"Bush isn't smart" - Molly Ivins

[mb7588a]

I really enjoyed this Ivins column in this month's The Progressive. Great commentary about Bush's intelligence.

http://www.progressive.org/march04/ivin0304.html

snip

"...It is what has bothered people about Bush from the beginning: He's not bright enough to be President. For a long time, anyone who questioned Bush's ability to think was pointed to the opinion polls and told that discussing whether or not the President is borderline stupid was bad manners and counterproductive. Actually, that is the main problem with Bush: He neither reads, nor writes, nor speaks well.

It turns out that a C average is not good enough for the Presidency."

HAH! Darn right.

[Stephanie]

1. That's great

You know Cheney flunked out of Yale. He's no genius either.

[mb7588a]

9. Cheney flunked out of Yale?!

I'd never heard that before.

Geez, the bios I just read at various blogs and a TIME article say he flunked out TWICE, the first time after getting a football scholarship.

Well I'm glad he's known as the brains of the whole fucking operation. I really don't know how the hell I sleep at night......

[Ms. Clio]

10. Rove also attended several colleges and didn't graduate from any of them

No wonder these people hate "intellectuals" so much.

[Ernesto]

18. He had "different priorities"

It's about the deferment, stupid!

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Exactly! Thanks for posting, mb7588a --

[punpirate]

3. For years, Ivins has been saying...

... that it's a mistake to "misunderestimate" Bush, that he's not dumb, just ideological. I think, in this article, she's admitting that she's changed her mind, and is saying that he really isn't bright enough for the job.

He really isn't up to the job. Karl Rove's political foresight has gotten him into public office, and Bush himself will get him out of office. The Bushies will flip, the Bushies will flop, but eventually, the public will tire of the political gymnastics. I just hope they grow weary by November.

[Cat Atomic]

7. She's also repeatedly said that he's a "nice guy".

I never understood that one, either. I like Molly Ivins quite a bit, but she sometimes contradicts herself.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

13. How is that a contradiction?

You can be dumb and/or idealogical and still come off as "nice" in person.

I just don't see how they are mutually exclusive. I know several people who are perfectly nice and are not so bright AND rather idealogical.

[Ernesto]

20. Ever hear of ronald reagan?

[smirkymonkey]

26. Yes, it's possible,

but in Idiot Boy's case, it simply isn't true. He's stupid. He's evil. He's ideological.

Molly's great, but she must have been high when she came up with that one.

[leesa]

27. I think the point is that he is NOT nice and Ivins said he was.

[Cat Atomic]

28. Read Bushwacked. It's FULL of stories of people whose lives

are being destroyed by the policies this buffoon promotes. He uses them to hand money to his friends, and doesn't give a shit about the harm they do.

I don't see how Ivins can document all that in detail, and then come away still saying he's a "nice guy".

[Elidor]

15. She tends to be very critical of him in print

And on tv she is more restrained. I've always found her insistence that he is intelligent and "not mean" to be completely disconnected from everything else she says about him and his policies.

[elperromagico]

16. Al Franken has also referred to Bush as "charming."

So has Paul Begala.

I know plenty of stupid people who are nice.

[NewJeffCT]

21. Ivins was right both times.

Bush* could be smart enough for a regular job, or even middle management in a corporation... however, the position of the President of the United States of America should be held to the highest standard of intelligence. Unfortunately, Reagan began the dumbing down of the American presidency and it has culminated with the selection of W*

[dsc]

23. There is a difference between underestimating Bush's political skills

and noting his lack of intellectually curiousity which makes his governance so poor.

[Wonco_the_Sane]

4. Whaaaaaaa????

Who knew???
.
.
.
.
LOL...Great article!!!

[Piperay]

5. Intellectually he is stupid but

because he is so evil he should never be underestimated. :scared:

[dand]

6. Molly Ivins is a Goddess to me

nobody tells it better, * is STUPID, thanks mb7588a

[Hekate]

8. Low cunning and high connections...

...that would be Bush and Cheney both. :dunce: :dunce: Gotta choose your parents right.

Hekate

[Sparkly]

11. The truth at last!

How else could somebody with that much advantage -- the Bush name, connections, money, power -- have ended up such a mediocre, untraveled, unsophisticated, "not-intellectually-curious" person? I have always believed him to be sub-average IQ.

Here's more evidence: the "Citizens United" claim that Kerry is not "a man of the people" or a "regular Joe" because of his wealth, yet the Bushboy IS, supposedly, a "regular Joe people can relate to." What's the difference? I say the difference is that Bush is stupid, and his supporters relate to that.

(Sorry if that sounds mean or insulting to below-average-IQ people in general.)

[elperromagico]

14. It's because Bush has mastered the "man of the people" schtick.

Perhaps his most remarkable political feat is his ability to convince the very people he's screwing the most with his policies (the middle and lower classes) that he is "one of them."

[Sparkly]

17. True, but being stupid helps

in that regard, I believe. :)

[elperromagico]

12. He's a Reaganesque facade on a Nixonesque building. n/t

[Ernesto]

22. compared to chimp, nixon was a liberal

check his social spending record.

[elperromagico]

24. Not referring to that. I'm referring to Nixon's crookedness and

his nasty habit of lying.

[moondust]

19. That's a "legacy" C average.

Which in the real world is probably a D minus.

[elperromagico]

25. Right. The last thing you want to do is piss off a donor.

So - you grade his progeny on a slightly higher curve.