After Palin's 'all of them answer' response when Glenn Beck asked her is who her favorite founding father (at least she didn't say any of them) I thought I'd poll DKos readers on who are their favorite founding fathers.
Palin eventually answered George Washington when Beck pressed her. Undoubtedly, he was a cornerstone on which our country was founded and his willingness to give up the presidency when the time came secured that America would at least in title be without a king.
However, my personal favorite is James Madison, go Dukes! Even if I didn't attend the University I think he would still be my favorite mind in forming the constitution. I never appreciated him until I read the Federalist papers, which I think is important reading for any American. Although he worried that writing a Bill of Rights would cause states to limit themselves to only allowing only those stated rights to individuals he eventually gave in and became the author of our Bill of Rights. He also was Hamilton's opposition and spoke strongly against a central bank.
None of the men on the list are by any means saintly as war and slavery were a part of many of their lives. But as far as creating the US, I was just curious to know who were DKos readers favorite founding father.