dragging out the scapegoats

[Dan Jizzenberry]

I (kind of) agree with your argument w/r/t Bush's intellectual capabilities. 
I think it's much too easy to equate language skills with intelligence. It 
isn't really an argument of any substance, but rather fodder for late-night 
talk show hosts. On the other hand, there is very little evidence out there 
which can demonstrate that Bush has anything but an adequate intelligence. 
You claim that "He's smart", but how so? Pointing to his foreign policy 
doesn't help us much because government policy has been a product of 
groupthink for generations now. And his speech last night, which some have 
compared to Churchill's earliest WWII speeches, was in all likelihood 
written by a professional speechwriter (I'd also point out that Churchill 
didn't need props to stir an audience--e.g. the lady whose husband was on 
the Pennsylvania flight and the sherriff's badge Bush doffed near the end of 
the speech. By the way, when did it become common practice to use regular 
American citizens--'common folk'--as political props? The conventions in 
Philly and LA in the summer of 2000 were loaded with such cringe-inducing 
moments. Imagine if Churchill began his Fulton MO / Iron Curtain speech by 
introducing America to Nikholai Makarov, an opressed peasant from southern 
Russia). I do agree with your skepticism w/r/t Clinton's supposed 
intelligence, however. Clever perhaps, and definitely a great public 
speaker, but his intellectual credibility is certainly overblown.

From: Terrance <lycidas2 at earthlink.net>
To: "pynchon-l at waste.org" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Subject: Re: dragging out the scapegoats
Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 23:03:39 -0400

Bashing Bush for his language skills is easy, but
demonstrating, with solid facts and good argument, that Bush is not a
smart man
or that his policies are stupid is not so easy.

It's easy to call the man a box or rocks. It's not so easy to
critique his foreign policy.

The devil is in the details, in the facts, not in the marbles in the
president's mouth.

I still contend that Bush is a very smart man. I don't buy into the TV
stereotypes and propaganda from the Left. He's smart.

As regards Lewinsky, she was more than a distraction. The President was
impeached.
This had a substantial impact on his ME policies. In fact, I would go so
far as to say, she was one of the most influential people in Washington
during Clinton's second term.
Now that was a smart man?


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