Least competent rises to the top

[Senior citizen]

When selecting a patsy the right wants someone who:

Is easy to manipulate
Can't think for themselves
Has something in the past that can be held over them to ensure cooperation
Isn't too bright
Owes them big-time
Won't ask too many questions

etc.

[AP]

1. Eisenhower, Reagan and W were patsies for the right. GHWB was the....

...pupetmaster for Reagan and W. Nixon was his own man. Watergate was Bush vs Nixon with Bush winning.

That's how I see American politics since 1952.

[WillyBrandt]

3. You're wrong on Ike. The conservative movement started in

reaction to too-moderate Eisenhower (and for other reasons...)

[AP]

4. Ike played golf through most of presidency and left the government

to his big donors to run.

At least, IIRC, that's how LBJ characterized him on his WH tapes.

[WillyBrandt]

7. I've always heard that was the image that Ike cultivated

Reading Caro's LBJ book, I wouldn't trust much of what LBJ said--even in private--at face value...

[tabasco]

2. Good acting skills are a plus.

You're absolutely correct. The repugs certainly do not want a leader or anybody with original thoughts. They want a stuffed shirt. Reagan is their perfect model. Did what he was told and put in a great performance as the wise cowboy / grandfather type. What an unbelievable sham. There are millions of gullible people in this country. There is a reason the repugs do not support good education. They want to make us all serfs, worshipping our Cowboy/Superman Fuhrer, and happily toiling in the factories for pennies a day.

[TrogL]

5. Reminds me of Hacker

in Yes, Prime Minister

[no_hypocrisy]

6. Similar premises in "The Peter Principle". Published in 1969, it is STILL

quite relevant today. I used to wonder how my bosses got where they were . . .

[LittleApple81]

8. Somebody described this phenomenon as what happens in a septic tank:

Some organizations are like septic tanks: sh*t rises to the top.