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Bush dumb? Kerry Dumber?

Dumber yet would be anybody equating GPA with intelligence. Grades have
a lot to do with motivation,
social issues, and (in what passes for education these days), the
ability to parrot back factoids on "exams" that do little to
demonstrate whether the student actually understands the material.

Bush has a lower verbal IQ than Kerry's, and probably slightly lower
than average. This is apparent to anyone who has heard him attempt to
speak without a prompter. He admits he doesn't read,

Bush never said that.

but rather has his
staff read newspapers and periodicals for him and prepare summaries.

Of course. The POTUS doesn't have the time to sit down and dissect two
dozen different newspapers each morning.


Verbal IQ is not the sum total of intelligence. There is another
portion of IQ, spatial reasoning and deduction
(i.e. math skills) where Bush may do very well. While one can observe
evidence of verbal IQ when another person attempts to communicate, the
other aspects are not apparent to the casual observer and are best
evaluated with a specialized test.


There is no doubt that Bush is more shrewd, cunning, and ruthless than
Kerry.

Cunningness is not something demonstrated by those of low IQ.


If those can be considered aspects of "intelligence", (and they
may well be- they allow a person to be effective against opposition),
Bush clearly wins in that category.

Can you name a better trait for a President, than having the ability to be
effective against opposition...particularly during a war?


Historians will never consider GWB to be the brightest bulb in the
presidential chandelier,

Certainly not the left-leaning historians. And a right-leaning historian
simply doesn't exist. Righties are the go-getters...and lefties are the
whining Monday morning quarterbacks.


but there is little direct correlation between
college grades and native intelligence. Some very bright people
undoubtedly went to college and screwed around socializing rather than
studying. College doesn't make anyone intelligent. Some emerge
"educated", but that is a different quality entirely.

Smartest presidents in the last 50 years would have to include:

JFK

Naw.

Jimmy Carter (proving there is no direct correlation between being a
smart person and an extremely good president)

Carter was quite intelligent, but not street smart.

Bill Clinton

Yes, very smart.

Ronald Reagan (in his first term)

Yes. In both terms.


Johnson, Nixon, and Bush the First were also pretty bright, but I'd put
them down a level below the group in the previous paragraph

Nixon was as smart and savvy as any of 'em. He lacked charisma and
self-confidence.

Bush the first was pretty sharp too.


Bush the Second and Gerald Ford bring up the rear, IMO.


Bush may be perhaps the smartest of all. He has a knack for consistently
making his opponents "misunderestimate" him. Yet he always comes out on
top. Either you have to believe he's pretty darn smart...or you believe
that Forrest Gump was a true story being played out in the White House.