Longing for the presidents I hated

Harry Truman was president when I was born. I don't know anything about him except what I've read although my parents tell me he once touched me on the top of the head. Eisenhower was president while I was growing up. From what I've read I probably would have liked him although I must admit I really wasn't paying that much attention at the time. The one thing I do remember about Ike was he died while I was in the Army and I had to stand at attention in the cold for a really long time.
I was freshman in high school in 1960 when Kennedy beat Nixon. Although I was in a Democratic family my high school was largely upper middle class and I was one of the few Democrats. My grandmother was a life long Democrat but was also an evangelical Christian and not sure if she could vote for one of those horrible Catholics. I don't think I would like Kennedy today, a bit to militaristic for me.
Johnson was a typical crooked Texas politician back when they were all still Democrats. He lied about the Viet Nam war and I hold him personally responsible for the deaths of several friends and relatives. He is probably responsible for the South going to the Republicans because he was able to get the Civil Rights Bill passed; something that should earn him at least a small positive footnote in history. I didn't agree with Barry Goldwater but I always respected him. He was honest. He was also the victim of a dirty political smear campaign Texas style.
Then there was Nixon. I hated Nixon; he was a crook and a liar. Nixon was followed by a couple of nice guys who should have never been president. That's about all I have to say about Ford and Carter.
Of course next we have a man who has been deified by the Republican Party, Ronald Reagan. I didn't like him and never voted for him. We now know that it was Nancy that was running the show the second term as the first stages of altzheimers had already set in. Much to Nancy's credit she managed to keep the neocons at bay.
The first member of the Bush crime family followed Reagan. I didn't like George H.W. Bush either but he also managed to keep the neocon wingnuts out of policy making decisions. It was during this time that they started grooming Jeb to be the head of the crime family and dubya found God and his Texas accent. Jeb lost his first race for governor and dubya won his. The rest is history.
Much to everyone's surprise George H.W. lost his reelection bid to some Arkansas trailer trash. It was not so much Clinton's policy that caused the Right to hate him so much but the fact that he upset their dynastic plans. In addition they were upset at his lack of a royal pedigree. Clinton might have lost his second term election is Bob Dole had not run the lamest campaign in US history. Clinton was not a progressive and when it came to policy often looked more like a moderate Republican. Although I voted for Clinton twice I can't honestly say I really liked him.

I would trade dubya for any of the above. While I usually didn't agree with them, they were incompetent, liars, crooks or all of the above, they were all better than dubya. Like his recent predecessors, George "dubya" Bush is a crook and a liar. Unlike his predecessors dubya is a mean spirited dry drunk who is totally divorced from reality. Yes I look back fondly on the time when I hated Johnson, Nixon, Reagan and Bush 41. Those were the days my friend.