Same people, different question....

With which president would you like to spend an evening in a bar?


Please explain why....

(oops ... I wanted to click on George W. but instead clicked on his daddy)

Harry Truman. He was from my hometown, Independence, MO; so when I was growing up, his house and the presidential library were big tourist draws. I was friends briefly in my post-school years with a woman who was his great-grandniece, and made much of it; however, since he died when we were both about seven, I doubt that she knew him all that well. Still, I'd be interested in meeting him.

As a runner-up, Jimmy Carter.

Why, Bill, of course! The first rock n roll president . While there are those pruny-lipped bluestockings that get all het up about his sexual indiscretions in the White House (like he was the first one ), he seems like a down-to-earth, fun person to be around. I can picture cracking jokes and downing a brew with him or even shooting a game of pool or darts...maybe he'd even get up and jam with the band.

I can't even imagine laughing and sharing a beer with most of the presidents on the list.

As much as I believe that Mr. Clinton wasn't the best President ever, I've always said that he'd be a great guy to hang out with and drink a beer. I even said that during his presidency. Frankly, we share tons in common socially! Both from the south, play a little golf, have chased a few women, and have crazy wives (God I hope she never reads this!). Sure, he didn't serve in the military and we don't share ideology, but then again some of my closest friends aren't the sharpest tools in the shed!!! I think Bush Sr is a good ol' TX country boy as well, probably could hang out and drink with all of us... maybe we could play golf and drink to every duffed ball. Do people in the North drink beer and play golf in the sunshine? After all.. ol' Slick Willy lives in NY now. Do you think he remembers what it means to be a good ol' boy? That might cause a snag...

As much as y'all don't care for GW jr, I imagine in his party days that he was a bundle of joy as well. I don't advocate drugs, but I bet he could hold his own in longnecks.

That might be for the best Renger. According to George W. himself, he has not had a drink since his 40th birthday. It might be awkward sharing a beer with someone sitting there empty handed or maybe with a Virgin Mary.

You wouldn't want to be responsible for George W.'s falling off the wagon or maybe even worse, a barstool.

Prior to the passing of Reagan he would have probably been at the bottom of my list. However, during the coverage of his funeral and after listening to all the stories from his friends and other world leaders this guy appears to have had a great sense of humor and he was quick to make fun of himself (I knew we had something in common!!).

How can you have a beer and not laugh at the same time?

Oddly enough, the president I chose as worst in the other thread, I also chose as the guy I'd like to hang with for awhile - LBJ. The man was just awful as president but if you've had a chance to listen to any of his recorded conversations, you'd have to be dead not to laugh. LBJ would be a riot to hang out with for an evening.

Some of the best of LBJ's tapes are linked in this Slate article. Be warned, however, our former president would have been popped for profanity if he posted at the way he speaks on some of these tapes.

As BoF said, GW wouldn't drink and my guess is neither would Eisenhower who was a Jehovah's witness. Meh.

I guess Gerry Ford comes in a close second for me to LBJ, but I think I'm tainted by The Simpsons:

Haha, wouldn't that be something! President Bush is seduced to drink a beer with a Dutch guy, and falls form his barstool ... drunk!

I could always meet him in Amsterdam ... tricking him in eating a space-cake in one of those nice "cofee-shops"

No, really I think Bush is a bad president, but a nice person to hang out with. Maybe it would even be better if Bill Clinton, Reagan and Carter woudl also joins the party. We could not only drink a beer but also play some cards.

Please excuse me while I weigh in outside the box. Since many of your choices are dead anyway, and this is a hypothetical choice anyway, I'd want to go with Thomas Jefferson.

The guy was a genius. A true renaissance man kind of giant.

I'd ask him about lots of things, but then at the very end of the evening, I'd ask him why he wrote and talked so much about liberty and freedom, when those liberties didn't extend to his, or others', slaves.

