36th. Best. President. Ever

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Show George W. Bush some love. After all, he may not be the worst president ever.

A new "non-partisan, judicious and fair-minded" poll of historians -- has Lincoln at the top, Buchanan at the bottom (#42), and Bush at #36.

In addition to Buchanan, Bush is ahead of, from 37-41, Fillmore, Harding, Harrison, Pierce, and Johnson.

Yes, that's right, he's just one spot ahead of the guy who signed the Fugitive Slave Act (Fillmore); two spots ahead of the guy whose administration was rocked by the Teapot Dome scandal (Harding, who, to his credit, created the Bureau of Veterans Affairs, signed peace treaties with Germany and Austria; and pardoned socialist Eugene V. Debs); three spots ahead of the guy who served for just 32 days (Harrison); four spots ahead of the guy who repealed the Missouri Compromise and supported the Confederacy (as a northerner) (Pierce); five spots ahead of the guy who opposed civil rights legislation after the Civil War, appeased the vanquished South during Reconstruction, and was impeached (holding onto his job by a single vote) (Johnson); and six spots ahead of the guy who supported the Confederacy (like Pierce, another "doughface"), defended slavery (he actively pushed for the Supreme Court's pro-slavery ruling in Dred Scott), and guided the country, through negligence and incompetence, into civil war (Buchanan).

Sounds about right to me.