BUSH IQ LOW ON PRESIDENTIAL LEAGUE

[klebean]

not sure if this is a dupe (I did a search here w/out finding this article),
nor if this research had anything to do w/Scarborough's "Bush is an Idiot"
moment. While I agree Bush is an idiot, I also tend to agree w/ McCrisken
that Bush is not a dimwit probably b/c I NEED to believe that a dimwit
cannot be elected president of the US.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2350564,00.html



Bush may be “much smarter” than the findings imply, says Simonton, but he scores particularly unimpressively for “openness to experience, a cognitive proclivity that encompasses unusual receptiveness to fantasy, aesthetics, actions, ideas and values. In the general population this factor is positively associated with intelligence”.

Bush’s openness score of zero — compared with 82 for Clinton and John F Kennedy, 95 for Abraham Lincoln and 99.1 for Thomas Jefferson — “placed him at the very bottom of US presidents”.

This assessment can only be considered tentative because of lack of available evidence on a sitting president, but it is corroborated by a measure of Bush’s “integrative complexity”. Simonton says: “Low scorers on integrative complexity can only see things from a single perspective — their own.”

Bush’s score, he says, is comparable to “extremist Islamic fundamentalists in the Taliban and Al-Qaeda leadership — with the notable exception of Osama Bin Laden, who is lower still”.

Trevor McCrisken, lecturer in American politics at Warwick University, said: “This is going to give added ammunition to those who dislike Bush, and who particularly dislike his folksiness, and his apparent lack of intellectual vigour. A major part of his public persona, to some extent, I think deliberately, is that he is not an intellectual. But he went to Yale, he has had an exclusive upbringing and he is by no means a dimwit.”

[AX10]

1. George W. Bush is the enemy of intelligence!

[CJCRANE]

2. They're too soft on *

Has anyone done an analysis of his vocabulary to estimate his reading age?

[babylonsister]

3. So what was all that pre-election hoopla about Il Dunce

being smarter and scoring better than Kerry? I never bought it, but that meme was out there.
And 'lack of intellectual vigor'... ya think? :eyes:

[rfranklin]

5. Supposedly his grade point average was higher than Kerry...

But Bush's course load was carried by his fraternity brothers while he was in charge of getting the kegs. Meanwhile, Kerry was involved in many meaningful extracurricular activities.

"It is noteworthy, however, that Kerry received a high honor at Yale despite his mediocre grades: He was chosen to deliver his senior class oration, a testament to his reputation as a public speaker. He delivered a speech questioning the wisdom of the Vietnam War, in which he would soon see combat....

"In his Navy application, Kerry made clear that he spent much of his college time on extracurricular activities, including the Yale Political Union, the Debating Association, soccer, hockey, fencing, and membership in the elite Skull and Bones Society. Asked to describe nonschool training that qualified him for the Navy, Kerry wrote: ''A great deal of sailing -- ocean and otherwise, including some navigation. Scuba diving. Rifle. Beginning of life saving." He said his special interests were ''filming," writing, and politics, noting that the latter subject occupied 15 hours per week."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/06/07/yale_grades_portray_kerry_as_a_lackluster_student/?page=2

[babylonsister]

8. Wow, thank you, rfranklin, for this.

And "* was in charge of getting the kegs". Why do I think that is so true and right on?

As far as the S&B, I really wonder, honestly, what that has to do with his life now?
I would bet not much. We're talking lots of years ago.

And where are dimson's applications, to anything?

[personman]

7. I never bought it either. n/t

[John Gauger]

4. UBL got a negative score?

I never liked that guy. He always seemed like a real kneebiter.

[personman]

6. If he scored over 100

Then he is more intelligent then average, which means we are all fucked.

I have a hard time believing he scored that high.

[Marrak]

9. Yeah..but Bush plus Alberto

trumps "quaint"?
<>

[Elidor]

10. "His apparent lack of intellectual vigour"

Now there's an understatement for you. Out here in the sticks we call people like this 'dumbfucks.' Numerous people have protested to the contrary, including Molly Ivins as well as this Trevor McCrisken person. I don't buy it. Basic animal cunning does not qualify as smart in my book. Even Rove's more Machiavellian machinations are merely the same divisive machine politics, honed to a keen edge and hammered again and again like cudgel blows. You might as well say that Mike Tyson is brilliant. George W. Bush is a fucking snake. No more, no less. Trained from birth to strike at appropriate moments and spit poison at the world. He's too much of a POS to actually capture bin Laden, but he sure has outdone his body count. Worthless piece of shit.

Did I mention he's a dumbfuck?

[babylonsister]

11. "...he sure has outdone his body count." Way too much.

Who let him play with all the marbles and it went horribly bad? Or good, depending on your point of view. Sick.

[klebean]

12. Vocabulary count

That's an awesome idea...something to extend the research!

Hey Hardhead - I don't want to buy it either; I was not comfortable acknowledging out loud to my husband that Bush isn't dumb.
Tyson probably is high in animal cunning (instinct), but low in executive functioning (and probably low in intellectual vigor).
He's trained to fight and win in the ring; Bush is trained to fight in politics...and how much intellectual vigor do either require?
However, there is some type of intelligence at work in both of them. Bush is obviously intelligent enough to surround himself
with those who support a similar Greed Creed. Yeah, it's scary to accept that there is anything smart about him.

And you guys above - thanx for bringing up Kerry's record.