Also off the board. Either Andrew Jackson or Teddy Roosevelt. Both of them would have had great stories to share

Well, none of the ones onthe list, and if i drank beer i would like to have it with Chancellor Adolf Hitler (which would equal the prisdent rank).

Or perhaps Vladimir Nikolai Lenin, the creator of the USSR and founder of the Bolsheviks. A glass of milk with him would be interesting.

I picked JFK. Knew how to party had some interesting things to say and I would never have to worry about covering him because Jackie O wasnt one of those confrontational women.

I wouldn't want to have a beer with FDR because where would the conversation lead? Hey, Kalabus you got a girlfriend?..... No Mr president..... I tell you what next family reunion pick out your hottest second cousin and ask her out......Thats sick Mr President.......... Great president but that is weird to me.

I would not want to hang out with Harry Truman because the man could not take a joke or constructive criticism. Do you like my daughter's singing kalabus? Not really Mr President.....well you m%*&!@! F #$%&*.......you get the point.

As for Eisenhower I hate golf and him being a general and me being a Specialist would make for uncomfortable interactions.

I think I would tire of Johnson going on his racial slur tirades. Plus he was arrogant. I remember one story I read about him how on the campaign trail I believe the vehicle he was in pulled over in a remote area so Johnson could urinate. Naturally a Secret Service agent stood next to him as he went and was checking the sightlines only to notice a steady stream pelting his shoes to which he turned to the president to inform him that he was being urinated on in which Johnson replied "That's my perogative". What a jerk.

With Nixon the paranoia and constant Jew bashing would become tiresome.

With Ford I would constantly have to worry about him getting drunk and falling into something and the talk would fall silent as I told him I was never an Eagle Scout.

Jimmy Carter has one of the most annoying voices I have ever heard and the man would get drunk from smelling mouth wash. Someone that moral is never cool or interesting.

I would become so tired of Reagan confusing history with past movie roles and hearing his baby goo goo ga ga talk with nancy that I could not stand being in his company for any significant amount of time.

The first Bush is just kind of boring and his voice is Carter annoying even more so when you realize that he is exagerating his southern accent. We have baseball in common and all that but him being a former head of the CIA would make me a little paranoid. Plus how can you relate to a man who picked Dan Quayle as his running mate?

With Clinton I think I would have fun and he could probably talk about anything but I would get tired of covering him as he tried to get at anything that walked by him. Would you want to lie to Hillary on the phone or in person? Who want's tp step into that hurricane? Clinton is one of those friends who brings you into his messes.

Bush Jr would also not be fun to hang out with. Another guy who at certain times likes to thicken his accent and a man of few interests. I can just picture him doing that weasel snivelling laugh at every thing he says that he thinks is funny. I can just picture...... "Hey Kalabus did you miss the bus?" followed by the head girating snivel laugh and then after several seconds have passed....."get it bus from Kalabus"......followed by more head gyrating. I want to punch him already. Sure he may have been a party animal at one time but in his later years the Cheerleader dork has once again emerged.

Hahaha These are the kind of responses I was hoping to get with my question. I especially laughed when I read Bill and Hillary's section. Nice one.

Personally I wouldn't want to be in a club or bar with JFK. Why? Never go out with friends who are more handsome than you are! Priceless advice from my dad.

I voted Clinton, since he's still alive, but JFK would be a close 2nd. I figure hey, I'm single and both of these guys were babe hounds

Umm...why would you want to sit across the table from people who have killed millions of people and then try to get the most notorious of them drunk? I can't imagine Hitler could get better when he's drunk...

What would you ask them?

"So, why did you commit genocide?"

The second would probably be a safer course, although he did run over a Dutch police officer on his bike a few months ago.

If you got him back on the bottle after the years his wife spent getting him off, you'd probably have to deal with something like Hurricane Laura.

Thats slander. Whatever you think about policies the gentlemen have had, it does not change the fact that they would be very interesting people to meet.. I mean, George W Bush has killed thousands of innocent men woman and children in Iraq (incompetence from the forces are without a doubt to blame on the one ordering the troops, which would be the President in this case, such as the Hollocaust was ordered by Hitler, reason aside, Bush is as guilty of killing innocent people as Adolf), and he is the president of United States.




