Plain Talk by Al Neuharth, USA TODAY founder

Our great country has had 43 presidents. Many very good. A few pretty bad. On Presidents Day next Monday, it's appropriate to commemorate them all.

I remember every president since Herbert Hoover, when I was a grade school kid. He was one of the worst. I've personally met every president since Dwight Eisenhower. He was one of the best.

A year ago I criticized Hillary Clinton for saying "this (Bush) administration will go down in history as one of the worst."

"She's wrong," I wrote. Then I rated these five presidents, in this order, as the worst: Andrew Jackson, James Buchanan, Ulysses Grant, Hoover and Richard Nixon. "It's very unlikely Bush can crack that list," I added.

I was wrong. This is my mea culpa. Not only has Bush cracked that list, but he is planted firmly at the top.

The Iraq war, of course, has become Bush's albatross. He and his buddies are great at coining words or slogans. "Bushisms" that will haunt him historically:

  * "Shock and Awe," early 2003.

  * "Mission Accomplished," May 1, 2003.

  * "Stay the Course," June 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006.

  * "New Strategy," 2007.

Another term historians may weigh critically is "Decider."

Is he just a self-touted decider doing what he thinks right? Or is he an arrogant ruler who doesn't care or consider what the public or Congress believes best for the country?

Despite his play on words and slogans, Bush didn't learn the value or meaning of mea culpa (acknowledgement of an error) during his years at Yale.

Bush admitting his many mistakes on Iraq and ending that fiasco might make many of us forgive, even though we can never forget the terrible toll in lives and dollars.

Bush is easily in the top ten worst, and is certainly the worst living one, but he is not number one.......

As unpopular as Iraq is now, in 50 or 100 years Iraq will seem like a paltry mistake compared to the damage done to the planet's environment by the current administration.

Worst President Ever goes to Bush hands down with no competition whatsoever.  Most of the bad-boys on their list have some redeeming traits... and while I agree that Buchanan lacks redeeming traits, he has not done anywhere near as much permanent damage to his country or the planet.

I would love to declare Bush the worst ever but I have to agree with U.S. News and the gools that James Buchanan is a tough guy to beat.  The Civil War was the most awful hell the United States has ever experienced and that dildo spent 4 years just watching the country slide into chaos.

If global warming truly leads to the worst-case scenarios that have been envisioned, however, the world may well remember Dubya as the world's leading stumbling block to action when we still had a chance.  In which case, Buchanan may be dethroned after all.

Here are ten more reasons - off the top of my head:
1. He stole the 2000 election.
2. He continually hijacks our Constitution.
3. He tramples over civil liberties daily.
4. He does not listen to the American people no matter how loud we scream - I suppose that plays in to hijacking the Constitution, as it is "We the people!"
5. He butchers the English language
6. He has no remorse for the number of human lives lost in the Iraq war.  He wants to send more troops in harms way with no damn plan.
7.  He could care less about making sure Americans are healthy - that is unless corporations get more tax breaks.
8. He doles out tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations and places the largest tax burden on the eroding middle class.
9. He created the largest deficit in American history!
10.  He is an arrogant ass.

I could go on, but the point is made.

George W. Bush is the worst President in the history of the United States of America. 

Time's On His Side (Vincent J. Cannato)
Move Over, Hoover (Douglas Brinkley)
He's Only Fifth Worst (Michael Lind)
He's The Worst Ever (Eric Foner)

It is interesting to note in the U.S. News survey that all our recent Presidents are ranked among the top of worst ever.  Wow - our nation must be going through it's worst half century ever.  Or, more likely, people were just sleeping through history class.