Bush at his Dumbest

[Dr Grump]

I didn't see where you had 'addressed' anything. You say you did. I'm looking. So we are both lost.

Pathetic.....

 

[jillian]

Yeah, but reading My Pet Goat doesn't count (jking, jking). I disagree with the above statement. Depends on what he reads...

Actually, he's made it clear that he DOESN'T read. And his staff makes a DVD of the news for him to look at and reads articles to him if they're important.

 

[Said1]

If I were Prime Minister, I wouldn't read the papers either. They're just soooooo accurate. Plus, being in charge would probably give me a pretty good heads up on wtf is going on. OR at least I would think??

 

[dilloduck]

Actually, he's made it clear that he DOESN'T read. And his staff makes a DVD of the news for him to look at and reads articles to him if they're important.

Desperation really kicking in today ?

 

[Mr.Conley]

Maybe, but when you write you come across as intelligent and you put thought into your posts. The exact opposite is true re Bush (IMO of course)...

But then that raises the question: am I really intelligent?

I did look at his educational and personal habits, which is why I have the overall impression I do...

He is supposedly an avid reader, especially of biographies. HE also enjoys exercise. Plus he quit the drink cold turkey. I have to respect him for that.

Yale is shitty??

Yale sucks. Very poor choice for college in my opinion. Fortunately he also attended Andover and Harvard Business School. That makes up for his failure to attend a real university.

hmmmmmm. Maybe you want the leader of the US to be average. I wouldn't....I'd want him or her to be exceptional in a room of highly intelligent people.

In an ideal world yes, but being in the middle of a group of highly intelligent people isn't bad either.

Nor should it be.

Glad to know you agree.

Yeah, but reading My Pet Goat doesn't count (jking, jking). I disagree with the above statement. Depends on what he reads...

Like I said a lot of biographies and nonfiction. I think whitehouse.gov posts a list. I'll go check
.

 

[jillian]

Desperation really kicking in today ?

How is it desperate to state facts?

 

[liberalogic]

Logical fallacy. Just because we can not prove undoubtably that President Bush is intelligent does not nessicitate that he not. Your whole argument is based on this fallicious assumption and, with the assumption invalid, your whole argument fails.

You missed my point. I'm not arguing this philosophically. I'm not even calling him stupid. I'm just saying that we don't know what goes on behind the scenes. And again, my opinion (not that it's worth anything) is that he is pampered by advisors to such an extent that he becomes a mouthpiece for them and not necessarily himself.

Also, he does not have a speech impediment. Notice that when he reads from prepared speeches, he's fine. A person with an impediment would have trouble with everything, including previously rehearsed material. It's when he fields questions without preparation. So why does the speech impediment kick in then?

And I don't know about you, but it bugs the hell out of me when I hear people say that they don't care if a president is intelligent. Is it just me, or is this not an important quality to have in a commander in chief?

But no, let's not do that. Let's vote for him because he's the "common man" who, with the help of Jesus and the love of a good ol' texan woman, found a new calling in life. While the conservatives claim that liberals vote on "polished appeal" (ie- Clinton), they should know that they are just as superficial when they cast votes for people with "redneck" qualities.

We should elect people because they are BETTER than us, not because they are one of us. Plato is probably turning in his grave.

 

[Stephanie]

We should elect people because they are BETTER than us, not because they are one of us. QUOTE]

 

[red states rule]

Quote:
Originally Posted by liberalogic

We should elect people because they are BETTER than us, not because they are one of us. QUOTE]


The problem with this is, libs actually believe they are smarter and better then everyone else

Their superiority complex gets them in trouble everytime

 

[jimnyc]

We should elect people because they are BETTER than us, not because they are one of us. Plato is probably turning in his grave.

Huh?

Some are more educated than I. Some have more money than I. Most have more political background than I.

NONE are better than me. These are PEOPLE, voted for by the PEOPLE.