Yes, without a doubt. Comeon man, it would be interesting, but i dont think my German can hold it to his accent. I hardly understand Dutch, and i dont even want to imagine listening to Adolf going on about the extermination squads in Full Broded German (probably Sweebich).

I voted for Eisenhower because I think he is the most interesting of the lot. He saw so much and must have understood so much and just about any conversation with him would be good... I think.

Since I can't tolerate alcohol, even in small doses, I don't drink it but I doubt I'd be able to spend even a few minutes listening to GW Bush.

I'd like to talk to his Dad though. I always thought he was pretty interesting.

Clinton might be interesting, but I suspect he is not easy to get information from... even in a harmless conversation. I don't think the experience would be interesting for me.

I'd rather enjoy a good cup of Jamaican Blue Mountain with Eisenhower and talk about the history of the last hundred years or so.

This is exactly what I was thinking before I read your response.

Of the choices listed, I had to go with JFK. Most of the others have personalities which are too strong for me. I don't drink beer, but I can imagine sipping a fine wine with Jack Kennedy, exchanging witty comments about this and that.

(Now if I only looked and dressed like the young Jackie . . .)

I picked "give 'em hell harry" - the guy was a WW1 vet, and a straight talker and shooter. He wouldn't have hung out with Clinton or GW, ever. Eisenhour would be next. Old soldiers are fun to drink with, especially officers. Less profane than old sargeants. LOL

Just reading Harry's quotes makes me want to talk to him LOL

I voted for Bill Clinton, since he's the guy who's social life I know most about, and his breadth of experience, plus his time spent in the UK as a student, means that maybe he'd be able to keep up with me on the beer front*.

GWB might have been good ale-related company in his drinking days, though my hunch is that he'd be more jock-ular in his humour and that Bill would be more urbane and witty (when he wasn't leching after every passing female).

However, since the only type of debate I enjoy more than the ones we have here is a beer-fuelled pub argument on the issues of the day, my magic wand and time machine would get me, a non-teetotal George W Bush, and William J Clinton, and would deposit us in the bar of The Smoking Dog in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, during the spring Beer & Sausage Festival, where we'd sample fine ales and set the world to rights. And Bill & me could gang up on George in all the arguments/discussions/debates.

*As many know, modern Brits live in one of the few developed countries where alcohol consumption is still rising. We aren't the biggest drunkards in Europe - that honour goes to the Czechs, I think - but we're catching up *hic*. By American standards, the average quiet Brit night out would require an immediate intervention by concerned friends and family worried about alcohol dependency. Binge drinking is the real national sport, and always has been. If I wasn't a bit hungover right now, I'd probably sound more worried.

I'm amazed at how many people voted for Clinton on this one. I wouldn't sit in a room with him, let alone share a table, unless he was handing me dollar bills or something.

I voted Bush senior. I always thought he was an interesting person. Part of the greatest generation, the youngest naval pilot to go to war, successful businessman and head of the CIA. In spite of his enormous success in life didn't seem to take himself dreadfully seriously and came across as very genuine. I know some pilots who flew him around for a short time, and they had very nice things to say.

Of course you didn't vote for him - you're a woman (a very attractive one, between puberty and 60 years old, to boot), and he's... well, he's Bill Clinton .

If I thought he was going to talk to my chest all night and spend most of the time trying to get inside my foundation garments, I wouldn't want to spend much social time with him either.

I voted for Reagan. He seems more down-to-earth and approachable than any of the others, plus he's a funny guy. Very few presidents that I could feel comfortable being around in an informal atmosphere.

Not that I'm a drinker.

I nulled my vote. First, I don't drink. Second, people that aspire to and become presidents are generally egomaniacal alpha males. I find such people not much fun to be around.

