"Who are the biggest scoundrels in American history?" Topic

…people are going on and on about something they know nothing about. Nobody has defined what they're talking about. Yet members are happy to just keep throwing out all sorts of names of people they don't like.

That's fair. Appropriate emoticon

"It was under the British that the entire eastern seaboard was taken from Native Americans "

Not to mention India, Australia, Egypt, South Africa, Sudan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, and many others….

:)

@Dnjackson

Was not aware that Native Americans ever held India, Australia, Egypt etc.
Thanks for enlightening me!

At least four people mention current political figures and the only one dawg housed is the one mentioning a Republican?

Jay Gould

"I can hire one-half of the working class to kill the other half."

Another vote for Aldrich Ames.

BW1959. Did you report those villains via the complaint button? [!]

I swear that I did not intend this to be a Dawghouse trap.
I never thought beyond the Civil War!

Btw, I misspelled "Wilkinson" in my OP.

By being a drunken buffoon, Joe McCarthy brought legitimate anti-Communism into disrepute. One could not, and still cannot bring up the topic without being accused of being an -ite.

Well Winston, how about Horatio Gates for his backstabbing
of Washington.

And for ACW Shields and Fremont both get my vote. They both
would rather see Jackson win then helping a political rival.

If this ends up as a Pick 5 poll. Gates and Fremont will certainly figure into my votes.

YUeah. Gates pushes all the right buttons, with the added bonus of being portrayed by shifty actors in his few cinematic appearances.

Kyoteblue, honestly, I did not think beyond the ACW. Honest!

Everybody who has gotten the hook have been around here long enough to know what's what.

And if Gore Vidal is to be believed, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson make the list too.

Looks like the DH is filling up nicely :)

Avoiding politics, I'd say 80's and 90's era Microsoft or pretty much the entire cell phone industry fit any definitions of "Scalawags" and "Scoundrels" to boot.

Unlike the OFM, some of us grew up AFTER the invention of electricity :-)

Scalawag: person who behaves badly but in an amusingly mischievous rather than harmful way; a rascal.

Under this definition I am not sure people like Nixon or Hoover qualify, regardless of politics. The entire Kennedy clan might, although there are some who would disagree.

I thought Scallywag at least in the post-ACW context referred to a local guy who supported the other side for personal profit. Plenty of rogues have been named so far, but few true scallywags.

Naughty Winston, for starting this topic.

sooooo, how many of us trotting down this wagon road took a musket ball in the hip or side and are now lanquishing in pain in ye dawghouse while ol sawbones probes out the ball? eh?

I have a name, but it is probably not alllowed … lol.

Whoever thought up this poll and whoever runs it deserves to be forced to eat at the salad bar in the lounge.

LOL, and just the other day someone was predicting the demise of TMP because there hadn't been anyone in the doghouse for a while…one post, and four!

We should probably add Winston to the list, just for incitement. Look at all those poor innocent people he's put in chokey.

"It's a trap!" – Admiral Ackbar

It's a wafer thin mint.

So, assuming that one can and does get the DH for suggesting the current frontrunner in one of the two major political parties, is it legitimate to name that same individual for his business misconduct, deliberate abuse of bankruptcy laws to cheat his creditors, serial philandering and constant pandering to the worst inclinations of popular culture? None of these are political in nature, and the man in question seems to have regarded politics simply as the means by which bribery bought influence on business matters.

That and the cruelty of having a squirrel stapled to his scalp.

And we'll keep that prior to, say, 1990, shall we?

Not that I'm proposing him. I'm just asking.

I've voting for Madonna.

I've voting for Madonna.

First politics, then religion! (j/k)

From our friends at Wikipedia:

"In United States history, scalawags were Southern whites who supported Reconstruction and the Republican Party, after the American Civil War. Like similar terms, such as "carpetbagger," the word has a long history of use as a slur against Southerners considered by other conservative or pro-federation Southerners to betray the region's values by supporting policies considered "Northern," such as desegregation and racial integration.

