He is certainly smarter now...No Child Left Behind, right?
George W. Bush is smarter than you
41–50 of 82 posts
Re: George W. Bush is smarter than you
#42When George W. Bush was governor, he spoke at my sister's high school graduation ( http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/president-bush ). His public persona changed significantly from Governor to President, and he definitely played up the everyman persona during his presidency. While this may have polled well, these type of false personas should have no place in politics. The President is not an actor playing a role --…
But these types of personas always have a place in politics - that's a large part of what makes it politics. If you didn't play a role you wouldn't get elected.
I highly doubt that Obama is the same in private as his public persona - from everything I've heard, he's very much the intellectual, introverted college-professor type in private, and the gregarious "audacity of hope" person is a mask he puts on for public events.
Re: George W. Bush is smarter than you
#43Has the OP considered that the perceived lack of intelligence of George W. Bush may be based on the outcome of the decisions made by his administration, rather than his southern drawl or verbal miscues?
Re: George W. Bush is smarter than you
#441. I don't judge his intelligence by how he spoke at speeches or how he presented himself. I don't usually watch Obama's speeches either. But I judge him based on his record, which was flat out abysmal.
I actually supported the Iraq War, believe it or not, no matter whether there were WMD's (I'm of a slightly interventionist bent when it comes to foreign policy) - but Bush's handling of that war and the War in Afghanistan was absolutely dreadful.
Don't get me started on economic policy or Katrina.
2. As someone pointed out, this judgment of intelligence based on speech doesn't just apply to southerners, it applies to foreigners as well.
Re: George W. Bush is smarter than you
#45When George W. Bush was governor, he spoke at my sister's high school graduation ( http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/president-bush ). His public persona changed significantly from Governor to President, and he definitely played up the everyman persona during his presidency. While this may have polled well, these type of false personas should have no place in politics. The President is not an actor playing a role --…
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Re: George W. Bush is smarter than you
#46I've grown to distrust all but first-hand assessments when it comes to this.
I find that people are often quite at ease with judging, if not pre-judging a person's intelligence on the most minimal impressions, appearance, accent, a single opinion or remark.
Personally, I'm so used to facing certain assumptions that they no longer bother me.
Re: George W. Bush is smarter than you
#47Actually, you can look up what George Bush's IQ is. Depending on the specific test mentioned, he comes in at about 120. So he may or may not be smarter than you...
You know that number is pulled out of thin air, right?
"Unlike John F. Kennedy, who obtained an IQ score of 119, or Al Gore, who achieved scores of 133 and 134 on intelligence tests taken at the beginning of his high school freshman and senior years, no IQ data are available for George W. Bush. But we do know that the young Bush registered a score of 1206 on the SAT, the most widely used test of college aptitude. (The more cerebral Al Gore obtained 1355.)"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Presidential_IQ_hoax#IQ_es...
Re: George W. Bush is smarter than you
#48Here's what happens when you try to share on Facebook: http://d.pr/i/lZCI
Same here.
Edit: on further inspection, a request for the file 404s. Reading the docs, there doesn't appear to be any recourse.
Re: George W. Bush is smarter than you
#49When George W. Bush was governor, he spoke at my sister's high school graduation ( http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/president-bush ). His public persona changed significantly from Governor to President, and he definitely played up the everyman persona during his presidency. While this may have polled well, these type of false personas should have no place in politics. The President is not an actor playing a role --…
Not an actor? Didn't you know every years we tune into "America's Got President!"
Re: George W. Bush is smarter than you
#50Who ever said he wasn't smart? This fad was created by comedians such as Letterman and bares absolutely no truth.
1) Unless you have data to back you up, you're speculating, just like anyone who speculated that his intelligence was lacking.
2) It's "bears," not "bares".