Both for launching the Mexican-American War on patently false pretenses, and for deliberately sabotaging his army commanders for political purposes. (That is, he didn't want any general who wasn't indebted to him to become popular enough to win the Presidency in 1848. Hence his taking most of Zachary Taylor's army away from him, short-changing Winfield Scott of supplies midway into that general's invasion of central Mexico, and his attempts to have Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri commissioned a lieutenant general to outrank both the aforementioned commanders.)
And that entirely leaves aside his pre-presidential political career, for which the phrase "sneaky opportunistic bastard" is accurate but inadequate.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-08-15 04:25 am (UTC)And that entirely leaves aside his pre-presidential political career, for which the phrase "sneaky opportunistic bastard" is accurate but inadequate.