Journamalism: A Symposium on Presidents' Day on National Review
It would be inconceivable for any of them to name... Abraham Lincoln, wouldn't it?
An NRO Symposium on Presidents' Day on National Review Online: NRO asked a group of historians and commentators for their favorite presidents:
Richard Brookhiser... George Washington
H. W. Crocker III... Ronald Reagan
John Derbyshire... Calvin Coolidge
Bruce Frohnen... William Henry Harrison
Paul Kengor... Ronald Reagan
John J. Miller... Calvin Coolidge
Wow.
Two go for Ronald Reagan and two for Calvin Coolidge.
I'm thinking Air Traffic Controllers and Boston Police Strike, respectively. So, maybe they heard that Lincoln preserved the Union, and thought that meant a labor union . . .
Posted by: Bruce Wilder | February 19, 2007 at 10:57 PM
Calvin Coolidge?!?
Posted by: Calton Bolick | February 20, 2007 at 12:03 AM
Haha! This stuff writes itself.
Thanks for peering down into the intellectual sewer of NR, so that we don't have to.
Posted by: pollster | February 20, 2007 at 12:56 AM
It's a three part grudge about freed slaves, the New Deal, and the civil rights movement. It explains about 90% of conservatism.
Posted by: jimbo | February 20, 2007 at 04:47 AM
"So, maybe they heard that Lincoln preserved the Union, and thought that meant a labor union . . ."
Execellent. :)
Posted by: RN | February 20, 2007 at 05:59 AM
William Henry Harrison makes the list on the Hippocratic Oath Rule: "First, do no harm."
If you develop pneumonia at your inauguration and die a month later, having been virtually incapacitated the entire time, you have done no harm.
So add Harrison as the "any government is bad" representative and you've covered all of the NRO brand of conservatism.
Posted by: Ken Houghton | February 21, 2007 at 10:13 AM
Don't knock Calvin Coolidge. I'm pretty sure he was the last president who, like Karl Marx and Duncan Foley, knew how to read Greek.
Posted by: Gene O'Grady | February 21, 2007 at 10:43 AM