The Case for Taft
Via Robert Farley, the case for Robert Taft. I don't know much about Taft, but I agree with Farley that he mostly seems to be maligned because he had the "misfortune of being sandwiched between Wilson and Roosevelt, two of America's most over-rated Presidents." It should be said in TR's defense, however, that the worst moments of his political career were really pre-presidential. As John Judis argues in The Folly of Empire he had to a large extent learned his lesson by the time he was actually in the White House and was much less imperialistic in practice than his record and public profile would suggest.
Advertisement
Hey, Matt! Enough with this Taft fellow. You gonna let that Somerby guy get away with challenging your bona fides like that.
August 9, 2006 10:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm fairly certain that you mean William Howard Taft.
August 9, 2006 11:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Actually I think one of the worst mistakes TR made was his actions in the Brownsville Affair. It's likely Roosevelt KNEW the black soldiers were innocent but still dishonorably discharged them.
August 9, 2006 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe Zeppo Taft, the forgotten Taft Brother.
August 9, 2006 12:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I, too, am awaiting your response to Bob.
August 9, 2006 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Certainly not Bob Taft (actually great-grandson of William H. Taft), the infamously bad governor of Ohio, who was convicted of ethics violations, I believe still has the lowest approval rating of any governor in the country, and was possibly the only person who could have failed so miserably in his office as to revive the moribund Ohio Democratic Party, leading to the Dems likely taking both the Governor's office and a Senate seat.
Actually, judging by his bloodline, perhaps one should not reassess W.H. Taft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Taft
August 9, 2006 3:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Matt basically said flat-out that Kagan's argument was delusional, although he thinks Kagan is an honest adversary (i.e. not just a GOP talking points mouthpiece). What more does Somerby want? His claims that Matt is a sell-out, for whatever reason (b/c he makes the big bucks at TAP?), and a suck-up to Kagan don't make sense.
Matt may have been wrong about what Kagan was saying about Gore to some extent, but that's far different from what Somerby accuses him of without any evidence whatsoever, other than that Matt doesn't use more hyperbole against Kagan personally (Somerby wants him to be exposed as a liar and an idiot) and rather confined himself to pointing out that his argument was crazy and unbelievable.
August 9, 2006 4:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Or even Senator Robert Taft, who Wall Street robbed of the GOP nomination in 1952. As I understand it, he was sort of like Pat Buchanan only without the charm. Had the Eastern Establishment not pulled strings to put the liberal Eisnehower in office, Adilai Stevenson might actually have become President.
August 9, 2006 9:35 PM | Reply | Permalink