Bush Jr. was at least as important as Palin, according to your criterion. He was important by virtue of being President, but he was still on the short bus....
tyme:
If GWB is
short bus material, what does that make you, since I suspect you lack his Harvard MBA?
The raw intelligence of prominent Republicans is usually denigrated by the MSM, Dems and a few other ignorant or mendacious types. Funny thing is, GWB has as much or more evidence pointing to his better-than-average
g than any of his competitors for POTUS.
Al Gore did not have what it takes to finish his post-baccalaureate studies at Vanderbilt, but did better than GWB & Kerry at his undergrad studies.
John Kerry & GWB both attended Yale and GWB did
slightly better over all four years, though neither was a distinguished undergrad. Back in the day they would have been "Gentleman's C" sort of undergrad records. GWB went on to get an MBA at the top business school in the nation (if not the world). Kerry went on to get a law degree from a very good law school.
This fellow has a pretty good take on Kerry & GWB, intel-wise:
Kerry explains away his poor grades by noting that he was heavily involved in extracurricular activities; of course, the same holds true for Bush. In reality, they’re both quite intelligent men who have gone on to distinguish themselves since their undergraduate days. Of the two, Kerry is clearly more articulate and Bush more socially adept. In any case, there’s not much we can glean from their college grades thirty-odd years later.
How they have chosen to deal with their mildly embarrassing transcripts is, however, interesting. Bush fully acknowledges that he goofed off and had a good time and makes jokes about the situation; Kerry apparently was willing to endure years of speculation about what might be in his military records in order to hide them. Once again, this goes to something we already knew: Bush has a keener sense of how ordinary people will react to things.
Of the three, GWB probably mastered the most difficult non-academic skill, that of flying a fighter jet. Kerry managed to command a small boat and crew. (The criticisms of Kerry's service were not of a technical nature with regard to his command or skill.) Gore is not known to have mastered anything of similar difficulty to fighter jets or command of a small crew & craft.
None of the three, (Gore, Kerry, GWB) are idiots or "short-bus" material. Also, all three had the advantage of being born to affluent & connected families, something that helped all three to launch their careers.
But, Al Gore gets a Nobel, Kerry was seen as a super-smart guy by his supporters, and GWB (who beat both for POTUS) is "short bus" material.
Huh.
