Nominations for the ATS Greatest American Poll

I hereby nominate Ronald Reagan. He is after all "The Official Greatest American" according to the American people who voted in The Discovery Channel contest.

Originally posted by Astronomer68
I think I saw where someone wanted to nominate Tesla but didn't because he was a russian. Go ahead & nominate him he became a U.S. citizen--and by the way he was from Serbia-Croatia.

[edit on 5-7-2005 by Astronomer68]

This is true, but I already kinda solidified my nomination thanks to Grady forcing me to think outside of the box and really recognize who I see as the greatest American beyond all the hype and pop culture.

And yeah, ECK, he's my gramps.

Anna Nicole Smith?

Originally posted by Carseller4
I hereby nominate Ronald Reagan. He is after all "The Official Greatest American" according to the American people who voted in The Discovery Channel contest.

It's fine to nominiate Reagan, but the whole question of whether or not he can be considered the "official" winner, is the reason for this thread. Very many people felt that the Discovery Channel's poll was flawed. This one is too, but at least we admit it.

I talked to a cousin who reminded me of something else to add to the mini-bio I did of my grandfather. Several years ago, my cousin was busted for possession of marijuana. He was with a dealer, and figured he'd do the "honorable" thing and take the rap. In all honesty, I'm guessing he felt he'd be able to get out of it with my grandfather, many of us cousins have this mentality. I know I have effective legal defense if I'm ever falsly accused of something, and have effective legal defense protecting my constitutional rights. My cousin assumed this would also go into breaking the law.

Court date comes, my grandfather is my cousin's lawyer, and they're at the Lake County District Court. The case is called up, the judge sees who the defender is (David Schippers), and asks him and the DA to come to the bench. The judge asks my grandfather (I find this really disturbing) if he wanted the case thrown out. My grandfather says absloutly not, he's pleading guilty because he's guilty. For sentance, he requested a massive amount of community service and to have the arrest expunged from his record (my cousin was 17 at the time, so it could have gone either way. This also wasn't his first run-in with the law, but definately his most severe). If he failed to comply with the probation and community service, a manditory 2 months (I think) in the slammer. The judge replied that that was why he asked, he knew Dave would do the right thing, and not just get his family off the hook. The DA agreed that the sentance my grandfather had set up was fair and probably would be effective in detering my cousin from such activity (it did) in the future.

Originally posted by Carseller4
I hereby nominate Ronald Reagan. He is after all "The Official Greatest American" according to the American people who voted in The Discovery Channel contest.

The case you present is: Because Discovery Channel voters nominated Reagan as the best American ever?

Surely you can argue his case better than that.

Originally posted by EastCoastKid


The case you present is: Because Discovery Channel voters nominated Reagan as the best American ever?

When I first logged on this morning I was also going to add Reagan. He was a great person. Not perfect, still the same a good individual to be considered and my thoughts were based on knowledge not the previous poll

Officially nominating Ronald Reagan to the list.



Bio Ronald Reagan


en.wikipedia.org...

www.reaganfoundation.org...

Originally posted by shots
When I first logged on this morning I was also going to add Reagan. He was a great person. Not perfect, still the same a good individual to be considered and my thoughts were based on knowledge not the previous poll

What I'm looking for is why?

"The author of this article, was shot to death on September 20, 1972. A Mohawk Indian, Oakes had been a leader of the occupation of Alcatraz by “Indians of all Tribes”. In the fall of 1969, he set down the following account of the Alcatraz experience shortly after he left the Island."

www.earth-treaty.com...

I might put this man forward, althought not the greatest he is the greatest American who was a member of my family. (Great-Great-Grand-Uncle).

Originally posted by EastCoastKid


What I'm looking for is why?

You need a why??? Why is that?

I made it very clear that I had intended to nominate him when I first logged on, so no why is needed.



[edit on 7/6/2005 by shots]

Oh, come on, at least give a reason how Reagan influenced your life in a way to make him the greatest American! If ya do that, the next time you're at my house, I'll buy ya a beer!