The term is commonly used in historical studies as a neutral descriptor of Southern white Republicans, although some historians have discarded the term due to its history of pejorative connotations.

The word "scalawag", originally referring to low-grade farm animals, was adopted by their opponents to refer to Southern whites who formed a Republican coalition with black freedmen and Northern newcomers (called carpetbaggers) to take control of their state and local governments.

Among the earliest uses in this new meaning were references in Alabama and Georgia newspapers in the summer of 1867, first referring to all southern Republicans, and then later restricting it to only White ones."

White Southern Republicans included formerly closeted Southern abolitionists as well as former slave-owners who supported equal rights for freedmen. The most famous of this latter group was Samuel F. Phillips."

Now up to six in the dawghouse! TMP is saved!!!

Yes … this topic certainly turned into a "baited" DH Trap !

Alfred E. Neuman

By the definition given by rallynow jimmy carter, bill Clinton and al gore is the closest. (In modern times)
All southerner, but no very popular among large swaths of southeners.

Alfred E. Neuman is a a rascal, not a scalawag :)

that pea wit who thought "new coke" was a good idea about 20 odd years ago. if I wanted pepsi, I would drink pepsi. I gonna find that guy and put my boot up his arse so help me god!

The way this thread is going…..

---------CONGRESS----------

Rallynow,that Wiki entry is interesting, as it would certainly include John Mosby,and arguably,Robert E. Lee.

Paul Revere
Failed patriot, caught and sent home by the British
Failed to get a regular commission. Suspected of dubious accounting as a militia officer, poor conduct verging on cowardice in the only action he actually took part in.

Had a good publicity agent though.

For the ACW:
Henry Wager Halleck: A professional officer whose primary concern seems to have been his own self interest, his duty to his country and its cause seemingly way in the back of the bus, IMHO.

Dan Sickles: In spite of my feeling that his Excelsior Brigade gets bum rap from historians, (at least before the draft takes effect), just a scheming politician.

"It was under the British that the entire eastern seaboard was taken from Native Americans "

Not to mention India, Australia, Egypt, South Africa, Sudan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, and many others….

:)

And such an unremarkable collection of damp little islands…

Thanks, Rallynow. Under that definition, none of my picks for scallywags qualify.

Now Old Joe Clark used to be the biggest bum around,
'Till Andrew Johnson 'pointed him Marshall of the town.
He's full of wine, full of breeze, y'oughta hear him brag,
But all good Rebels know that he's a lowdown scallawag!
Get out the way of Old Joe Clark, hide that hug of wine.
Get out the way of Old Joe Clark, he's no friend of mine.

Never did like Old Joe Clark, reckon I never will.
Never did like Old Joe Clark, always liked his gal.

"which the British had protected by treaty." Right. It was under the British that the entire eastern seaboard was taken from Native Americans.

I don't see it given back to the native Americans once we had given up hope of taming you back in the day!

McArthy.
Al Capone.
L Ron Hubbard
Bloody Bill Anderson
Archie Clement
Aldrich Ames

"Top of the world, Ma!"

congress. executives from tyco scandal, bernie madoff…………..

"Scalawag: person who behaves badly but in an amusingly mischievous rather than harmful way; a rascal."

Well, that's going to partly rule out my nomination as he did some harm with his shenanigans – Henry Ford.

Let's look at the list – Supported Prohibition not to prevent drunkenness causing industrial accidents ( Which was a problem at the time ) but to prevent union meetings at taverns; Held car races for all comers, then had a look through the wrecks to steal engineering ideas from others; Published a newspaper for the express purpose of fostering antisemitic propaganda ( The Dearborn Independent ); And was basically a cheerleader for Hitler.

You could also add was flattered when Huxley made him a god in "Brave New World", too.

I just wanted to make it an even 100 and sent this thread to a third page….

You scalawag, you!

I vote for Hercules Grytpype-Thynne, Count Jim Moriarty, and Douglas MacArthur

Minnie Bannister and Henry Crun were a lot dodgier than they were made out to be, as well.