Dr. Phil: Greatest American Ever?

AOL & The Discovery Channel are producing a TV show entitled Greatest American. As with so much domestic television, the show is a knock-off of a BBC program, Great Britons.



The above photo includes the 100 nominees for this title, and the usual suspects are all present: Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln.

Amazingly, AOL/Discovery Channel decided to surround the obvious short list with an otherwise forgettable set of names:

• Tom Cruise


• Ellen DeGeneres


• Dr. Phil McGraw


• Oprah Winfrey


• Laura Bush


• Barbara Bush


• Rush Limbaugh


• Michael Moore


• Bret Favre


• Billy Graham


• Mel Gibson


• Michael Jackson


• Martha Stewart


• Arnold Schwarzenegger


• Condeleezza Rice


• Donald Trump


• Barack Obama


• Tom Hanks

At what point did US patriotism completely lose historical perspective? Lance Armstrong is great, but I wouldn't include him over Louis Armstrong.