My conclusion is that discussing which of these two rather inept leaders is ‘smarter’ seems kind of pointless. I’ll say again, why do you ask?
Oh, yeah, and I’m not being defensive (he said defensively). 
Isn’t that pointless to jump in a discussion that you think is pointless, El? Yet you are the one who has been making most off-topic noise here.
History tells us tyrants, mass murders and dictators usually go down to an untimely death or in disgrace. They are always remembered only for their bad deeds.
Leaders who care about their people and other people around the world usually are remembered the good they tried to do.
There have been some very smart homicidal maniacs throughout history but Saddam is not one of them. He is just an insane killer without a conscience. One that just doesn’t get out much, outside of his own country that is. He has had virtually no inter action with people from other countries.
Now Mr. Bush may not be the sharpest tack in the box but a true leader is measured by more than just IQ. Common sense and good judgment are so much more important. To that extent Mr. Bush rates a 10 and Saddam Insane rates a big fat 0.
No, and I’m sorry if I’m upsetting you, but I’m honestly curious why the issue of which one is smarter is important to you, that’s all.
In any event, you presented some points supporting your position that Saddam is the smarter of the two, and I responded with a rebuttal that disagreed with some of those points. That’s hardly off-topic, is it?
Morailty aside, Saddam has been very sucessful. He’s wealthy beyond belief and excersises absolute power. We in a democratic mindset may see dictatorships as wrong, but to Saddam, perfectly reasonable. He’s had enough “good judgement” to become absolute ruler of his country, and to hold on to that position through a great deal of turmoil.
Yes, but who writes history-- the victors. If Saddam came out victorious in the end, history would record that there was once an evil empire bent on controlling the entire world called the United States, vanquished by the great and noble Saddam.
And what has he lost, pray tell? The Iraqi people may be suffering, but Saddam has gold on his walls. The bombs may fall, but they don’t fall on his house, and he certainly has never gone hungry. He hasn’t suffered an iota.
Please define “smarter.”
I find it interesting that people who want to believe that Bush is stupid will find ways to explain away a Yale undergrad degree, a Harvard MBA, being a jet fighter pilot, and becoming the most powerful man in the world, and yet they are willing to believe that Saddam MUST be smart, simply because he managed to slaughter enough people to install himself as dictator.
I have decided that such people are not capable of thinking rationally on this subject, and there is no point in trying to debate with them.
To be fair to Bush alot of what is attibuted to stupidness is more the result of laziness and ignorance, and I have heard it said that he may suffer from a non-intelligence related deficiency in his verbalization.
You’ve got that right.
I’ll second that post and raise you a “big time.”
I think part of the problem here is that we don’t have a working definition of intelligence. Which intelligence are we refering to? Intellect? Interpersonal skills? Cunning? Or Wisdom?
I don’t know enough about either man to judge their intellect or their social skills. I think it’s obvious that both men (or their advisors) are cunning – that is, they both have the kind of machiavellian intelligence that wins you power and keeps you there.
As for wisdom, I define that as compassion, honesty, open-mindedness, and integrity, mixed with the insight to act on these things effectively. If I ever spot the slightest glimmer of this from either of these two men, I’ll be sure to let everyone know.
Why be “fair” to Bush? He is an arrogant jerk. All I have seen is a inarticulate strutting bandy rooster. We have one of the Dukes of Hazzard in the White House thanks to a lot of big money being thrown around and a lot of funny business at the polls. Hussein is about as moral as Hitler. There was some funny business at the polls there as well. Which is worse? Does it really matter who is smarter? In my mind, they are both fools? Bush moral? I think not! The question is about as ridiculous as this “Get Iraq” thing. It’s all about oil anyway. I guess we will finally see that pipeline to the sea the Russians wanted in the first place. Any other pretense is designed by the spin doctors to get people fired up enough with a patriotism smokescreen to shoot down the truth. We shouldn’t just blindly accept things in the name of what we are told but it looks like that is what we are supporting. Don’t forget, Ollie North was a pretty big patsy… The patriotism blinders kept people from asking who is Buzz Krongard? Look that one up! and by the way…What ever happened to the search for Bin Laden? Ask yourself honestly just how much you hear about that now?