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  Blog \Blôg\, n. [Jrg, fr. Jrg. "Web-log".
     See {Blogger, BlogSpot, LiveJournal}.]
     A stream-of-consciousness Web journal, containing
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Sunday, November 10, 2002
04:40 - Misunderestimating Bush
http://www.capitalistlion.com/article.cgi?127

 (top) link
Earlier this week, Tim Blair made the oft-since-quoted remark:

Thus far, the reputed idiot Bush has graduated from Yale and Harvard, made a stack of cash in the oil industry, become the first consecutive-term governor of Texas, defeated a dual-term VP for the Presidency, and led his party to yesterday's extraordinary triumphs. Let his opponents keep calling him stupid; if they do, within five years Bush will be King of England, the Pope, and world Formula One motor racing champion.

CapLion has an expansion on this, as do a number of other people from blog to blog.

Bush is not Dumb. Oh no. He is by far one of the most crafty, intelligent politicians of his time. Anyone, which is to say most everyone, who underestimates him is in for surprise after surprise.

Bush knows people think he's the dim bulb in the drawer, and he's using that to a downright amazing advantage at every twist. Remarkable.

I've been wary of the malapropisms-as-proof-of-stupidity thing since 2000, because they seemed to exhibit a major distinction from those of (for instance) Quayle: Quayle's stemmed from a kind of willful ignorance, a seeming goat-skulled insistence on focusing the theses of so many speeches directly on some outrageously incorrect claim or assumption. What a terrible thing it is to lose one's mind.

But Bush's stumblings are more like stuttering. One's mind and mouth travel at slightly different speeds, and the result is a missed shift here and there. I know first-hand that this kind of poor verbal footing is not indicative of lacking mental capacity; I have close friends whose minds, among the most agile I've ever run across, are masked by unfortunately poorly-tuned speech machinery. I know better than to ignore the thoughts in question just because they aren't being delivered with the teflon texture of an Oxford don.

Actions and accomplishments speak reams, and I think those who continue to ridicule Bush for his podium presence alone-- which oddly enough don't even include Matt and Trey (That's My Bush never seemed to play on this aspect of the president's persona)-- are themselves going to look sillier and sillier as time goes on.
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© Brian Tiemann