We elect those we feel are aligned with what we think is best for our country, and then we expect them to act in our best interest. Our politicians have more experience, but that doesn't make them better than anyone, IMO.

And, I'm willing to bet that not a single member of this board could sit down with GWB, chat for an hour, and walk away and call the man dumb.

I admittedly cannot speak in front of a crowd, especially if my speech is not prepared in advance. This makes me shy & nervous. Somehow I don't think it takes away from my years of education though. Public speaking is not the sole indicator of intelligence.

 

[Said1]

Plato's account of the ideal city in the Republic is elitist, anti-democratic and authoritarian. Philosopher Kings my ass.

 

[Annie]

Plato's account of the ideal city in the Republic is elitist, anti-democratic and authoritarian. Philosopher Kings my ass.

Yeah, Hamilton's too!

 

[Said1]

Yeah, Hamilton's too!

He was gay too. For sure.

 

[Gunny]

You missed my point. I'm not arguing this philosophically. I'm not even calling him stupid. I'm just saying that we don't know what goes on behind the scenes. And again, my opinion (not that it's worth anything) is that he is pampered by advisors to such an extent that he becomes a mouthpiece for them and not necessarily himself.

Also, he does not have a speech impediment. Notice that when he reads from prepared speeches, he's fine. A person with an impediment would have trouble with everything, including previously rehearsed material. It's when he fields questions without preparation. So why does the speech impediment kick in then?

And I don't know about you, but it bugs the hell out of me when I hear people say that they don't care if a president is intelligent. Is it just me, or is this not an important quality to have in a commander in chief?

But no, let's not do that. Let's vote for him because he's the "common man" who, with the help of Jesus and the love of a good ol' texan woman, found a new calling in life. While the conservatives claim that liberals vote on "polished appeal" (ie- Clinton), they should know that they are just as superficial when they cast votes for people with "redneck" qualities.

We should elect people because they are BETTER than us, not because they are one of us. Plato is probably turning in his grave.

I don't recall that anyone has said they don't care if a President is intelligent. Nobody cares if he is poor public speaker.

And you are correct, he does not have a speech impediment. He's a poor public speaker. I'll take that over his predecessor, a smug, silver-tongued Devil who lied to the American people with ease, and without conscience.

Your elitism is showing. I vote for politicians as representatives of my beliefs, or as close to it as I can get. The notion that ANY man is better than me, or anyone else for that matter, goes against the very foundation of ideals this Nation is built upon.

And I have YET to meet another human being who is a better human being than I.

 

[liberalogic]

I don't recall that anyone has said they don't care if a President is intelligent. Nobody cares if he is poor public speaker.

And you are correct, he does not have a speech impediment. He's a poor public speaker. I'll take that over his predecessor, a smug, silver-tongued Devil who lied to the American people with ease, and without conscience.

Your elitism is showing. I vote for politicians as representatives of my beliefs, or as close to it as I can get. The notion that ANY man is better than me, or anyone else for that matter, goes against the very foundation of ideals this Nation is built upon.

And I have YET to meet another human being who is a better human being than I.

When I say better, I mean competent and effective, or more apt than the common man. It's not a morality contest.

If the President is just like the rest of us, then why aren't we all politicians? Anyone can have strong opinions that you agree with, but what separates the candidate from the elected official is the ability to implement the desired change. We don';t need Einstein, but we need a smart, sharp individual.

 

[liberalogic]

Huh?

Some are more educated than I. Some have more money than I. Most have more political background than I.

NONE are better than me. These are PEOPLE, voted for by the PEOPLE.

We elect those we feel are aligned with what we think is best for our country, and then we expect them to act in our best interest. Our politicians have more experience, but that doesn't make them better than anyone, IMO.

And, I'm willing to bet that not a single member of this board could sit down with GWB, chat for an hour, and walk away and call the man dumb.

I admittedly cannot speak in front of a crowd, especially if my speech is not prepared in advance. This makes me shy & nervous. Somehow I don't think it takes away from my years of education though. Public speaking is not the sole indicator of intelligence.

