# Is George W. Bush actually stupid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 18, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-w-bush-actually-stupid/202439 "2003-09-18T19:02:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-w-bush-actually-stupid/202439/221 "2003-11-10T16:57:51Z")
Anyone can become cool John (or at least useful)…if he is saying what you want to hear. 🙂 Personally, I love D.M…the guy just cracks me up, no matter WHO he is bashing. -XT ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-w-bush-actually-stupid/202439/222 "2003-11-10T17:00:55Z")
XT: I like him, too, no matter WHO **M** he is bashing. Sorry… couldn’t resist.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-w-bush-actually-stupid/202439/223 "2003-11-10T17:12:15Z")
Run Run !! Its the Grammar Policeman !! Who is this Dennis Miller character ? Loved his quote. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-w-bush-actually-stupid/202439/224 "2003-11-10T17:26:48Z")
lol John. I’m betting that my English grammer is at least as good as your Spanish grammer is. 🙂 (I know my syntax, spelling, sentence structure and such in English are horrible…reading my posts probably leaves the impression I’M the stupid one. 🙂 I don’t say nukular though, so maybe I’d be cut a break…). Dennis Miller is a political comedian. He has a special on HBO and has done several Dennis Miller Live type shows. I find him hilarious, with his dry, dead pan delivery. You should check him out, Rashak Mani…from what little I know of you, you’d probably enjoy his shows. 🙂 -XT ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-w-bush-actually-stupid/202439/225 "2003-11-10T17:35:21Z")
XT: I’d bet you’re correct, although I can get by in passable Spanish. Just don’t hold me to too high a standard on the whole verb tense thingy.🙂 Actually, I wanted to make sure you didn’t propagate that error, lest some posters here accuse you of being stupid. As for me, if I didn’t have [Dictioinary.com](http://Dictioinary.com) open all the time when I’m posting, I hate to think of what I’d be called. And even then, I’m sure I make more spelling errors than your average poster. ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-w-bush-actually-stupid/202439/226 "2003-11-11T15:26:04Z")
I will try to get some Dennis Miller through Kazzaa. HBO programming is different over here… they don’t have him overhere. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-w-bush-actually-stupid/202439/227 "2003-11-12T01:28:13Z")
**Rashak Mani:** If you’re thinking that Dennis Miller is a Bush bashing comedian, you’ll be disappointed. He’s firmly in the Republican, pro-war camp. My favorite quote of his: “The Germans are refusing to help with the war. Analysts aren’t sure if it’s because they are opposed to it, or if it just isn’t being waged on a grand enough scale for them.” ---
**Author:** ![YourOldBuddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bc79bd/32.png) [@YourOldBuddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YourOldBuddy)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-w-bush-actually-stupid/202439/228 "2003-11-12T12:27:17Z")
DM is a stupid bigoted a\*\*hole but gets away with it because its mostly white ppl he bashes. Saying stupid spitefull things about the French is “A OK” because they are after all not black. Sad thing is that he’s the only political “analyst” some ppl are likely to listen to when they are not watching Fox News. Sort of like a KK Klan comedian with a twist. ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-w-bush-actually-stupid/202439/229 "2003-11-12T14:00:42Z")
Its better than hearing Bush talk about democracy in the middle east… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![crazy\_grady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dbc845/32.png) [@crazy\_grady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazy_grady)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-w-bush-actually-stupid/202439/230 "2003-11-12T14:21:27Z")
