A Progressive Theo-Political Blog Bringing You The Best and Worst of Baptist Life.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Most Admired Men and Women

According to a new Gallup poll, George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton rank as the two most admired people by Americans.

The top ten most admired men include:

1. George W. Bush - 13%
2. Bill Clinton - 5%
3. Jimmy Carter - 4%
4. Barack Obama - 3%
5. Billy Graham - 3%
6. Colin Powell - 2%
7. Pope Benedict XVI - 2%
8. Nelson Mandela - 1%
9. George H.W. Bush - 1%
10. Bill Gates - 1%

The most admired women include:

1. Hillary Clinton - 13%
2. Oprah Winfrey - 9%
3. Condoleeza Rice - 8%
4. Laura Bush - 4%
5. Margaret Thatcher - 2%
6. Angelina Jolie - 2%
7. Nancy Pelosi - 1%
8. Madeline Albright - 1%
9. Barbara Bush - 1%
10. Maya Angelou - 1%

Men who just missed making the list include Bono, John McCain, Dalai Lama, George Clooney, Mel Gibson, Al Gore, Tony Blair, Rudy Guliani, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Billy Graham has appeared in the top 10 every year the poll has been asked since 1963. Hillary's first place finish as the most admired woman is her 11th. She has finished first or second each year since 1993.

I'm a little surprised Bono and John McCain did not remain on the list this year. But, Mel Gibson almost made the list???

My list would definitely include Bono, Rick and Kay Warren, Greg Boyd, Senator John Edwards, and John Lewis.

What popular figures would be on your list?

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm surprised Billy Graham is not higher. Ronald Reagan would have to be high on my list.

6:25 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

How depressing. Both W and Hillary are power-hungry sacks of naked ambition. Sen. Clinton, like her husband, is MUCH smarter than Bush and would generally try to to help people more than W. But, like her husband AND W, she has no moral center and when push comes to shove, she will cave to political survival rather than stand on principle.


My most admired men and women(living only):
Men:
10. Muhammed Yunus, Banker to the Poor
9. Nelson Mandela
8. Fmr. Pres. Jimmy Carter
7. Rabbi Michael Lerner
6. Dr. Glen H. Stassen
5. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)
4. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
3. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA)
2. Archbishop Desmond Tutu
1. Vaclav Havel, Fmr. Prez. of Czech Republic and leader of Czechoslavakia's nonviolent revolution from Communism.

Women:
10. Cindy Sheehan, peace mom.
9. Medea Benjamin, founder of Global Exchange (works for economic justice) and of Code Pink for Peace
8. Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of Burma's nonviolent struggle for democracy against mlitary rule.
7. Sister Joan Chittister, OSB, feminist Catholic theologian and peace activist.
6.Dr. Molly T. Marshall, president of Central Baptist Theological Seminary
5. Phyllis Bennis, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies--combines work on foreign policy and Middle East studies with peace activism. She has the qualifications and the brilliance so that if a Democrat wins the presidency of the U.S. in '08, they should nominate Bennis for Secretary of State.
4. Dr. Ann Riggs, Quaker theologian and Associate General Secretary for Faith and Order, National Council of Churches, USA.
3. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)
2. Rev. Cindy Weber, my pastor--Pastor, Jeff Street Baptist Community at Liberty
1. Rev. Nancy Hastings Sehested, co-pastor of Circle of Mercy, Asheville, NC.

If I were counting the dead, I would have a much harder time narrowing to a list as short as 10. But my list still wouldn't look much like the worldly values shown in that dumb list.

7:44 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If my list included Ronald Reagan, I would sign this anonymously, too! I mean, we are talking about a man who (a) gave us 2 recessions during his presidency and whopping national debt, (b)brought us repeatedly to the edge of nuclear war with the USSR, (c)illegally mined the harbors of Nicaragua and financed an illegal guerilla war there, (d)allowed AIDS to go unchecked for years as long as it was just a "gay disease," (e) killed the ERA, (f) lowered U.S. human rights standards (setting a great example for W) and began the rollback of U.S. Civil Rights gains, (g) allowed his henchmen and wife (through her astrologers) to run the country while he took naps because he wouldn't admit to Alzheimer's, (h) began the assault of U.S. jurisprudence that has continued non-stop in a rightwing direction. I could go on. What a horrible man to admire.
But what is more horrible is how many people on that list admire Condaleeza Rice! Even before she became a shill for W, she had oil tankers named after her. Ugh!

7:54 PM

 
Blogger Michael Westmoreland-White, Ph.D. said...

Oops! For some reason my id doesn't show up. The last two entries and this one are from me, Michael Westmoreland-White. I don't do anonymous comments, believing them to be cowardly. But, since somehow they went that way, I will give the commenter in #1 the benefit of the doubt and wonder if that was a computer error, too.

2:55 PM

 
Blogger Dan Trabue said...

Wow. I'm supposing this indicates how much having your name in the news contrbutes to being thought of when asked about popularity.

There's no way Bush or H. Clinton should be that high.

6:02 AM

 

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