I'm going to hesitantly agree with the premise of this thread, at least for the moment. It sort of depends on whether or not you're going to include MGS:Twin Snakes, since that drags down the rest of the franchise, while at the same time corrupting the brilliance and beauty of the original game.

As for MGS2, I wasn't thrilled by it on my first playthrough, but once I had a bit of time to digest the plot it really grew on me. Raiden has his awkward moments, but the game itself is superbly designed, albeit not quite up to the standards of its predecessor. If you're going to come up with arguments against MGS2, go for something better than "the main character is a wuss".