The Scheme That Backfired . . .

[Brigid]

I got "The Men Who Built America" in DVD, and am watching my favorite part: Teddy Roosevelt is not yet president, but is already gaining a reputation for hostility toward business titans like Rockefeller and Morgan (Carnegie has already sold his steel empire to Morgan). Fearing what Roosevelt would do if he came on to the national stage, Morgan, Rockefeller, and others, who have President McKinley in their pockets, convince McKinley to put Roosevelt on the ticket as Vice President for his second term in the election of 1900. Back then, the Vice Presidency was a pretty powerless position, and the tycoons think they have Roosevelt safely out of the way. Then the one thing nobody could have predicted happened: McKinley was assassinated. TR, of course, promptly set about using the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to break up monopolies like Standard Oil.

We need a modern-day TR.

[sad-cafe]

1. I am amazed at the nuts that think he was awesome for their cause

he would hate what the republican party stood for today.

[BlueStreak]

2. So would Lincoln, Eisenhower and even Reagan

I think Nixon would probably admire the sheer magnitude of corruption and election tampering, but he would probably be disgusted with where they are on immigration, women's rights, and the environment.

[Brigid]

3. None of them could get nominated . . .

In today's GOP. And TR? He probably couldn't even get nominated by the Democratic Party today.

[BlueStreak]

6. How many banksters has Obama prosecuted?

"Too big to fail" is still the guiding doctrine. Today's "Democrats" are far, far, far, far to the right of Teddy.

And remember that Reagan prosecuted hundreds of banksters following the S&L debacle -- successfully - sent them to damn jail. Democrats have lost their soul.

[Brigid]

7. TR would have the time of his life . . .

Going after today's banksters. They wouldn't know what hit them.

[Jenoch]

4. "Back then, the Vice Presidency was a pretty powerless position..."

What has changed since that time?

[Brigid]

5. Not a whole lot, really, now that you mention it.

But then, Sarah Palin and Paul Ryan probably helped Obama win. And we know Biden did.

[Jenoch]

9. I don't think a VP candidate has really

done much to help a presidential candidate win in a long time. I'd have to really think about it some more to expound any further. Obama would have won both elections without Biden, as long as whomever was on the ticket was not polarizing.

[sadbear]

8. We were taught in high school that these guys were American heroes.

When they taught us about the robber barons, they never mentioned those guys. It was always some nameless tycoon, never Morgan, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Mellon, Vanderbilt, etc.