This isn’t in any way politically motivated (believe it or not), although, ofcourse, I do have opinions about the politics of the man aswell. But is he really a stupid person or does he just seem that way? I mean, just watching his performance objectively, merely as a human being: the things he says, the stumbling way he speaks, even the look in his eyes and the way he walks. It has always said to me: here is a man of inferior intelligence. I mean the sort of guy you would humour down the pub, maybe pat on the head now and then, but not pay much attention to. Is there anyone who sees him differently? Can they give me a link to a debate transcript or something in which he’s impressive? Because I did meet this one religious woman recently who said she liked the man, and I said “why?”, and she said “because I really believe he prays for our country every night”. But any moron can pray, and I was looking for something more.
I find it fascinating, if he is actually stupid (which I secretly doubt because he’s the most powerful man in the world, and that surely means something more than impressions garnered from TV snapshots), that he could have found himself in the position he’s in: i.e. the President. It must be terribly bewildering for the poor guy.
I recently read a biography of Reagan and it said he was actually extremely clever, which was a nice surprise.
yes
I don’t rightly know, but he does have that glazed look of a farmhand who had been kicked in the head by a horse. Not, of course, that it is valid to measure somebody’s intelligence by his appearance. He was not a stellar student but neither was I and you know how brilliant I am. 
Very true, he’s probably one of the dumbest human beings on this planet. I heard he was in a home for retarded people for a while, but got out due to his family’s connections. Also, he has a tendency to combine meandering thoughts into one paragraph, which is generally a sign of low intelligence.
And I agree with you about the way he walks. There is a special walk that dumb people have, and he has it. Psychologists are starting to phase out IQ tests in favor of just analyzing people’s way of walking - a much better way to assess intelligence.
I’m sure he is bewildered by his being president. I heard that he tries to run away sometimes, but Cheney & Rumsfeld give him a lot of candy until he stays.
In short, this is a well written and intelligent OP - much smarter than anything that Bush himself could have ever put out.
Ok, IzzyR, I specifically implied in my question that you can’t judge a person’s intelligence by the snippets of their behaviour you see on TV. I’m not looking for Bush-bashing. I’m actually genuinely interested to know if there’s any evidence out there that proves he’s not a moron, which the TV snippets tend to suggest. If there isn’t, then I’ll go along with my hunch, that is until a biography comes out.
Well, there is this picture. I think it says a lot.
Let’s define “stupid”. I think a good working definition would be at least in the lower 10th percentile on typical intelligence type tests-- either IQ, SATs, or grades. Somehow I doubt that anyone in the lower 10th percentile, regardless of their family connections, could get thru Yale udergrad and Harvard Biz school.
But why don’t you offer your own definition of “stupid” and measure Bush objectively against that definition instead of offering as evidence your subjective observation that “he looks stupid”?
I think Bush is a little above average in intelligence compared to the general population but definitely below average compared to recent Presidents or senior US government officials in general. He also appears to be remarkably ignorant about major policy issues especially foreign policy.
Bush’s main advantage is that he has more intelligent and experienced people working for him. However this arrangement works only if there is a consensus among your advisers. If they disagree there is a problem because the top guy simply doesn’t have the intellectual authority to forge a consensus.
This is one of the reasons for the shambles that is Bush’s foreign policy. He has strong characters like Rumsfeld and Powell who constantly disagree. A strong President would be able to assert his authority and persuade the losing side to fall in line. Generally this doesn’t happen. For instance Bush appeared to side with Powell on the issue of going to the UN about Iraq but Cheney and Rumsfeld seemed to be working to undermine any serious overture to the UN. Similarly Cheney and Rumsfeld seemed to have succeeded in getting their more alarmist assessement of the Iraqi threat accepted but the CIA was never convinced, leaked to the media on several occasions and made the administration look foolish.
This incoherence is most evident on the biggest foreign policy crisis since the end of the Cold War: North Korea. What is the US strategy? Who knows? Bush ,probably, least of all.