LBJ would probably know the raunchiest jokes and Kennedy and Clinton would be chick magnets. Of the Republicans, with the exception of Reagan, Bush 41 seems more like a prissy wine and cheese type. Bush43 is dried-out drunk and we know how dangerous pretzels are to him. Carter would be too sanctimonious. Ford would be a total bore. And Nixon was a mean drunk.

But I'm with Quarkhead. I nulled my vote too. I'm choosy about whom I drink with and frankly, I've never understood this strange need Americans have to be able to pound a brew with a President.

Last thing we need is a hung-over Prez with his finger on the button.

You know- after QH and NTs response- I have to agree. I go a different tack- from the psych viewpoint anyone after Eisenhour is an untreated sociopath. Not much fun, those guys, well, at first they are, then the drama begins LOL

I voted for George W. Bush. I don't think he's cool or anything like that. But I'd like to see him drunk. I tend to think that it would be hard to tell the difference between drunk Bush and sober Bush.

I voted for a fellow Texan, LBJ....but I'd rather have voted for Teddy R, but he wasn't on the list. Teddy would have had the best stories, imo.

I will never drink alchohol! NEVER!!!!!!

I voted for JFK, I feel that he was our last good president. I was five yrs when he was assasinated. There's NO WAY in H..., sorry I don't have anything (good) to say about bush. I can say that I'm glad to be on earth now and not in our children's days to come. Went off topic? Good Day

Unfortunately the coolest President for me would have been Grover Cleveland and he isn't in the poll. He was an avid fisherman and wrote several articles for the Saturday Evening Post on the subject. I have known very few fishermen that weren't good company to shoot the breeze with over a couple of beers.

"In these sad and ominous days of mad fortune-chasing, every patriotic, thoughtful citizen, whether he fishes or not, should lament that we have not among our countrymen more fishermen." - Grover Cleveland

Kennedy wanted people to join the Peace Corps. Regan wanted them to start their own buisness and improve their financial status. George Bush senior (my second choice by the way) wanted young people to consider public service dispite the difficulty of the harsh criticisms. Cleveland wanted America to have more fisherman and thought it lamentable for any true patriot of American ideas to realize that there were all too few. Yea, that would be the guy I would enjoy sitting down and having a few beers with. Now if we are talking wiskey I would say Ulysses S. Grant would be my first choice with Andrew Jackson coming in a close second.

I'm with Roswell, I would have chosen Teddy Roosevelt hands down. He apparently expanded the role of the president and redefined the position for the future, but who cares!! He was one heck of an odd, adventurous guy. I believe he used to take walks in which he would go in a straight line from his point of origin and refuse to change direction. He would ford rivers, walk through swamps, etc..

Once he invited a foreign leader (Can't remember which one) who was foolish enough to go with him. Great stuff!

I love that! Talk about "staying the course."

I would enjoy having a beer with FDR. WWII is the most fascinating
era for me and I'd really be interested in hearing all about it from the serving
president's point-of-view.

JFK. Doped up, chicks everywhere, super paranoid someone was trying to kill him. The guy is a total party BEFORE the beer.

Well, like quark, I don't drink...and if I did, I highly doubt I'd have any desire to chug with a former president.

I nulled my vote, too...but maybe after reading FargoUT's response, I'd opt for W for the same reason. I'd take pictures of his goofy faces and post them all over the internet...oh wait, there's already plenty of those around. Maybe drinking with W is not such a bad idea...I could take his keys so he couldn't drive drunk anymore.

From the list, I would choose Richard Nixon, a brilliant man in my opinion, although a bit stricken with paranoia later in his career. However, the former president I would most enjoy a beer and conversation with would be Theodore Roosevelt, outdoorsman extraordinaire. I'm sure that man would have excellent stories to tell about his numerous adventures including his time spent as commander of the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War, his hunting trips to Africa and exploration of the Amazon and his outstanding political career.

However, Phaedrus does introduce the fabulous notion of whisky with Grant.