Bush Smarter than Kerry?

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Bush Smarter than Kerry?
111
Fri, 08-06-2004 - 8:57pm

'THE KERRY BRAIN


http://dbsoxblog.blogspot.com/#109162538493538368


Something’s been bothering me about John Kerry. I just don’t think he’s that smart.

One of the axiomatic dynamics of this presidential race has been that Bush is a dolt while Kerry is highly intelligent. But if Kerry is so bright, where has he been hiding his allegedly fearsome intellect? Does “I voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it” sound like the workings of a brilliant mind? And yet the Adam Nagourneys of the world continue to insist that Kerry is remarkably “complex” with an uncanny sense for nuance. But I’ve come to a conclusion: He’s not particularly smart.

Let’s take a look at his academic record for illustration. As a control for our study, let’s use another party who for the purposes of this analysis we’ll call George W. Bush. As we all know, Ivy League admission back in the 60’s and 70’s was highly political. If you had the right connections, your ticket was all but punched. Thus, Kerry and Bush had no trouble gaining admission to Yale. Both hailed from the same prestigious prep school and had a surfeit of family “pull.”

At Yale, Bush was a famously indifferent student. Once out of Yale, Bush was an even more famously indifferent national guardsman. And yet a few years after emerging from New Haven, Bush gained admission to Harvard Business School, no doubt thanks to family connections and an academic performance that though quite unimpressive suggested that he would be able to handle the work at HBS.

Now the allegedly big-brained Kerry graduated Yale a couple of years before Bush. Kerry, unlike the President, is not a famously dunderheaded student; he was supposed to be blessed with his preternatural sense for nuance in the crib. After graduating Yale, Kerry burnished his resume by being a war hero first and a media star second. So after this impressive performance, where did he go to law school? Boston College.

(None of what follows is intended as a slight towards Boston College or its law school. B.C. is a wonderful institution that has produced many wonderful graduates including Michael Adams and Doug Flutie.)

If you’re not from Boston, you might be unaware of the following truth: No one here, in spite of Boston College’s undeniable strengths, would eschew an invitation to attend Harvard Law School to attend B.C. It’s simply not done. Thus we can reasonably infer that Kerry did not get in to Harvard Law.

And that’s remarkable. Given his family connections and his post graduate work both in the war and later protesting it, his admission should have been a given. The only thing that would explain Kerry not getting into Harvard would be that he performed dreadfully at Yale. Indeed, he would have had to perform at a level that would have raised the prospect that he couldn’t handle the work at Harvard. His efforts were probably so weak, they could even be described as sub-Bushian.

The reason this matters is because a key subtext for the Kerry campaign is that he’s smarter than the incumbent. The Senator, with his ear for subtlety and his eye for complexity would have seen through intelligence errors that fooled the rest of the world. Or so his campaign would have you believe.

I’ve scrutinized Kerry’s record searching for evidence of his purportedly giant intellect. I’ve found none. His academic biography includes no Latin words like “laude” or “magna.” Who knows? Maybe Kerry’s just being modest and doesn’t want to boast about decades old accomplishments. But I doubt it.

Of course, the Kerry campaign could prove me wrong by releasing transcripts of his time at Yale and Boston College. What about it, Kerry campaign – care to weigh in on this?


(Correction: Bush and Kerry did not go to the same prep school. One went to St. Paul, the other to Andover. I can't keep straight who went to which - sorry.)'

Renee ~~~

Renee ~~~

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Mon, 08-09-2004 - 1:37pm
Hey, you read my other message. (I'll be sending the RNC a bill for my consulting fee.)

Yes, they continued on with their meeting, but the "stupor" part is only in your imagination. How irresponsible is it to continue the work of government in an emergency? I don't know. How irresponsible is it to continue a photo-op in an emergency? Pretty darn irresponsible. Were the Dem's fully appraised of what was going on? As fully as they could be, since they're not in a position to get Richard Clarke or Condi Rice on the phone. Did President Bush have the slightest clue what was happening? Couldn't he have easily gotten the information a leader needs in a crisis, just by excusing himself and getting to a phone?


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Mon, 08-09-2004 - 1:52pm
Look, this "debate" is going nowhere because it's basically about you wanting to guess at Kerry's thoughts 30 years ago and ascribe them to snobbery. There's not much I can do to refute your daydreams. I think Senator Kerry is a smart, well spoken advocate of the American ideals I cherish, and you think he's a dimwitted snob. Fine. I'll see you at the debates.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-02-2004
Mon, 08-09-2004 - 3:14pm
Jesuit schools are also renowned for their dedication to education and are well known for the high academic standards that they uphold.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-02-2004
Mon, 08-09-2004 - 3:21pm
John Kerry's actions after 9/11 and whether he sat there dumbstruck or not are inconsequential. Furthermore, George Bush's actions in the 7 minutes after he learned are, too, probably inconsequential. We were all shocked and dumbstruck to learn we were under attack. That is probably because we are all human.

By NO means am I a Bush supporter, but I think that Moore's purpose in highlighting the 7 minutes that Bush sat in the classroom was just a segway for him to talk about how Bush did not know what was going on, not how long he sat there.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-02-2004
Mon, 08-09-2004 - 3:33pm
Good Reply: People choose colleges for different reasons, not just because they are the the "reputed" best. Because I recently had to choose a school I will say that my choice was based on:

What I was planning on majoring in, location, diversity of the student population, extra-curricular activities offered, dorm and campus life, class size, etc., etc.

A lot of people chose Harvard because of one reason, the name gets your foot in the door. So Kerry chose BC, that just means that he did not get that extra push towards success from the name of his college and that he probably had to substantiate himself as a good lawyer (and politician if there is such a thing) to get to where he is at now.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-02-2004
Mon, 08-09-2004 - 3:39pm
We may not have any proof of Kerry's brliance but we have plenty of proof of the brilliance that Bush lacks.

Kerry may not have graduated Magna Cum Laude but did he graduate with a C- GPA like Georgy Porgy?

Additionally, how fair is it to assume that we have any idea as to the nature of the relationship between John Kerry and his wife? That is just malicious rumor spreading if you ask me, to assume that he married or persued her because she was an heiress.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
Mon, 08-09-2004 - 3:41pm
this was not what he said on larry king live. Where did you get this from. HE said something to this effect ... when the first plane hit I look out and saw that the sky was clear and as a pilot I knew that this couldnot be an accident, I knew we were under attack.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-02-2004
Mon, 08-09-2004 - 3:42pm
Ummmm . . . Americans elected an ex-pro-wrestler to be govenor and in Colorado, they elected a former stripper as the mayor of a small town. So why wouldn't a rich dolt with a degree from Harvard be so much of a strech. Plenty of people get elected that probably are not what Americans in general idealize in a politician.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-02-2004
Mon, 08-09-2004 - 3:53pm
But despite their constant "paraphrasizing" and "spinning", they are constantly criticizing Moore for doing it.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-02-2004
Mon, 08-09-2004 - 3:56pm
Bush also knew that the first plane had hit the WTC and consequently many Americans were injured and dying. He knew this in the parking lot of the school. But he continued with his scheduled plans instead of attempting to receive information that might (I say might because I do not off hand know the exact details fo the WTC attacks) have prevented the second plane from hitting in New York or from the plane hitting the Pentagon.

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