It's not the sole indicator of intelligence, you're right. And I don't think he's dumb, I just don't think he's smart. It's my opinion, but we really have no solid evidence to substantiate my claim or your claim.

But public speaking is an important characteristic in a President. He represents us as a country and when the rest of the world hears him stuttering, he comes across as a dim-witted moron with limited vocabulary. That's not how we should be perceived across the globe.

 

[jimnyc]

It's not the sole indicator of intelligence, you're right. And I don't think he's dumb, I just don't think he's smart.

You still need to be smart to graduate from an Ivy league school. You need to be smart to run a business. You may not like him or agree with him, but you don't accomplish the things he has unless you're above average on the intelligence level. He meets with diplomats and world leaders quite often. I don't recall hearing any of them stating they had an issue dealing with him or his intelligence.

It's my opinion, but we really have no solid evidence to substantiate my claim or your claim.

I think his life is evidence of his intelligence. He HAS graduated from an Ivy league school. He HAS owned various companies. He HAS been successful in his political career. He WAS elected President of the USA, because of his background, speeches, debates & ability to put together a legitimate team of other like minded individuals. The only thing you have to substantiate your claim is his poor public speaking, which most of us will concede is not his strong point. In all of the speeches I've seen him deliver, and the various mistakes he's made, he has never failed to get his point across.

But public speaking is an important characteristic in a President. He represents us as a country and when the rest of the world hears him stuttering, he comes across as a dim-witted moron with limited vocabulary. That's not how we should be perceived across the globe.

He's human. He's not immune to mistakes. The only people I see perceiving him as you state is the foaming at the mouth far left, and I'm not sure I want them as any gauge to someone's intelligence.

 

[liberalogic]

You still need to be smart to graduate from an Ivy league school. You need to be smart to run a business. You may not like him or agree with him, but you don't accomplish the things he has unless you're above average on the intelligence level. He meets with diplomats and world leaders quite often. I don't recall hearing any of them stating they had an issue dealing with him or his intelligence.



I think his life is evidence of his intelligence. He HAS graduated from an Ivy league school. He HAS owned various companies. He HAS been successful in his political career. He WAS elected President of the USA, because of his background, speeches, debates & ability to put together a legitimate team of other like minded individuals. The only thing you have to substantiate your claim is his poor public speaking, which most of us will concede is not his strong point. In all of the speeches I've seen him deliver, and the various mistakes he's made, he has never failed to get his point across.



He's human. He's not immune to mistakes. The only people I see perceiving him as you state is the foaming at the mouth far left, and I'm not sure I want them as any gauge to someone's intelligence.

And how has he done all of these things? Did he grow up in the middle class or in poverty? No, he had a wealthy father with ENORMOUS influence in his life. Again, he's not dumb, but with those advantages, a moderately intelligent person could have done much of the same.

 

[Annie]

And how has he done all of these things? Did he grow up in the middle class or in poverty? No, he had a wealthy father with ENORMOUS influence in his life. Again, he's not dumb, but with those advantages, a moderately intelligent person could have done much of the same.

Not really.

I would agree with the supposition that someone from more humble means, with the same resume, may have more going for them, though again, not necessarily, depends on the time and context.

 

[jimnyc]

And how has he done all of these things? Did he grow up in the middle class or in poverty? No, he had a wealthy father with ENORMOUS influence in his life. Again, he's not dumb, but with those advantages, a moderately intelligent person could have done much of the same.

I think his background may have offered him benefits that others may not have access to. But, he took the tools given to him and made a success of himself. There are MANY wealthy people of influence who don't rate too high in my opinion (some athletes, actors...). I have also witnessed quite a few without 2 cents to their name graduate with honors from their educational institutions.

He could have just as easily sat back with a few initial companies and slept easily through life. He chose to get the education, to run companies, to run for political office & then to run for President.