If nothing else, can we at least agree now that Bush is NOT "clever"

[Atman]

Or "smart" or "cunning" or any of the other words used to say that Bush is actually a very bright man who just appears stupid to the rest of us. I don't believe that. I think Bush really is a very stupid man, and he was placed in power just because of that. He is too stupid to know what his staff is doing in his name. He is too stupid to understand politics. He is too stupid to understand that he is being kept in a bubble.

The time is now to stop the "he's not stupid; he got to be president, didn't he?" meme. So what? My dog rode with me to the store the other day. That doesn't mean he knows how to drive a car.

[texpatriot2004]

1. Absolutely Hands Down! That's been painfully obvious to the

entire world (with the exception of his ill-informed religious extremist base who were OUTFOXED) for quite some time.

[mtnsnake]

2. I agree. He's as stupid as he is insensitive.

If you're talking in terms of stupid people in general, he might be one of the smarter stupid people, but when you're talking in terms of presidents, he may be just about the most stupid, EVER.

[HughBeaumont]

3. Helps to have a crime boss like Dick Cheney in your corner . . .

as well as any corporation that will directly profit from having you in office, most of the tamestream media, Karl Rove, Poppy, all of Poppy's cabinet and underlings, voting machine companies, defense contractors, various paid liars, your swing-state governor brother, your cousin working at FOX, enough Dumbericans who share the same brain and buy the whole "moderate conservative" crap, etc.

[daninthemoon]

4. Most likely he is a wind up toy sent out by rove etal. If not, he is

a supergenious antichrist. Only person I've heard of who can completely convince some that he's brilliant, but to the rest he's "dummer than a bag of hammers". I just wish he would come off that lame texas yokel accent crap. He's as northeast whitebread silver spoon as they come.

[OregonBlue]

5. I agree completely. I have never thought he was bright or rather I

thought he may have been bright at one time but seems to have alcohol related brain damage. I've been wondering about the blunders and where was Karl. Now we find out that the puppet master was in the hospital with kidney stones (had been hoping he was absent because he was preparing his defense to an indictment) so * was on his own.

Now I'm wondering. This has been so badly handled. Saw Vitter on TV yesterday saying military and private contractors did jobs well so maybe we need to look at FEMA as the problem. He stumbled through his comments, first said private contractors them mumbled charities, faith based organizations, etc. It was obviously the new talking point and he hadn't rehearsed it well enough.

Can Fatface really be this clever? Guess Homeland Security does have the best spook minds so it's possible this was intentional and a set up.

[Inland]

6. Bush is smart in his specialized area of knowledge

Latching on to powerful people, influential friends, and being their tool. You don't get where he is, without any discernible OTHER talents, without being really, really good at that. It's just not the thing that you see at a presidential debate.

And he has a predator's sense for pretending human emotions he doesn't feel. Is that intelligence?

[etherealtruth]

7. If anyone watches the "Fairly Odd Parents" ...

He's Francis ... big, grey, mean and stupid (unlike Francis, the Chimp has an evil cabal pointing his hatred in particular directions).

[John Q. Citizen]

8. I guess if it makes you feel good to believe george is

stupid, go for it.

Building the criminal actions of this president a "diminished capacity" defense seems premature.

My opinion is that bush has slightly better than "average" intelligence.

I also believe he's a sociopath.

Let's put it this way. Was Hitler stupid because he opened another front against the Soviet Union? It clearly cost him the war. Yet I would argue that Hitler was overly optimistic and arrogant about his ability to quickly defeat the Soviets. Self deluded maybe, but stupid, no.

[SmokingJacket]

15. It's hearing him talk that makes me think he's dumb.

He can't string a sentence together for the life of him. And okay, maybe he's one of those idiot savants who has some area of brilliance that doesn't show on the surface -- but where is it, then?

I don't believe he's dumb to make myself feel better (WTF?) but simply because I see no evidence to the contrary.

Stupid actions + stupid facial expressions + stupid speech = stupid.

