Ask Grandstander

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by perfectstormhits

Are you asking yourself a question?

Am I?

[skrable]

The staff is complaining about their new dormitory:



How should we get them in line?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by skrable

The staff is complaining about their new dormitory:



How should we get them in line?

"We?" The Grand Pueblo Estates Motor Community was your idea. When it lost money, using it as staff housing....your idea.

.......so now when the staff complains, it's "we?"

Okay, okay, I'll fix it. Have everyone pack up and we will move them back to GrandShantyville....which they never should have left in the first place.

[Zen653]

Who was the least consequential two-term president?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by Zen653

Who was the least consequential two-term president?

I've spoken in the past about my reaction to questions calling for a superlative response. I'm always wondering about the defintions that I am supposed to be employing. Is the least consequential two term president the one who had the least number of consequential things take place during his administration? Is it the president who did the least himself despite all sorts of consequential things taking place? Is it the one who tried hard but accomplished the least? The one who made the least amount of effort? The one who left behind the hardest to identify legacy? The one for whom the nation changed the least during his eight years?

If we were able to reduce all that to just one criteria element, then we could turn to agreeing upon a definition of events as consequential or not consequential.

But....I always fear covering myself with a reputation for ducking questions if I explain my concerns and then abdicate.

So....

Not all that much outside of normal progress took place during the Washington and Monroe administrations. Both enjoyed presidencies during which there was no true opposition party and thus neither was truly challenged in the area of political manipulation in order to get things done. Washington's presidency is best remembered for setting precedents...he invented the cabinet, he scorned imperial trappings etc. He did put down the Whiskey Rebellion, but that actually sort of self destructed before the Feds really put the arm on anyone.

Monroe didn't even get to be a precedent setter, and the one thing most closely associated with him, The Monroe Doctrine, was in fact the idea of, and authored by, John Quincy Adams. And the Monroe Doctrine didn't amount to much, did it? The War of 1812 had clearly demonstrated that the US did not have the military might to keep the Royal Navy from going anywhere it wanted and doing whatever it felt like in the western hemisphere. And what exactly were we preserving with our championing of the independent new democracies in Latin America? Mexico's government of the month club throughout the 1820's?

We did pick up Florida during the Monroe administration, but that was also largely the product of Andrew Jackson ignoring orders and pursuing Indians into the place despite it not being our territory at the time.

Nobody croaked off the Supreme Court during Monroe's eight years, so he had zero impact on the justice system. The Missouri Compromise was formed during this administration, but that was more Congressional than executive business.

That historical time period has come to be known as "The Era of Good Feeling" and that is the product of nothing really bad happening during those years.

So....that's my answer...James Monroe presided over the least consequential two term presidency.

[Zen653]

Among established authors, what's your favorite nom de plume?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by Zen653

Among established authors, what's your favorite nom de plume?

Back when "Primary Colors" was first published, and before it became known that Joe Kline was "Anonymous", I was attending a history seminar in South San Francisco. I had done my presentation the night before and on the final day, I wandered into a room where whatever the original topic had been, it was now the publication of that book. The speaker delivered what I thought was a rather dumb tirade against the anonymous author, saying how masking one's identity in such a book is really just a non accountability tactic and that proper political discourse in America has always been founded upon openness and it was not a part of our political traditions to embrace this unidentified attack journalism and so forth. He seemed really pissed off about it. Upon completing his remarks, he asked for questions from the audience and made the mistake of selecting me first.

"So, you mean the Federalist Papers really were written by "Publius?" I inquired, which got a huge laugh from the crowd, and probably made me an enemy for life of the speaker.

Because of all that, "Publius" is my second favorite all time nom de plume.

My favorite of course is..."Grandstander."

[Zen653]

Which television sitcom characters best epitomized their eras?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by Zen653

Which television sitcom characters best epitomized their eras?

The Andersons in the 1950's

The Adams in the 1960's.

Caine on Kung Fu in the '70's was more represenative than any sitcom character.

The Keatons in the '80s

George Costanza in the '90's

Then I stopped watching sitcoms, so select your own for the '00's.

[Zen653]

I keep hearing on the news about the infallible characters, integrities and work ethics of George Mitchell and the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Do you agree with these assessments? Do you consider these two men to be among the most hard-working and accomplished U.S Senators in the 20th century? Why did neither man capitalize on his reputation (however hyped it may be) and seek higher office?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by Zen653

I keep hearing on the news about the infallible characters, integrities and work ethics of George Mitchell and the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Do you agree with these assessments? Do you consider these two men to be among the most hard-working and accomplished U.S Senators in the 20th century? Why did neither man capitalize on his reputation (however hyped it may be) and seek higher office?

I certainly credit Moynihan with having been a terrific public speaker, the last of the eloquents from the Camelot age. It annoys me somewhat that Senator Obama keeps getting such high marks from the young, "the black Kennedy" , as a riveting public speaker because he would have been quite ordinary in the JFK days. I do not deny that the Senator has managed to inspire large numbers of people, but I would postulate that the standards for rhetorical inspiration have been relaxed in the last few decades.


These were both pretty decent human beings, and pretty decent human beings don't often seem to have the killer instinct required to grab the presidency.

[phenweigh]

Do you fancy poetry?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by phenweigh

Do you fancy poetry?

Not really, I suspect my basic impatience overwhelms my willingness to spend the time it takes to extract the message or emotion. Doesn't seem worth the investment of reading time to me when that same time could be devoted to much faster informational or sensory processing using prose.

[Nighthawk]

When was the last time you were in the presence of someone obviously more intelligent than you?

[Rapier]

Do you really need to ask?