Is Bush an idiot or does he just play one on TV?

[bklyncowgirl]

Watching Brian's William's interview with His Decidership I found myself over and over asking--Can this man really be this stupid?

Bush is Connecticut born, Harvard educated and when Williams mentioned his privileged upbringing he immediately donned his good old boy (some might say ignorant cracker) persona and began ranting about how the person who brought that up didn't really know him.

When the subject of his reading material came up Bush immediately dodged the question of the "back story" of Camus' "The Stranger" and volunteered that he had read not one but three "Shakespeares".

Americans of course have an innate distrust for intellectuals but I have never seen a politician thrive by--as Bush put it in the interview-- "lowering expectations"

This is the Presidency of the United States! For God's Sake. Not the special Olympics.

I don't want a president who is "A Special Kind of Smart". I want someone who is way ahead of me intellectually not someone I'd have a good time annoying in a barroom debate (provided I had a few friends with me to get me out of there in case it got ugly).

Bush's good old boy demeanor has always bugged me because I've always suspected that it concealed something pretty ugly and frankly scary. This is a man who sees the world in terms of black and white and has limited imagination and almost no curiosity. He is a used car salesman out to con you, a reptile dressed in a business suit. Al Gore called him intelligent in a feral sort of way and maybe that's true. Alligators are very good at being alligators but I would not want one running the country.

That we Americans have elected such a man to office because "he seemed like someone you could have a beer with" should be a source of lasting disgrace to this country.

[cassiepriam]

1. He is not the biggest disgrace, the American people are.

They either voted him in, or allowed crooked elections.

Any way you slice it, the American people have lost their way.
Cannot tell right from wrong. Cannot tell truth from lies.

[City Lights]

5. The USSC is the biggest disgrace of all.

Followed by the media, followed by the sheep who swallow the dung spoon-fed to them by the media.

[cassiepriam]

18. So many are "biggest disgrace". Too few brave and wise. nt

[bklyncowgirl]

10. I have to agree with you on that. H.L. Mencken was right

Quote:

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron"

[cassiepriam]

17. Perfect quote. So sad and so true.

Bush is the soul of the American people, like it or not.

[hippiechick]

2. I used to think he was fairly intelligent ...

... but just a mean, evil bastard who played 'folksy' to manipulate people.

Now I think either the long term effects of the substance abuse, or some kind of early dementia are setting in. Or as some have suggested, he's being heavily medicated by his handlers.

[bullimiami]

3. hes a f&*(ing idiot who is proud to display it on tv.

his success (sic) has proven to him that he was right all his life. he is special.

[bryant69]

4. Molly Ivins says that he's not dumb

I think he must have suffered some real societal cuts early on - he harbors a lot of resentment for peopel who are essentially just like him (well educated, northeastern, and so on). He found that lot of other people also resent wealthy, well edjucated people from the north east, and so parlayed his resentment into being a spokesman for this resentment.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[ProfessorGAC]

7. I Love Molly, But Don't Buy This At All

He's dumber than a stump, and going to college and being educated aren't the same thing.
The Professor

[Ghost in the Machine]

6. I think he's S.U.S. .....

Straight Up Stupid!..... and as Ron White says... "you can't fix stupid"...

[Selatius]

8. He's smart enough to play dumb on television.

You'd be suprised what people say or do when people think you're really stupid and don't see your presence as something to be mindful.

[Virginia Dare]

9. I don't think he was ever intellectually gifted...

but the drugs and the booze have eaten away any rational or intelligent thoughts he ever had in his head.

[lumpy]

11. Al Gores comment that Bush

is intelligent in a feral sort of way is spot on. That description fits many a dishonest human being exhibiting a fraudulent personality peppered with a strong dose of guile.

[etherealtruth]

14. Add to that his comments ...

...that the Chimp is intellectually lazy (or "incurious" as Gore out it) which is worse than simply being of low intelligence.

[Lisa]

21. someone here at DU used the phrase "functional stupidity"

... which I think sums things up quite well. If Bush makes stupid decisions because he can't be bothered learning about the situation (or is too arrogant to be prepared for when things go wrong) -- he might as well be a moron.

And Gore's point is also quite a good warning. I bet most of us know someone who is not very bright overall, but cunning enough to cause a lot of trouble, if s/he is eager enough for personal gain (or self-preservation). In that context, Bush is almost a genius when it comes to getting back at people -- his special area, as coached by his mom, and later Karl Rove. Also note his sometimes-subtle jabs at those he doesn't like much, for his own amusement. If one considers just these kinds of situations, Bush is surprisingly disciplined, focused, creative -- and even witty. (For example, the wordplay he indulges in, when he's insulting people.)

"Back in June, flying on the campaign trail, Bush would tease "Gail" as she tried to get him to talk seriously about the environment, reading, and gay rights, and he would respond in "off the record" repartee: "Gail, did you go to the baseball game last night?" "No, Governor, I was traveling with you." When she asks if she could "lope along" with him on the running track back in Austin, he says, "Are you a loper? An 'interloper.' Too hot. It's 98 degrees down there."
http://www.bushwatch.com/dyslexia.htm

[bklyncowgirl]

12. Somewhere Osama Bin Laden is laughing his ass off.

Allah appears to have given thim the perfect enemy.

[ComerPerro]

13. If he is just acting, his supporters should be pissed

because he is acting like them, so the stupid, bumbling idiot he plays is how he percieves his supporters truly are.

"I'm a complete fucking moron, just like you".


Fortunately for them, and unfortuatenly for us, its no act.

His accent, the ranch, his "southern" image, that's all fake, yes.

But the stupidity is genuine Bush.

[Marr]

15. He really is the moron he appears to be. There's a popular

myth that people talk about, saying Bush is actually smart, but prefers to keep expectations low. It's a ridiculous assertion.

I think it comes from some peoples' reluctance to believe that a true idiot could attain the highest office in the country solely because his social station; his name, family wealth, etc. It just destroys the notion that we live in some kind of meritocracy.

It's sort of the flip side of the New Orleans denial. There was alot of commentary from TV's overpaid "experts" during the Katrina disaster that America was "getting it's first look at poverty in the USA". Poverty is all over the place- it's not hard to find. But alot of people choose *not* to see it, because it doesn't fit into their chosen world view.

[bklyncowgirl]

16. He actually said something like that himself in the interview

I go back and forth on the issue myself and also on what it says about this country.

Which is worse--that an idiot could get elected because of family connections and the support of people behind the scenes who manage him as a figurehead to achieve their political and economics ends or that a smart man would pretend to be a blithering idiot in order to appeal to a certain strain of voter and prevent people seeing what he is doing to them while they are either cheering on his idiocy or laughing at him.

Either way it ain't pretty.

[opihimoimoi]

19. The boy is brain damaged beyond saving

[Lisa]

22. well-put!

You're right. Either thought is horrifying: a), that a stupid person could be put in office because certain people can manipulate the system and will benefit from this; or b), that someone would deliberately act stupid, even to the point of making bad economic and military decisions, in order to get power.

[Lisa]

20. it would be fitting punishment -- if he's smarter than he appears ...

... and he's getting upset that people think he's stupid and incompetent ... all I can say is, "You made your bed, now lie in it!"