Who was the last Republican to actually speak truth?

[jobycom]

Sure, all presidents lie. But Democratic presidents and candidates will stand up for what they believe. They will spin, but in the end they will say "This is what I believe, this is what I will do, and this is why."

Republicans say only what they think you want to hear. They give empty speeches about enemies of freedom, and they talk tough, and they try to tell everybody what they want to hear without telling anyone anything. And in the end, they have no intention of doing what they say or saying what they plan to do. It's all spin, no substance.

Who was the last Republican president or even candidate who actually spoke to people, rather than blowing sunshine and smoke? Had to be before Reagan.

[xray s]

1. Eisenhower warning of military industrial complex come to mind

[PurityOfEssence]

13. Yeah, but as an afterthought while leaving

Let's not give him too much praise for this; perhaps it's the conscience of a man as he's being sent out to pasture. He was a perfectly useful enabler for the dismantlers of the New Deal and those who were reasserting the chokehold of the right as he wandered through his amiable Presidency.

As for the last decent Republican President, I'll say Teddy Roosevelt, and lest we forget: he ended his political career making sure he either changed or wrested power from the Republican Party, and the latter is precisely what he accomplished. Even he was a mixed bag, though, and it shouldn't be forgotten.

[jobycom]

17. Didn't Ike fight the Civil Rights movement?

I know he made a deal with Alan Shivers, the Democratic governor of Texas, to defeat the populist side of the Democrats. When Ralph Yarborough ran against Alan Shivers for governor, Shivers made a deal with Ike to support him, in exchange for Ike not supporting civil rights in Texas. There was even an incident when he had promised the National Gaurd to protect black students around Fort Worth, and Ike held them back at the last minute.

Doesn't seem too decent to me.

[bobbieinok]

23. Ike's admin tried to pass civil rights bills several times

pretty weak by today's standards but still more than nothing

solid south democrats filibustered the bills to death - Thurmond set record of 26+ hours speaking

most of these segregationist democrats became republicans

[Cush]

2. Ike

[jsw_81]

3. Probably Ford

He was right when he warned us about Reagan back in '76.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

19. also, when he said "i'm a ford, not a lincoln"

[noonwitch]

24. I'd have to agree with you there.

Ford is a really good guy. He was my congressman when I was a little kid, and got the vice presidency when I was in 4th grade. He knew what was going on in the GOP both locally in Michigan and nationally-that the religious right was taking over. Where he and I are from is big time fundamentalist territory, Grand Rapids, MI. They rule the Michigan GOP, which has led to a rift between religious conservatives and fiscal conservatives in the state party, with the Engler/DeVos faction vs. the Patterson/Cox group from southeastern Michigan. Long may that rift continue! It helped get Granholm elected.

[RC]

4. My vote is with Ike.

[mitchtv]

5. Lincoln

.

[Avalux]

6. Eisenhower

who chose to be a Republican to run for president. He was a career military man before that, not a politician.

[mike1963]

7. G. H. W. Bush: "Read my lips, no nude Texans"

:evilgrin:

[physioex]

8. Lincoln was the first!!

Last errrrr....Nixon, I actually grew some respect for him
in his later year.

[Failure]

9. Dick Clarke?

[Zorra]

10. Jim Jeffords?

Looking ahead, I can see more and more instances where I will disagree with the President on very fundamental issues: the issues of choice, the direction of the judiciary, tax and spending decisions, missile defense, energy and the environment, and a host of other issues, large and small.

In order to best represent my state of Vermont, my own conscience, and the principles I have stood for my whole life, I will leave the Republican Party and become an Independent.

http://jeffords.senate.gov/declaration_of_independence.html

[roguevalley]

11. Tom McCall and Wayne Morris of Oregon. Both dead long time but

truth speakers one and all.

[jobendorfer]

21. Tom McCall is the reason that ...

... the Willamette Valley doesn't look like the San Fernando
Valley. Oregon's urban-growth boundary system is the result
of a lot of people's hard work, but McCall was the key player
in making it happen.

I live in Oregon City, about 1000 yards inside the present
growth boundary on the south side of Portland. About three
miles down the road, there's a dairy farmer -- a nice guy
who's the archetype of the rural conservative. A few summers
back, I was riding my bike past his farm and stopped to chat.
We looked south and west across his pastures to the Willamette
and north to where you could see the solid wall of houses that
have stopped. "Way back in the 70s, I was sure McCall was
gonna take us to hell," this farmer told me. "But now, every
morning, I get up and bow three times in the direction of his
grave. If it wasn't for McCall, my dairy would be a housing
tract." And he's right.

J.

[jobendorfer]

22. Tom McCall is the reason that ...

... the Willamette Valley doesn't look like the San Fernando
Valley. Oregon's urban-growth boundary system is the result
of a lot of people's hard work, but McCall was the key player
in making it happen.

I live in Oregon City, about 1000 yards inside the present
growth boundary on the south side of Portland. About three
miles down the road, there's a dairy farmer -- a nice guy
who's the archetype of the rural conservative. A few summers
back, I was riding my bike past his farm and stopped to chat.
We looked south and west across his pastures to the Willamette
and north to where you could see the solid wall of houses that
have stopped. "Way back in the 70s, I was sure McCall was
gonna take us to hell," this farmer told me. "But now, every
morning, I get up and bow three times in the direction of his
grave. If it wasn't for McCall, my dairy would be a housing
tract." And he's right.

J.

[AspenRose]

12. Richard Clarke

Hope he has bodyguards.

[theshadow]

14. How about....

John Anderson and Wendell Willkie?

[1monster]

15. Elder Statesman and former Senator, the late Barry Goldwater...

Limiting it to Presidents means I'd not be able to post an answer.

[SnohoDem]

16. Kevin Phillips

or Richard Clarke?

Clarke voted for Gore in the general, but McCain in the primary. Phillips used to be an R - is he still?

[cmayer]

18. Phillips says he's an "I" now. He has no party.

[leftofthedial]

20. Ike

Nixon, of course, we know about.

Ford was part of the Warren Commission and the cover for Nixon.

With the ascendency of the neocons, Reagan, the bushgang, Gingrich, DeLay, et al, we've had nothing but lies, disinformation, corruption, treason, and theft on a massive, historically unprecedented scale.

[ACK]

25. Ike

Nixon was a crooked muther.

Ford was a Nixon enabler.

Raygun was a lying sack of shit.

Bush Sr. was a Raygun enabling lying sack of shit.

Dubya is a lying idiot worthless fascist sack of shit.