That doesn't mean he's not also a sociopath, though -- something he probably inherited from Babs.

[John Q. Citizen]

17. His father seems to share the "string a sentence together"

affliction. I think bush is dyslexic, which of course also suggests the possibility that bush is above average intelligence, since most dyslexics are above average intelligence.

However, for years dyslexics were thought to be stupid, often because of their speech patterns and because of their difficulty reading.

As far as stupid actions, well, is Tony Blair stupid too? He can put a sentence together yet his actions in Iraq are basically identical to bush's course. In fact Blair put his military effectively under the control of bush. So by this measure, Blair must be stupid too, except for the speech part.

I believe bush's agenda is stupid.....for the average American, but they have been a godsend to the wealthy elite.

I seriously don't believe bush suffers from diminished capacity, even with some brain damage from his heavy drinking/drugging days.

bush suffers from arrogance, pride, and narcissism, none of which suggests diminished capacity.

That said , I don't believe bush is a mental giant, he's just not a dullard either.

edit format/spelling

[question everything]

9. Bush, like Reagan, is a pretty face chosen by the power brokers of the GOP

to carry their agenda. Both were selected for being simple men who could deliver what they were told to say.

Bush has never worked hard in his life for anything. When he chose to "enter" politics it was just a game for him. He saw the presidency of Bill Clinton and figured he would have it easy, but then came 9/11 and changed things around.

Sure he is testy now, and nervous, and throws temper tantrum. This is not what it was supposed to have been, not was promised to him.

Bill Maher really captured this:

Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you any
more. There's no more money to spend--you used up all
of that. You can't start another war because you used
up the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your
term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping
poor people. Listen to your Mom. The cupboard's bare,
the credit cards maxed out. No one's speaking to you.
Mission accomplished.

Now it's time to do what you've always done best: lose
interest and walk away. Like you did with your
military service and the oil company and the baseball
team. It's time. Time to move on and try the next
fantasy job. How about cowboy or space man? Now I know
what you're saying: there's so many other things that
you as President could involve yourself in. Please
don't. I know, I know. There's a lot left to do.
There's a war with Venezuela. Eliminating the sales
tax on yachts. Turning the space program over to the
church. And Social Security to Fannie Mae. Giving
embryos the vote.

But, Sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why?
Because you govern like Billy Joel drives. You've
performed so poorly I'm surprised that you haven't
given yourself a medal. You're a catastrophe that
walks like a man. Herbert Hoover was a sh**ty
president, but even he never conceded an entire city
to rising water and snakes.

On your watch, we've lost almost all of our allies,
the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a
piece of the Pentagon and the City of New Orleans.
Maybe you're just not lucky. I'm not saying you don't
love this country. I'm just wondering how much worse
it could be if you were on the other side.

So, yes, God does speak to you. What he is saying is:
Take a hint."

[Skittles]

10. another poster pointed out the difference between Reagan and Bush II

Reagan KNEW he was playing a role with his past acting/speaking experience, was able to do it fairly well - but GWB - he REALLY THINKS HE IS PRESIDENT - he doesn't realize he just PLAYS ONE ON TV - BADLY

[question everything]

11. Good point, thanks (nt)

[etherealtruth]

12. This is actually haunting ...

"I'm just wondering how much worse
it could be if you were on the other side."

Thanks for the quote!

[Ishoutandscream2]

13. His strength is his pedigree, and his ability to smooze with his base

Other than that, he is a complete idiot. If his name wasn't Bush, he would probably be working a minimum wage job or living on the streets as an alcoholic.

[McCamy Taylor]

14. W. is a whore, he knows how to charm men and women. That's it.

[mopaul]

16. brilliantly stupid

[FlaGranny]

18. Stupid maybe, but his most "endearing" traits

are cluelessness, incuriosity, lack of caring, arrogance, shrewdness, and lack of generosity. These traits make him a very dangerous person to be president (and there are more traits that could be added to this list).