I saw the following note in the LBN Alert ezine: "GEORGE BATTLE: If George Washington came back from the grave and tried to recapture the presidency, he'd wallop President Bush by nearly 20 points."
Below is my response to the article:
Well, gosh, this statement is rather ludicrous. Given no campaign, Washington would have beaten most presidents of the last century by 20 points.
But, if he had to campaign, my guess is that he'd lose. His wooden false teeth wouldn't help him in the TV age. And his speech patterns would get him kicked off American Idol in three seconds flat. I don't think he could win a campaign in this media age, no matter how noble his intentions. Plus, once he ran, he'd run into trouble with his background. He'd be caught in too many lies about cutting down cherry trees and tossing coins across the Potomac. Then, of course, there's the problem of him owning slaves. It would all come out in a gory campaign, and he wouldn't know how to defend himself. He'd have trouble making it through the primaries, much less the general campaign.
Alas, and he might have made a good president, but will we ever find out?
John Kremer, author, 1001 Ways to Market Your Books
Article comments
1 - Dave Nalle
Yes, but Teddy Roosevelt would beat anyone either party could put up by 20 points and he'd campaign his ass off too.
Dave
2 - RJ
Best dead Prez to run today: Harry Truman
He's a Dem, but a defense hawk. He's a social conservative (in today's terms), but wants everyone to have "free" health care.
Also, he comes from a "working class" background.
He'd nuke the Iranians, but also raise taxes.
Everyone wins! ;-P
3 - Aaman
What exactly is LBN?
Interesting concept - assessing people by contemporary standards rarely brings them up to bear. Changing mores, etc.
What I find interesting is that this is apparently the same approach that is being criticized in the minority opinions and conservative choir in the death penalty case.
If your post is about the likelihood of GW beating GW, it might be more appropriate to have Amazon links to relevant books.
4 - Eric Olsen
I don't know, Washington had one thing we haven't seen much of in a long time: rock solid character. In addition he was impervious to bullets in a manner almost miraculous, and was personally very commanding. That may have come through despite the cultural differences even now. Thanks and welcome John!
5 - bhw
I don't know, Washington had one thing we haven't seen much of in a long time: rock solid character.
He also had slaves!
So are we to judge him by his day's standards or ours?
6 - Eric Olsen
both
7 - Aaman
2050 called - they want us all to return to our cubies and only speak when spoken to. By their standards, we are crazy, opinionated, violent, jerks - and the cause for their problems
8 - DrPat
LBN: Legal Broadcast Network?
Lebanon Business Network?
Laboratory for Biomolecular Nanocomputers?
Or American Heritage Dictionary for lbn?
9 - Aaman
London Bereavement Network
Left Bank Nuisances
Lazy Boring No-goods
10 - Eric Olsen
Lizards Battling Newts
11 - Aaman
"If George Washington came back from the grave and tried to recapture the presidency, he'd wallop President Bush by nearly 20 points"
He'd probably also get a starring role in "Dawn of The Dead II - Dead Presidents Strike Back"
12 - DrPat
Then there's LBN Tatoo in Alexandria VA - their logo is cute!
13 - Aaman
NASCAR Brasil is Ligna Brasiliera de Nascar(LBN)
"LBN"--A newly-designated member of the S group of male-sterile cytoplasms (whatever that means)
Lamet - the Laotian language - has the code LBN
Considering this is a marketing guy, it probably refers to Local Business Network - some kind of business referral network.
14 - DrPat
Yeah, Aaman, but it's so much more fun to speculate about the wierder variants, at least until John Kremer comes back to set us straight.
Like the http://intramural.nimh.nih.gov/lbn/index2.htm. Or the recovery of the LBN (Little Black Number), complete with photos.