[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
What do you expect? It is not something he has been known for up to now. We haven’t had a genuine intellectual for president since . . . well, probably Teddy Roosevelt; but this one is less intellectual than any in living memory.
[/QUOTE]
Carter was considered an intellectual, in a kind of folksy way. Also Wilson.
I’m not so sure about Roosevelt… he wouldn’t stop a speech even after stopping a bullet. How brainy is that? 
His speech stopped the bullet. Thats a true fact, you could look it up.
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim]
I’m not so sure about Roosevelt… he wouldn’t stop a speech even after stopping a bullet. How brainy is that?
[/QUOTE]
It was Uncle Teddy Roosevelt who continued speaking after being shot. FDR was shot at in Miami, FL but was unhurt. Mayon Anton Cermak of Chicago was mortally wounded.
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99]
So, mswas, how much does an oracle pull down in today’s marketplace?
[/QUOTE]
Depends on the clothes.
How does Bill Clinton – who is a former Rhodes Scholar, a voracious reader, a skilled debator and extemporaneous speaker, and a man who’s genuinely knowledgable of and curious about a wide spectrum of subjects – not count as a genuine intellectual? He may had poor judgment about his sexual behavior while in office, but lack of good sense in one area does not disprove what I see as a remarkable intellect.
Bush has at best an average intelligence and extraordinary incuriosity. Combined with his arrogance, which precludes his willingness to admit mistakes or accept advice from those who don’t agree with him, this makes for a particularly toxic combination in a leader.
[QUOTE=tomndebb]
However, despite his capacity for planning and execution, he still always conveys the impression that thinking makes his brain hurt. He wants to see the world in nice shades of stark black and white and not think too much about nuance or ramifications.
[/QUOTE]
I have always been ambiguous about his intellect. At times I have thought, and posted to the effect, that he is very smart and the whole thing is an act, and at other times I’ve wavered and thought, “no, Princhester, you’re kidding yourself, he really is a box of hammers”.
I don’t think the bit of your post I’ve quoted above indicates anything one way or the other. I’ve come across a number of highly effective but (to many of us) highly aggravating managers who use the technique of black/whiting everything. Consideration of shades of gray, nuance and ramifications complicate and slow down decision making. The technique I’ve seen involves picking an end goal, after consideration of all nuances and ramifications in private. Once the end goal is established, no nuances or ramications (except perhaps helpful ones) are spoken of or acknowledged. From that point forward, the end goal = good, anything else = bad. The same process is applied to any intermediate steps: discussion if any of subtleties occurs in private, and after that publically an intermediate step towards the end goal = good, anything else = bad.
[QUOTE=tomndebb]
Those who will contend that he was merely a puppet for some smarter and more dire forces have to justify that claim in the face of repeated evidence that he does things his way, often refusing to hear contradictory advice. I am sure that Rove (but not Cheney) has a great deal to do with his strategy mapping, but it still required his participation at some command level to pull off those events.
[/QUOTE]
Tom, I believe you have seriously underestimated the influence of Cheney on this presidency. While I agree with you that Bush is much smarter than some believe, I also believe he entered office as a woefully ignorant man, particularly in matters of world history and foreign policy. (Blame it on his “intellectually incurious” nature.) From the beginning, Bush deferred to Cheney and his cronies in foreign policy (to the detriment of the nation, in my opinion).
The Washington Post recently had a series on Cheney chronicling his unprecedentedly powerful vice presidency.
[QUOTE=David Simmons]
It was Uncle Teddy Roosevelt who continued speaking after being shot. FDR was shot at in Miami, FL but was unhurt. Mayon Anton Cermak of Chicago was mortally wounded.
[/QUOTE]
I was speaking about Teddy. Note the post I was replying to.
[QUOTE=mswas]
Depends on the clothes.
[/QUOTE]
Well, there’s your problem. See, you should be wearing the Depends underneath your clothes.
In other news: Eeew.
Doesn’t matter anyway. It’s too late for Bush to do anything to materially affect his place in history - there’s too little time left, and no “political capital” left for him to do it with. We’re already shaping the post-Bush world right now.
[QUOTE=ElvisL1ves]
Doesn’t matter anyway. It’s too late for Bush to do anything to materially affect his place in history - there’s too little time left, and no “political capital” left for him to do it with. We’re already shaping the post-Bush world right now.
[/QUOTE]
There’s plenty of time for him to fuck up even more spectacularly. I’m having trouble imagining what he could do to make his legacy even worse – but the White House has a large staff to figure that out for me.
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim]
There’s plenty of time for him to fuck up even more spectacularly. I’m having trouble imagining what he could do to make his legacy even worse – but the White House has a large staff to figure that out for me.
[/QUOTE]
Bomb Iran
Bomb bomb Iran
[QUOTE=EddyTeddyFreddy]
Bomb Iran
Bomb bomb Iran
[/QUOTE]
See? The next spectacular fuckup idea can come from ordinary Joes like you and me.
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim]
See? The next spectacular fuckup idea can come from ordinary Joes like you and me.
[/QUOTE]
Actually, she stole that from John McCain.
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim]
There’s plenty of time for him to fuck up even more spectacularly. I’m having trouble imagining what he could do to make his legacy even worse – but the White House has a large staff to figure that out for me.
[/QUOTE]
Conscription.
[del]Jail[/del] Prison for [del]protestors/dissenters[/del] disloyal terroist lovers.
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan]
Actually, she stole that from John McCain.
[/QUOTE]
:smack:
Damn! I forgot the footnote.
I’m sure there have been Americans wanting to bomb Iran ever since there was an Iran. The idea is practically folklore.
[QUOTE=choie]
How does Bill Clinton – who is a former Rhodes Scholar, a voracious reader, a skilled debator and extemporaneous speaker, and a man who’s genuinely knowledgable of and curious about a wide spectrum of subjects – not count as a genuine intellectual?
[/QUOTE]
Clinton is highly intelligent – I just don’t think of him as an intellectual, that is, a person who is passionately interested in knowledge and ideas for their own sake. (Maybe I’d have a different picture if I read his autobiography.) TR and Wilson definitely were. It’s a matter of taste as well as ability.
Bush has more of a “brain Twist”… “How can I most effectively market my message(what ev er it is this week) to the masses?”
regards
FML
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim]
I was speaking about Teddy. Note the post I was replying to.
[/QUOTE]
Oops. Does anyone know how to fix tunnel vision?