Bush stupid?

[Magnus]

Trough out media, especially in Sweden, focus is often pointed at at how stupid George W Bush must be. I think this is quite common in other countries aswell. I do not know how many clips or sketches I have seen which in someway makes a fool out of Bush.
I can agree with most of the criticism of the president of the US, but to time after time focus on his possible mental disabilities is to let go of the chances of keeping a serious debate alive, as Naomi Kleing so well has put it.
On the other hand of the line there are intellectual giants like Noam Chomsky. How come there isn´t any intellectual right? The indicated polarity regarding left-wing and right-wing intelligence/brains is rediculous.
IMHO the focus of the discussion should take into account not only Bus´s religous legacy, but also his experiences. I am in no way in favour of Bush, but he deserves a fair treatment, as well as the very important discussion of where our world i headed and why. To time after time point out that Bush is stupid is contra-productive.

[Dave B]

I fail to understand how in a country with a population of over 300 million - many of them highly intelligent - the choice of president boiled down to George W vs John Kerry.

One of the greatest countries on earth ends up being led by a religious fanatic who can barely read an autocue, whose only contibution to history will be the disasterous continuation of his daddy's failed war.

I feel sorry for ordinary Americans, much of the world hates you right now and it's mainly down to one bad apple.


Edit: Oh, and Apple :p

[Tomi]

- many of them highly intelligent -

Maybe not many enough.

[Magnus]

"religious fanatic who can barely read an autocue"
It was statements like that I was trying to discuss... - thus pointing at the negative actions taken by Bush, and the consequences of them. A lame attempt by me to separate the person from his actions...

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Most of the our impressions of Bush come from things he has said in speeches such as 'Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.'

I don't think that he is necessarily an unintelligent person, maybe he is just inarticulate.

[Daniel]

I actually agree. I don't particularly like the guy but you can't help but watch Fahrenheit 911 and see that there is a lot of attention towards the fact that he can be a little dopey at times. I think he should be attacked on policies and such and not the fact that he walked up to a locked door and tried to open it and then tried the other side.

[Roamy]

Most of the our impressions of Bush come from things he has said in speeches such as 'Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.'

I don't think that he is necessarily an unintelligent person, maybe he is just inarticulate.

I would agree with this post!!

[Drew]

I fail to understand how in a country with a population of over 300 million - many of them highly intelligent - the choice of president boiled down to George W vs John Kerry.


Could you say that the UK is any better. We have a choice between an extremely boring Scot that's famous for well, being Tony Blair's number 2. Or, David Cameron that reminds me of that sort of person at school that caused trouble but could speak so much bull fluently, he never got into trouble for it. And then which ever Scottish coffin dodger the Liberal Democrats have :p :

[Eki]

I fail to understand how in a country with a population of over 300 million - many of them highly intelligent - the choice of president boiled down to George W vs John Kerry.

I think it boils down to money. In a Dilbert comic Dilbert once asked the character "world's most intelligent garbageman" why he's only a garbageman despite being so intelligent. The garbage man answered something like intelligence rarely has applications in real world. I think there's some truth to that. Most people are about average intelligence, so if the leader is elected by popular vote, he's most likely average intelligence just like most of his voters.

[Eki]

I think it boils down to money. In a Dilbert comic Dilbert once asked the character "world's most intelligent garbageman" why he's only a garbageman despite being so intelligent. The garbage man answered something like intelligence rarely has applications in real world. I think there's some truth to that. Most people are about average intelligence, so if the leader is elected by popular vote, he's most likely average intelligence just like most of his voters.
Unfortunately, dictators tend to be narcissistic and power hungry megalomaniacs even if they are otherwise intelligent. So, it's your damned if you do and damned if you don't.

[Drew]

Eki, you've just quoted yourself and you're rambling on about intelligence? :erm: :p :

[BDunnell]

Trough out media, especially in Sweden, focus is often pointed at at how stupid George W Bush must be. I think this is quite common in other countries aswell. I do not know how many clips or sketches I have seen which in someway makes a fool out of Bush.
I can agree with most of the criticism of the president of the US, but to time after time focus on his possible mental disabilities is to let go of the chances of keeping a serious debate alive, as Naomi Kleing so well has put it.
On the other hand of the line there are intellectual giants like Noam Chomsky. How come there isn´t any intellectual right? The indicated polarity regarding left-wing and right-wing intelligence/brains is rediculous.
IMHO the focus of the discussion should take into account not only Bus´s religous legacy, but also his experiences. I am in no way in favour of Bush, but he deserves a fair treatment, as well as the very important discussion of where our world i headed and why. To time after time point out that Bush is stupid is contra-productive.

Very interesting subject, this.

I think there is an intellectual element to the right, just as there is to the left. However, the way the extremes on either side manifest themselves in ways that make those that don't agree think they are stupid.

As for Bush being stupid — well, I think the jury's out. I think he has been given a lot of breaks in life, he does undoubtedly come across exceptionally badly to most non-Republicans, and I find religious zeal very worrying in any politician.

[Erki]

USA has become The Supercountry, doing wars here and there, everywhere, pointing fingers to other countries and sniffing other countries' sh!t. Sure if he does all those things at once, he's under constant magnifying glass. And journalism as we know, only concentrates on what sells, i.e. something smelly, and there you go. He might speak total sense sometimes. Like when he's walking his dog and chatting to his wife about what to eat for dinner...

It surely sucks that this all helps creating stereotypes of dumb Americans though...

[Eki]

Eki, you've just quoted yourself and you're rambling on about intelligence? :erm: :p :
It's not my fault there's a 15 minute editing limit on this forum.