Is George Bush II a poor President. Yes. Is he stupid? No, not at all. He has an MBA from Harvard. I don’t care if his father pulled strings with God and Jesus to get him in there, he got in, did the work and graduated. ould I have gotten an MBA from Harvard. Could I have gotten an MBA from Harvard? Shit, I couldn’t get an MBA from Ole Miss, what do you think? I assure you, George W. Bush is an intellegent man. Two of our “supposed” worst Presidents were Hoover and Carter. Hoover graduated in the first class of Stanford University. Carter graduated from the Naval Academy in 1946 with a degree in nuclear engineering. If Carter’s father did not die in 1953, Carter would more and likely would have been on the Joint Chiefs of Staff or in a Pentagon position, probably where the man belonged. Even Jerry Ford, another “stupid” President graduated law school from Yale University in the TOP 25% OF HIS CLASS. carter and Ford have become friends since the election, and I am sure these two very stupid people have debated subjects and principals that very few of us common folk could touch. Why do we think our elected officials are stupid? The news, pundits, Johnny Carson/Jay Leno/ David Letterman/, SNL. I promise you, there is more IQ in Jerry Ford’s farts than in Chevy Chase’s body, but who was more cool in 1975-76? It is all about media. The media love to tear people down. I remember the first day that the press ever heard about Lewinsky and I was watching a channel with Gerlado Riviera. Yea, Geraldo may be as liberal as they come, but he was ready to ruin Clinton, he was. Was Clinton stupid then. Yea, retarded. But in running politics, Clinton is up there with FDR and Reagan. It is tough being an 8 year dog. They name an era after you then. Enuff rambling ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-w-bush-actually-stupid/202439/231 "2003-11-12T19:17:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by crazy grady \* > Is George Bush II a poor President. Yes. Is he stupid? No, not at all. He has an MBA from Harvard. I don’t care if his father pulled strings with God and Jesus to get him in there, he got in, did the work and graduated. Coincidentally enough, [Harvard is now saying](http://www.msnbc.com/news/989687.asp) that it looks like George either has forgotten – or never learned – the leadership skills they taught: > [@](#): > > It requires no prejudice, however, to spot the contrast between the disorganization in postwar Iraq and the precision of the invasion itself — or the principles that Harvard taught MBAs during Bush’s 1973-75 stay and still holds today. Basic strategy courses continue to train students in the use of “decision trees to assess the probability of outcomes, and how each decision could branch into other decisions,” says Yoffie. “If there’s a lesson from Iraq,” he adds, “it’s to think thoughtfully about alternative situations, as in a multi-move game. You have to think of the implications for the fourth, fifth, and sixth moves…and of contingencies if the plan doesn’t go as expected.” > > No one but the president and his aides know for sure if he used this approach. But if he did, say B-school Brahmans, **his decision tree seems to be missing some branches.** ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-w-bush-actually-stupid/202439/232 "2003-11-13T02:01:47Z")
HARVARD is saying that? Harvard has issued a formal press release saying that Bush never learned their skills? Or is it maybe a bunch of lefty professors with an axe to grind? And of course, everyone knows that the key to winning any war is to have a good decision tree. What a joke. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-w-bush-actually-stupid/202439/233 "2003-11-13T02:16:07Z")
From CNBC article > [@](#): > > David Yoffie, a Harvard Business School professor of international business administration. You are right rjung…this proves everything. Why couldn’t I see before. lol. It certainly doen’t SEEM to be an official declaration, Sam Stone…but maybe they just didn’t want to come right out and say he was stupid…would make them look bad and all that. Though since Bush just bought his MBA anyway, I don’t see why they wouldn’t, come to think of it. Do you think its really plausable that some independant teachers at a University might just be tring to get their names in the paper by trashing the President?? What would they have to gain?? (ok, I’m laying on the sarcasm a bit thick, but maybe it will penetrate rjungs skull this way). Really Sam? Say it ain’t so… -XT ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-w-bush-actually-stupid/202439/234 "2003-11-13T05:30:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > \*\*Coincidentally enough, [Harvard is now saying](http://www.msnbc.com/news/989687.asp) that it looks like George either has forgotten – or never learned – the leadership skills they taught: \*\* “Harvard” said no such thing. The statements in question were uttered by some Harvard profs, but that’s a far cry from stating that this was the general opinion at the Harvard Business School. Additionally, while these statements indicate disapproval of Bush’s decision making, they fall far short of saying that Bush “either has forgotten – or never learned – the leadership skills they taught.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-w-bush-actually-stupid/202439.md?page=11)