Posted by
Icarus on Monday, December 10, 2007 10:55:14 AM
... when electing a president, that is. Anthony Esolen, at Mere Comments, has been reviewing
past Presidential elections and he has discovered that Americans have a tendency to elect ugly men.
"Some of them were dashing enough: Jefferson, Monroe, Kennedy. Probably
the handsomest was Franklin Pierce. But they're rare. The Adamses
were downright homely; Cleveland and Taft were obese; McKinley, one of
the gentlest of men, stared down from beetle brows as if he wanted to
land an ax at the base of your skull; Eisenhower didn't relish war as
Patton did, but he looked as if he might, and never more than when he
smiled; Nixon looked the part of a crook, as did Lyndon Johnson; Andrew
Johnson looked like a butcher invited to the wrong party; and Lincoln
may have been the ugliest man in the history of our politics.
...
"The choices seem to tap into what is still a deep well of mainly
healthy skepticism toward government, and mainly healthy skepticism of
the ever-smiling, pretty-faced "helpers" who want to lighten your life
by lightening your wallet."