Originally posted by junglejake
Oh, come on, at least give a reason how Reagan influenced your life in a way to make him the greatest American! If ya do that, the next time you're at my house, I'll buy ya a beer!

What are we changing the rules of the game now

OOOPs sorry I thought you were addressing my post. Deletes further comments then runs and hides in the corner

[edit on 7/6/2005 by shots]

Lol Shots, I was addressing your post I didn't start the game, so I can't change the rules, but I was just hoping you'd give some personal reasons for believing Reagan to be #1.

Now I wish I could have seen the comments!

You know, Ronald Reagan is one of my favorite presidents. I felt it an honor to serve when he was the Commander In Chief. He stayed his course when all the weaker people said his was the course to utter destruction by nuclear warfare, but he proved them all wrong and, unfortunately, ended the Cold War.

That being said, should we consider a politician as the Greatest American?

Originally posted by junglejake
Lol Shots, I was addressing your post

I didn't start the game, so I can't change the rules, but I was just hoping you'd give some personal reasons for believing Reagan to be #1.

Now I wish I could have seen the comments!

Nah if I let ya see them now, I would have to kill ya and we don't want that do we

The original ground rules as few as there were gave no disclaimer, therefore I am under no obligation to tell ya why either

Runs back into the corner after stealing one of Jungle's beers

Originally posted by shots
Runs back into the corner after stealing one of Jungle's beers

Hey, that's cool, you just snagged an Old Style. HAH Joke's on you!

Originally posted by Thomas Crowne
You know, Ronald Reagan is one of my favorite presidents. I felt it an honor to serve when he was the Commander In Chief. He stayed his course when all the weaker people said his was the course to utter destruction by nuclear warfare, but he proved them all wrong and, unfortunately, ended the Cold War.

That being said, should we consider a politician as the Greatest American?

I can agree with you to a point regarding the cold war, yet wonder was it all that bad he ended it?

If so why?

And yes I do think that every American should be included in the poll even if they were into poleeeeetics.

Shots, based on the fact that Reagan has been nominated, he'll get votes. People love him. They love him more than they love Clinton.

Based on the nominations that came before you, yours is missing the boat. I posit this: My nomination of Lincoln will garner more votes than your nomination of the revered Ronald Reagan. Why? Because you have given absolutely no reason why you like him. You're all about emotion. Gee, back in the day, Rush Limbaugh used to mock people like you who felt everything.

If he's so great then tell us why.

Shbots, I don't want to hijack yet another one of the Kid's threads, so let me answer your question in a quick manner.
During the Cold War, there was a clearly-defined ying and yang, without so much grey and muck.
Also, the Soviet Union was a great nemesis.

Originally posted by shots

Originally posted by EastCoastKid


What I'm looking for is why?

You need a why??? Why is that?

I made it very clear that I had intended to nominate him when I first logged on, so no why is needed.

As I noted earlier, those who have nominated someone have generally stated why and provided links to back up points.

It's up to you, tho. Present him as you wish.

Originally posted by EastCoastKid

As I noted earlier, those who have nominated someone have generally stated why and provided links to back up points.

It's up to you, tho. Present him as you wish.

I provided links. did you miss them

Bio Ronald Reagan


en.wikipedia.org...

www.reaganfoundation.org...

Also as noted in a previous post of mine when Grady laid out the ground rules he never said we had to say why he asked for links nothing more.

I'm not really sure how to go about this, but here we go. Discovery Channel had its Greatest American poll. Now we're going to have one here. I hope. Post your nominations to this thread and we'll work out some ground rules and see what pops up.

He then followed a few posts later with

All right this looks good. It will be interesting to peruse the biographies of those nominated. This should be very educational, as well as entertaining.

Semper Fi!

As you can see no where does it state I have to give a why. His Biography alone speaks for how great he was.

Are you trying to change the rules on your own?

Oh wait Jungle already admitted he could not change the rules so that leaves you in the same sinking boat with him