The Cellar - Is Bush an Idiot?

The Cellar (http://cellar.org/index.php)

- Current Events (http://cellar.org/forumdisplay.php?f=4)

- - Is Bush an Idiot? (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=11535)

Hippikos

08-22-2006 05:28 AM

Is Bush an Idiot?

Have a look at this video and judge for yourself.

Beestie

08-22-2006 12:01 PM

Is this a trick question?

Griff

08-22-2006 12:04 PM

I don't know, I can peacefully coexist with the fish.

DanaC

08-22-2006 12:10 PM

I'd like to think not. I'd like to think that an Idiot really, really couldn't find their way into the most powerful job in the world.

Beestie

08-22-2006 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanaC

I'd like to think not. I'd like to think that an Idiot really, really couldn't find their way into the most powerful job in the world.

Same way a condom finds its way where it ends up, I guess.

Shawnee123

08-22-2006 03:29 PM

So he might not be an idiot; perhaps he is just a really horrible speaker. However, I would expect someone in such a position to have ability in all sorts of areas, public speaking being as important as it can be when seeking credibility. Can people be bad speakers and still be intelligent? Of course! Would I expect that and not judge that in, say, a coworker? Sure! Do I expect the President of my country to be better than the average smart joe? You bet I do!

Then again, it might just be that he is an idiot!

Flint

08-22-2006 03:43 PM

George Bush does not really have poor public speaking skills. Or at least, he hasn't always had them. For instance, in the gubernatorial debates against Ann Richards, canidate Bush was clear, concise, and articulate. His rhetorical playbook was way different back then - strikingly so.

I believe that his "just a regular guy" routine is the bread and butter of his political success, but it doesn't indicate a lack of intelligence, or even a lack of public speaking skills. That is, unless he has had a brain injury, or something, since his days in Texas. Maybe being sober has handicapped his locution? I don't know. But the Bush I remember was nothing like the bumbling boob we see these days.

Clodfobble

08-22-2006 04:48 PM

There was actually a video going around awhile back claiming that Bush had a degenerative mental disease that we weren't being told about, a la Reagan's Alzheimer's. It put footage of lots of Bush's gubernatorial debates next to his more recent speaking, and the difference really was striking.

DanaC

08-22-2006 04:52 PM

I suspect Flint has the answer.

Quote:

I believe that his "just a regular guy" routine is the bread and butter of his political success

This is a tad worrying though. What is it about being 'just a regular guy , nothing special, just like me' that makes people want him to run the country?

I like people who are just like me. I want someone better and more accomplished than me to run my country.

Elspode

08-22-2006 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flint

But the Bush I remember was nothing like the bumbling boob we see these days.

I think he's suffered a closed head injury from the repeated sharp pulls on his strings.

rkzenrage

08-22-2006 06:37 PM

If someone doubts it by now, I suspect them as well.

Undertoad

08-22-2006 06:48 PM

We are the government; it's the first three words of the Constitution, "We The People". This is a concept that's part of the American fabric. We don't elect our betters, we vote for people that we think are roughly like us, in our category.

Kinda.

It's both a similar and a different pretense than giving your PM an ordinary housefront and address.

Aliantha

08-23-2006 02:56 AM

Was that a rhetorical question?

Hippikos

08-23-2006 07:17 AM

Hmmm there are signs that Rummy the Great's head is on the chopping board. Wonder how long it take to find a substitute?

Griff

08-23-2006 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flint

I believe that his "just a regular guy" routine is the bread and butter of his political success, but it doesn't indicate a lack of intelligence, or even a lack of public speaking skills. That is, unless he has had a brain injury, or something, since his days in Texas. Maybe being sober has handicapped his locution? I don't know. But the Bush I remember was nothing like the bumbling boob we see these days.

I wouldn't expect the faux cowboy routine to sell that well outside of Texas, but he's definitely taking it up a notch. He could just be fried from the stress of destroying Western Civilization.

Spexxvet

08-23-2006 08:27 AM

Maybe he's back on the sauce and nose candy?

Shawnee123

08-23-2006 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

Maybe he's back on the sauce and nose candy?

He scored some off his daughters?

Elspode

08-23-2006 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hippikos

Hmmm there are signs that Rummy the Great's head is on the chopping board. Wonder how long it take to find a substitute?

I believe that my local grocery is selling beef scraps for about $2.00 a pound. We should therefore be able to replace him for about six bucks or so.

xoxoxoBruce

08-24-2006 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elspode

I believe that my local grocery is selling beef scraps for about $2.00 a pound. We should therefore be able to replace him for about six bucks or so.

That wouldn't be replacement, that would be upgrade. ;)

wolf	08-31-2006 09:43 PM

There is no greater advantage than being underestimated.

Happy Monkey

08-31-2006 10:05 PM

Bush: "The key for me is to keep expectations low."

Hippikos

09-01-2006 04:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolf

There is no greater advantage than being underestimated.

"Never underestimate the predictabillity of stupidity"....

headsplice

09-01-2006 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolf

There is no greater advantage than being underestimated.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GWB

"I said I was looking for a book to read, Laura said you ought to cry Camus. I also read three Shakespeares. ... I've got a eck-a-lec-tic reading list." --George W. Bush, interview with NBC's Brian Williams, New Orleans, La., Aug. 29, 2006

"We expect the states to show us whether or not we're achieving simple objectives -- like literacy, literacy in math, the ability to read and write." --George W. Bush, on federal education requirements, Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005

"I hope you leave here and walk out and say, 'What did he say?'" --George W. Bush, Beaverton, Oregon, Aug. 13, 2004

"I'm also not very analytical. You know I don't spend a lot of time thinking about myself, about why I do things." —George W. Bush, aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003

"I'm the commander — see, I don't need to explain — I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being president." —George W. Bush, as quoted in Bob Woodward's "Bush at War"

"It is white." —George W. Bush, asked by a child in Britain what the White House was like, July 19, 2001

Well. It certainly isn't difficult to underestimate him.

Beestie

09-01-2006 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by headsplice

Well. It certainly isn't difficult to underestimate him.

Or misunderestimate him as the case may be.

Happy Monkey

09-01-2006 09:37 PM

Actually, most of the time I find, to my sorrow, that I had been overestimating him.

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:50 AM.