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George W. Bush is smarter than you

keithhennessey.com

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Re: George W. Bush is smarter than you

#71

Post by illuminate »

jonnathanson wrote: post #22

"President Bush intentionally aimed his public image at average Americans rather than at Cambridge or Upper East Side elites." I suspect the experiences, and attendant political lessons, of George Bush Sr. had a direct influence on the way George Bush Jr. presented himself. Bush I was often criticized as intellectual, elitist, nerdy, aloof, and "Ivy League." He was trounced in his reelection campaign by Bill Clinton,…

"Bush I was often criticized as intellectual, elitist, nerdy, aloof, and "Ivy League.""

Boogie Man really was an incredible documentary.

Re: George W. Bush is smarter than you

#72

Post by ravloony »

waps wrote: post #65
shirkey wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...just as every politician learns to create a persona. "The caricature of President Bush is that of a good ol’ boy from Texas who is principled and tough, but just not that bright." Whether genuine or not, that was the caricature he cultivated and embraced, further distancing himself from the "elite" in the minds of most Americans. Whether a voter found this to be charming or not went a long way to how those voters…

Yeah but you've got to appreciate the irony in America. America has a very selective elite who have a very narrow definition of what that elite is (ivy-league, "entrepreneurial", rich, democrat, ...) and is regularly accused of having -very- little tolerance for anyone outside of their core group ... I wouldn't say that's true for the whole group, but there's a significant portion of them that certainly do this. And…

"The majority of French noblemen were cruel drunks."

The feodal system held together for about a thousand years in France. Give them a tiny bit of credit.

Also, insulting generalisations about a vast group of people doesn't do the rest of your arguments any credit.

Re: George W. Bush is smarter than you

#73

Post by [deleted] »

jonnathanson wrote: post #22

"President Bush intentionally aimed his public image at average Americans rather than at Cambridge or Upper East Side elites." I suspect the experiences, and attendant political lessons, of George Bush Sr. had a direct influence on the way George Bush Jr. presented himself. Bush I was often criticized as intellectual, elitist, nerdy, aloof, and "Ivy League." He was trounced in his reelection campaign by Bill Clinton,…

[deleted]

Re: George W. Bush is smarter than you

#74

Post by t0 »

VikingCoder wrote: post #50
t0 wrote: post #3

Who 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".

Good point.

I've been spelling that wrong forever. Thanks.

Re: George W. Bush is smarter than you

#76

Post by Ravenlock »

a_p wrote: post #56

In 2010, the Sienna Presidential poll — which is very well respected — ranked George W. Bush as the 42 most intelligent president (only Harding ranked lower). [1, pdf file]. 14 of the 19 categories have W. in the bottom 5. These categories are: Communication ability, Court Appointments, Handling of U.S Economy, Ability to Compromise, Executive Appointments, Overall Ability, Imagination, Domestic Accomplishments, Inte…

I feel like this would be a really interesting point to get Mr Hennessey's response to, but since he has comments disabled on his blog, I guess that's unlikely.

Re: George W. Bush is smarter than you

#77

Post by bherms »

andrewflnr wrote: post #48
bherms wrote: post #18

Here'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.

I inspected the source and didn't see that file in there? When I removed the "preview" that Facebook tries to generate, it worked, however. There goes my conspiracy theory :\

Re: George W. Bush is smarter than you

#78

Post by andrewflnr »

bherms wrote: post #77
andrewflnr wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. Edit: on further inspection, a request for the file 404s. Reading the docs, there doesn't appear to be any recourse.

I inspected the source and didn't see that file in there? When I removed the "preview" that Facebook tries to generate, it worked, however. There goes my conspiracy theory :\

Odd. But I think the sabotage theory (no conspiracy required, I think) is still a go, it just required the preview to work.

Re: George W. Bush is smarter than you

#79

Post by vxNsr »

spamizbad wrote: post #13
rayiner wrote: post #6

It's a huge error to assume that people who disagree with you are dumb. Bush is like 4th generation Yale, and his father is extremely smart. It makes more sense to pin e.g. his record at Yale to being a slacker than the apple falling so far from the tree.

George W Bush did abuse alcohol for most of his adult life. That can impact you cognitively. Not saying he "drank himself stupid" or anything like that, but It wouldn't surprise me if his drinking accelerated his cognitive decline as he aged.

It's awesome that you have such insight into his private life, it would be even more awesome if you could source this type of defamation.

Re: George W. Bush is smarter than you

#80

Post by vxNsr »

pewpewlasergun wrote: post #39

Its worth noting that the Keith Hennessey's entire blog is anti-democratic party's economic policy. He has only worked under republican congressmen and presidents. This is hardly an unbiased source.

But, It is a source, of a first hand account of who P. Bush was. Regardless of Mr. Hennessey's Political associations he did deal directly with Bush on a near daily basis.

Also stop for a moment and think about your former and present bosses, how smart do you think they are, do you like or hate them, do you often defend them? I think it says a lot that Hennessey felt compelled to defend Bush.

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