“I recently read a biography of Reagan and it said he was actually extremely clever, which was a nice surprise.”
Which biography? It sounds like something written by a GOP hack. Anyway it contradicts most of the other evidence. You should read David Stockman’s memoirs about working inside the Reagan adminstration. The anecdotes about Reagan’s ignorance about basic policy matters are quite startling.
Yes, it does say a lot.
It says that some people are very, very stupid.
You noticed, perhaps, that Snopes determined that the photograph linked to was faked?
Of course Bush is stupid. His whole life shows it.
There must be hundreds of thousands of complete idiots who have MBAs from Harvard. And fighter pilots with Downs syndrome are a dime a dozen.
Unless this is just a politically motivated insult that Democrats throw at anyone they don’t like.
Do ya think?
Regards,
Shodan
Bush isnt stupid… he is ignorant. Ignorant being he doesnt know about the things he is dealing as president. Intelligence wise he is average at best…
Even if he isnt that average… Rummy and Gang are too smart for him.
As world presidents go… he is on the bottom rungs.
No, he’s not stupid. He’s pretty clearly a mediocre mind and there is some hint of dyslexia, but he isn’t clinically stupid.
What he is is functionally stupid. In part this is because he is working in a job that requires a smart person, and he’s merely average. In part this is because he’s lazy, prone to skipping the research phase of the decision making process. He’s unwilling to do his own homework, so he ends up having to take other people’s word for what the facts are. And since he’s surrounded by people with their own agendas, he ends up getting played a lot.
I suspect that if you replaced George with a magic 8 ball, and just picked randomly from the menu of choices his advisers present each day, you would end up with something that looks a lot like the Bush presidency. (With the exception of Gulf War II, which Bush really wanted to do for a variety of personal reasons).
So stupid? NO. Incompetent? YES.
An IQ score would do. Or seeing a transcript of a debate - spontaneous intelligent speech. I don’t actually think that intelligence is something that’s strictly definable. But you can get a feel for it when you talk to someone, or hear them talking. And, yeah, I do think some people walk stupid.
Actually, I’m not that clever myself.
that was in reply to John Mace
Actually, I want to clarify/amend:
The 8 ball should have an overwhelming bias toward actions that would result in it’s election in '04. Although you could achieve that by merely weighting the Rove input over all of the others.
Oh ! Thats why he went AWOL ! 
Of course not. Because anything positive that he ever accomplished in life was obviously due to family connections. Or strong advisors. Or strong advisors that were put in place by his family connections. And so on. Which only leaves negative aspects. Which prove that he is a moron. So there you go.
I definitely think you should stick to your hunch. Because this is a very important decision, with so much riding on it. In such situations, you have to stick to your hunches.
I’d be surprised if Harvard or the other institution mentioned are incorruptible.
I’m not sure if you noticed, but I’m the one who linked to Snopes…geeeeeez.
I’ll along with Tejota. It’s not so much about the raw brainpower, but about his attitude toward the “egghead” side of life.
As an analogy, I am quite good at sports. All my high school coaches begged me to be on teams and run track. I had no interest and never developed the skills that compliment athletic ability. However, I did not have a family who got me a job on a pro team, so the end result is a bit different.
I know several people who worked with the Shrub at various points. All of them are opposed to his politics, yet all of them say he is not only intelligent but quite quick and witty in the banter arena.
Oddly enough, it was exactly the opposite with Bill. The people I knew who had face time with him came away shaking their heads and asking how anyone could consider him an intellectual. And then they would quickly leap to the defense of his platform/work in office.
Weird.
Incidentally, I know several people who worked with the Shrub at various points. All of them are opposed to his politics, yet all of them say he is not only intelligent but quite quick and witty in the banter arena.
He’s probably not book smart, or intellectual, or even seriously interested in ideology.
That doesn’t make him stupid, but it certainly makes him way too ignorant for his office.