Sunday, September 12, 2004
I wonder...how much should the common belief in a president's intelligence influence the vote? Consider the following.
"The President is a well meaning baboon. He lacks the strength to govern the country."
If you took this to be an indicator of which presidential candidate to vote for in an election...you just chose General George B. McClellan, the general who squandered all his opportunities, for president. The President he attacked for stupidity? Abraham Lincoln, who led the country out of four years of Civil War and held us together all that time. He was no rocket scientist but I think most would agree, with 20-20 hindsight, that he was the better president.
"I had the sense he had completely no idea what I was talking about."
New York Times reporter on Dwight D. Eisenhower. The 50s when Eisenhower inhabited the White House was the one of the biggest economic booms of the last century. Now, people are beginning to understand that Eisenhower was actually a very capable leader. He was also elected in two landslides.
"He couldn't tie his shoes if his life depended on it. His library burned down sadly with both books in it. Unfortunately, he hadn't finished coloring the books."
This is a nice one. The man in question was Ronald Reagan, who singlehandedly slashed inflation from the hyper-levels of the 1970s and ended the Cold War without a nuclear exchange and with the United States the firm victor.
"A lot of people are asking me if he is smart enough to be president. And one of the people asking me was Dan Quayle."
Senator John F. Kerry on George W. Bush.
Makes you wonder.
"The President is a well meaning baboon. He lacks the strength to govern the country."
If you took this to be an indicator of which presidential candidate to vote for in an election...you just chose General George B. McClellan, the general who squandered all his opportunities, for president. The President he attacked for stupidity? Abraham Lincoln, who led the country out of four years of Civil War and held us together all that time. He was no rocket scientist but I think most would agree, with 20-20 hindsight, that he was the better president.
"I had the sense he had completely no idea what I was talking about."
New York Times reporter on Dwight D. Eisenhower. The 50s when Eisenhower inhabited the White House was the one of the biggest economic booms of the last century. Now, people are beginning to understand that Eisenhower was actually a very capable leader. He was also elected in two landslides.
"He couldn't tie his shoes if his life depended on it. His library burned down sadly with both books in it. Unfortunately, he hadn't finished coloring the books."
This is a nice one. The man in question was Ronald Reagan, who singlehandedly slashed inflation from the hyper-levels of the 1970s and ended the Cold War without a nuclear exchange and with the United States the firm victor.
"A lot of people are asking me if he is smart enough to be president. And one of the people asking me was Dan Quayle."
Senator John F. Kerry on George W. Bush.
Makes you wonder.
// posted by The Pendragon @ 5:46 PM 
