Few Surprises on this List.

[Minimalist]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/the-1...s-history/

The 10 dumbest (and smartest) presidents in US history

Today’s Presidents barely register a 10. Whether this is a reflection on presidential intelligence or modern speechmaking strategies aimed at a vastly different electorate might be debatable, but it is no coincidence that the two Bushes had some of the smallest ranges in vocabulary of all. In any case, there is little doubt that the following Presidents have exhibited extraordinary talents, both high and low. Here are the country’s smartest and dumbest Presidents:

The conservatards will be screaming bloody murder.

[vorlon13]

Reagan also, in my view, had displayed sufficient symptoms of his Alzheimers to his physicians during his FIRST TERM that he should never have ran nor been re-elected for a second one.

I do admire the 'skill' it took to maintain the secret for as long as they did.


Regarding FDR not being on the list, I remain amazed at his ability to organize/delegate tasks necessary to win victory in WWII. There is something beyond intelligence (or whatever the survey measured) to explain his skill in getting the country thru that.

(I admit, sometimes I may have remarked the US ability in generally winning wars is to just throw more and more resources at the problem till it goes away, and that isn't really all that sophisticated a strategy, but I think there really was much more savvy behind the scenes to get VE and VJ Days a reality)

[CapnAwesome]

This kind of reminds me of the old debunked presidential IQ thing that was floating around the internet a few years ago. http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/presiq.asp

So I looked into what the scale they are using was and it's called the 'Flesch–Kincaid readability tests' which doesn't have anything at all to do with intelligence, but rather how difficult something is to read. Basically the only thing that it shows is that modern presidents are easier to read and understand than older ones. This probably has to do with the fact they need to appeal to a broader electorate than in the past and has very little to do with intelligence. In fact that you can make your ideas easier to disseminate could very well be a sign of intelligence.

[Minimalist]

Bullshit.

Reagan was a senile old fuck and Bush the Dumber was just an asshole.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I think that readability is not nearly as good a metric as content. If you must simplify what you're saying, you may well be very intelligent and just considering your audience.

But let's face it, some folks are, well, simple-minded. Dubya was the classic example in the Presidents, what with his inability to see nuance, his half-baked policy initiatives, and his refusal to take aboard dissent.

[Alex K]

Hitchens insisted that W Bush isn't unintelligent but merel dyslexic. This might be true, but with that certainly came a severe lack of edumacation

[abaris]

This might be true, but with that certainly came a severe lack of edumacation

Well, if your family shits money, you could certainly go boozing instead of studying. Oh wait, that's what Georgie did.

[Alex K]

This might be true, but with that certainly came a severe lack of edumacation

Well, if your family shits money, you could certainly go boozing instead of studying. Oh wait, that's what Georgie did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPYpzA4e0r0

[CapnAwesome]

Hitchens insisted that W Bush isn't unintelligent but merel dyslexic. This might be true, but with that certainly came a severe lack of edumacation

Well we can say that Bush was dumb, but what we can't say is that he was uneducated. He has a master's degree from Yale. He had every education opportunity possible. I'm not trying to defend Bush and am not a supporter, but this survey doesn't prove anything.

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Bullshit.

Reagan was a senile old fuck and Bush the Dumber was just an asshole.

That could very well be true, but this doesn't prove anything other than modern presidents use simpler language than older presidents.

[Minimalist]

If you look at the tea-bagging fucks you can see why the republicunts have to talk down to them.