"Furrin'" DUers: Has your country had a leader as intelligent as Bush?

[Fenris]

Of course, that's not a compliment. I mean, has your country ever had a leader - Prime Minister, president, chancellor, exalted dictator - that is as mentally deficient as Bush is? Surely we cannot be the only country that has ever had a leader that was, say, borderline retarded. Sure there have been some awful leaders in most countries; but what about severely incompetent?

Chime away!

[Guy Fawkes]

1. Not my country...(I'm in wisconsin)

but John "sand ni***r" Howard comes to mind... (PM of Australia)

[the Kelly Gang]

3. it's worse..he actually looks up to B*** as better man

[baldguy]

2. I would think most countries do...

...but they're leading childrens TV shows.

And they're not evil.

[Snow]

4. Idi Amin was, ummm, challenged intellectually - still is, come

to that.

Korea's had a few ringers, but mostly by accident, since the typical way you advance in the world in a Confucian society is through exams. Rulers are picked by how well they paint, compose poetry, and by their calligraphy. There're worse ways to choose rulers, IMHO. The last dumb-dumb, I think, was King (titled Emperor by the japanese occupation) Sunjong, in the early 1900's. There's a persistent rumor amongst those who were in a position to know that Sunjong was developmentally disabled, possibly Down's syndrome. But he was put on the throne by the japanese occupation.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

5. Paul Martin, on D-Day paid tribute to the soldiers who landed on

June 6th 1944 in Norway. That's Bush League, eh?

[Magrittes Pipe]

7. I know he's not a head of state. Not even ceremonially.

I know he's nothing but an accident of history.

But what of Prince Phillip?

[flamingyouth]

6. Brian Mulroney

He was a doofus.

[CanuckAmok]

12. Unfortunately not.

Mulroney was (and remains) a clever, conniving, mercenary SOB, but he's no doofus.

Actually, him being a moron would have been much better for this country than him being intelligent.

He was Reagan's lapdog.

[Kellanved]

8. Hmm

Chancellors are not like Presidents, so it is not easy to answer. I'd say that Kohl was about in the same league as a Leader - but he was able to hold speeches. Of course being an useful idiot was considered an asset at the time, not a problem.
The newly sworn-in President, Köhler, has already shown a few displays of complete incompetence. Thankfully his office is largely ceremonial.



The last conservative candidate, Stoiber, earned the nickname "Scatman Ed" and misspoke spectacularly at several occasions, not unlike Bush*. However he lost the Election.


Maybe someone pre- Federal Republic - I've read a few things about Wilhelm II sounding familiar.

[Karenina]

10. I SAT

In a chair Wilhelm II sat in (to sign some document or other). Mumu was showing me the house and when she opened the door to a little-used room I spotted this chair, walked over to it, sat down, got comfy, looked up at her and said, "WAY COOL!" (Die Frau, 70, sieben Kinder, ich als Freundin an der letzter Jung, hat sich fast tot gelacht. "Ich mache die Tür immer auf !"sagte sie).

[alarcojon]

9. Ecuador had "El Loco" Abdala Bucaram

he was removed on the grounds of mental incapacity in 1997. He even released an album titled A Madman in Love shortly after his inauguration.

On edit: slip up on date.

[Misunderestimator]

11. Caligula?