Shane
> >
>> Know your enemy. There is no acceptable evidence on
>> the public record of
>> Bush's "stupidity" _except_ his linguistic behavior,
>> and that is not
>> acceptable evidence.
>>
>
>Bush, so far, shows every sign of being _politically_
>smart in something like the way Reagan was, that ism
>extremely effective at reaching his chosen goals. He's
>obviously not smart in the way that, say, Gary Wills
>is smart, verbally adroit, analytically deep deep,
>widely learned. Contrary to what Carrol says,
>there_is_ evidence that he's not very bright as far as
>those things go. He was a mediocre student at best --
>we know his grades and test scores. He failed at
>business. That could be bad luck, but its part of a
>pattern. Apart from his verbal slips, he's shown
>astounding ignorance that indicates either extreme
>uninterest that is hard to credit for a person,
>interested in high office, failure to read recall the
>newspaper or watch the TV news, and general
>obliviousness, or actual dummheit, you can take your
>pick.
>
>Finally, the verbal slips are in the totality of
>circumtstances evidence of something other than just a
>learning disability. I wouldn't make fun of anyone for
>a learning disability or Alzheimers or whatever
>(though some of the slips are genuinely funny, put
>food on your families indeed!), but there's a total
>context here. There are lots of dyslexics who are
>really smart in the conventional way, but nothing
>suggests that Bush is one of them.
>
>However, the main thing is that I hope Bush has taught
>us not to "misunderstimate" him; he's formidable
>politically, so far possibly the most effective
>president whem I can recall. Part of his genius is
>mobilizing the populist resentmemt against highbrow
>pointyheads who condescendingly look down on those who
>are not as smart and privileged as they -- this depite
>being handicapped by having the background of a
>multimillionaire blue blood who attended Yale and
>Harvard. Making Bush's shortcomings in analytical
>intellecigence the centerpiece of our critique falls
>right into that trap.
>
>jks
>
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