Ann Coulter's pathetic screed "Why We Don't Celebrate 'Historians Day'" about Bush's low ranking among historians embodies virtually everything that's wrong with mainstream conservative punditry: cheap shots at liberals, excessive use of scare quotes, rampant anti-intellectualism, and factual errors.
Liberals may call him a "war criminal," but historians have inadvertently paid Bush a great tribute this week by ranking him as a "below average" president. [...] Whenever history professors rank you as one of the "worst" presidents, it's a good bet you were one of America's greatest.
Coulter calls FDR "preposterously overrated," but this contradicts her defense of Eisenhower as one of the greats:
Under President Dwight Eisenhower, the gross national product grew by over 25 percent and inflation averaged 1.4 percent.
Let's take a look at FDR's economic record, shall we? Information from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (XLS) actually shows a 47% GDP increase under Eisenhower--better than Bush, but not as good as Clinton. Under FDR, our GDP increased 274%, so he deserves that #3 ranking, right?
Information about the CPI from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (TXT) shows an average inflation rate of 1.4% for Eisenhower, much better than FDR's 2.6% rate. (OK, fine...we liberals can admit that he wasn't the best at everything.)
Coulter's lack of logical consistency is one reason why we don't celebrate 'Conservative Columnists Day.'
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