With the clarity that comes from hindsight ..... what do you think .......

[Stinky The Clown]

..... is George Bush really that stupid?

[Stinky The Clown]

1. Hahaha I can observe that someone from Texas took issue with the inference of my OP

[WatchWhatISay]

5. Well, this Texan has no issue with your inference

And yes he is stupid, but smart enough to realize he got duped by Cheney

[spinbaby]

2. Yep

Although it's even odds if he started out that way or killed off too many brain cells with liquor later on.

[petronius]

3. How stupid is 'that' stupid?

I don't think the man is a rocket surgeon, but some would have it that he can't even tie his own shoes...

[tblue]

4. I never thought he was really stupid. LAZY, disinterested, simplistic, insecure, stubborn,

anti-intellectual, unable to make a reasoned argument. And his supposed stupidity bought him a lot of grace.

But that's enough to be a Republican president. When was the last time they had a really smart, sharp president? Nixon?

[AllentownJake]

6. Define stupid

His policies were insane but his administration was remarkably capable of implementing them.

[Sinti]

13. +1

[Captain Hilts]

7. Not at all. He knew how to sell himself. He didn't have that southern accent when he ran against

Richards.

[grasswire]

8. I still can't quite separate the stupid from the narcissism.

Narcissistic in the most pathological sense of the word, yes.

To understand W, one must look through the lens of those who play "the Great Game" of world manipulation and conquest. That would be the Skull & Bones crowd, with their penchant for Malthusian and Hegelian theory and their fondness for eugenics.

They tinker with millions of human lives. They make fortunes and wars. They are above the law (apparently). They go around the Constitution. They steal elections with impunity.

Bush's role is that of an ultimate team player in the Great Game. He was pugnacious enough to go where no elite had dared to go before, and narcissistic and flawed enough to be manipulated. "George! You will be the most feared man on the planet!" That sucked him right in.

George W. Bush's primary task in office was to break the egg in Iraq. Once broken, trillions of dollars would flow to cronies. I suspect that he was an easy sell. He was told that (1) history would redeem his record when oil was gone and he had preserved Iraq's for the U.S. (2) the world must be rid of Islam (3) he was the perfect man for this time in history.

All of that plus his Oedipal issues and his personal history of weakness and failure set things up for a tragic imposition on the American people.

I think early on he was cunning. I think the stupid came later. Part of that was an affect, and part (I think) was that he just didn't quite know what the hell was going on when he was in the presidential bubble. Never one for self-reflection, he barged ahead with his bully, pugnacious persona and his addictions.

Alcohol played a huge part, no doubt.

It's an incredible study in personality disorder and psycho-drama, I think. Sort of like Nero, perhaps. And Cheney is another whole crazy person.

[Birthmark]

9. Yes, but...

...he had some people around him who were apparently pretty savvy politically.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. Well, he outdid the average intellectually challenged turnip AND Drooling Ronnie the Reagan.

In stupid, that is.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. And, he made H.L. Mencken's prophecy a fact.

“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” - H.L. Mencken

[HughMoran]

12. It's not so much that he was stupid, more that he's an ignoramus

:)