

that you'd been going through presidential bios (how's that going now ? Through them all ?), I'd think your contracting work is starting to get to you, and you're finding new and creative ways to pass the time between jobs..

The bios. by Christopher Robin was Murdered (2.00 / 0) #18 Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 07:59:31 PM EST

I didn't do all of them. I stopped at Ike on the theory that anybody more recent then that would still be too politically live to have entered the realm of calm and reasoned historical scrutiny. Turns out I was a bit of a wide-eyed innocent about that. The McKinley bio I read was a revisionist love letter to the Republican Party and I don't think it is possible to discuss the most basic aspects of FDR's legacy without getting mired down in contemporary politics.

Still, I worked my way up to Ike and have been debating what project to tackle next.

As for time between contracting, I actually work more now than I did in the office. I found out that being your own boss just means that you have to give yourself the orders you dreaded getting from others. I'll walk into the office/kitchen with a self-satisfied smirk and say, "So, looks like somebody is going to have to work late tonig . . . aw, dammit!"

As an aside, the whole project with the prez bios started as an effort to answer the question as to whether or not Bush was the worst president we've ever had. The results were inconclusive.

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Inconclusive???? ARE YOU NUTS??? by MohammedNiyalSayeed (2.00 / 0) #21 Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 09:18:35 PM EST

Obviously you didn't consult the blogtardosphere for their opinion. Or wikipedia. Like that's two separate groups. Anyway, I commend your dedication to knowledge, as well as your general awesomeness for writing this thing.

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You can build the most elegant fountain in the world, but eventually a winged rat will be using it as a drinking bowl.
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The answer is obvious by ucblockhead (4.00 / 1) #22 Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 09:38:03 PM EST

The worst was William Henry Harrison. That idiot accomplished *nothing* during his presidency!
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_{ウセーバラケダ}
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Actually, he appointed one diplomat. by Christopher Robin was Murdered (4.00 / 1) #23 Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 11:15:44 PM EST

So he got one thing done.

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There are those that would argue by nightflameblue (4.00 / 1) #25 Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 10:18:20 AM EST

that accomplishing nothing at all is more impressive than having every accomplishment you achieve turn into a steaming, rotting heaping mass of disaster.

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: The Slavitt arguement. by Christopher Robin was Murdered (2.00 / 0) #27 Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 12:52:35 PM EST

That's the very argument of David R. Slavitt, the poet that wrote "William Henry Harrison" the epic poem that Harrison's administration deserves, nay, demands!
And Harrison would agree. He distrusted the office because he felt the concentration of power was dangerously corrupting. Harrison felt the president should exercise his powers as little as possible. The best president is the one that barely governs at all.
In a way, measured by the benchmarks of his own political philosophy, he's perhaps one of the most spectacularly successful presidents we've ever had.

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I know, I know. by Christopher Robin was Murdered (4.00 / 1) #24 Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 07:38:22 AM EST

I spent all that time among dead trees, "reading" these so-called books. Learning, is the term they used for it. Instead, I could have entered into a dynamic conversation with other citizens . . . sigh, when I think back on all the time I wasted . . .

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