Is kerry smart?

[dude1394]

redstate.org

Is Kerry smart?

In my opinion, Ann Althouse and Soxblog have hit upon something extremely significant with these equally devastating twin posts.

To borrow some Kerry campaign pap, simply recognizing that there is complexity and nuance in the world doesn't make you smart. Aside from a vocabulary that doesn't know when to stop piling on, Kerry's performance so far doesn't even remotely resemble that of a real intellectual.

If you're smart, that means you usually say interesting things and have no trouble coming up with original thoughts. When is the last time you heard John Kerry say something interesting or express an original thought? Many political intellectuals, but not all, have a penchant for the pithy phrase that boils away the complexity and gets to the heart of the matter. So, when is the last time you heard the Democratic nominee utter anything even remotely clever? Being smart means separating the wheat from the chaff and finding clear themes among seemingly disconnected facts. But all Kerry ever does is introduce complexity, showing that his mind hasn't matured to the point where it can connect the dots in any meaningful sense.

Knowing that he doesn't value any one position over any other, there's a certain randomness in Kerry's mind that's disturbing for someone seeking an office where a moral and intellectual compass is an absolute requirement.

Congratulations, Democrats. You've just nominated for yourself an epistemological zero.

[mavsman55]

Is kerry smart?

No.

[sturm und drang]

Oh, you Republicans don't really want to make this a contest of which candidate is SMARTER, do you?

Democrats, on the other hand...

[mavsman55]

Originally posted by: sturm und drang
Oh, you Republicans don't really want to make this a contest of which candidate is SMARTER, do you?

Democrats, on the other hand...

Kerry wins the IQ battle. Bush wins the common sense battle.

[Epitome22]

[quote]
Originally posted by: dude1394
[L=redstate.org][/L]

We keep hearing about Kerry's ability to deal with "nuance" and "complexity," but could it be that this is spin, and the truth is he actually doesn't think clearly?

Possible. Not probable.

We know he doesn't speak clearly:

He speaks alot clearer than Bush does.

We keep hearing that he's "thoughtful," implying that he takes a long time to think things through. Another way of putting that is that he's slow.

That is another way of putting it. But it's a rather stupid way to put it. "A Prince should be slow to act, and slower to respond" as Machiavelli would put it.

This is one of the things I strongly disagreed with about the "George Bush" and "my pet goat" incident. He's told the nation is under attack and he waits in the same place for 7 minutes. It wasn't because he was stupid, he was thinking. It's 7 minutes of the most powerful man in the world suffering mentally. What was he supposed to do? Jump out of his chair, throw his fist up and say onward christian soldiers? This is the exact same thing that affected Nixon in the 1960 debates with Kennedy. Every question Kennedy snapped a quick, decisive answer and Nixon would pause, think, hym and haw before giving his answer. Never mind that Nixon's answers demonstrated a much firmer grasp and understanding of foreign policy. He was punished because he didn't snap off quick confident answers that reassure the easily suseptible people of the country. Thouhtfulness is a virtue. Decisiveness is no good when you're wrong about whatever you are 'decisive' about.

Originally posted by: dude1394

To borrow some Kerry campaign pap, simply recognizing that there is complexity and nuance in the world doesn't make you smart. Aside from a vocabulary that doesn't know when to stop piling on, Kerry's performance so far doesn't even remotely resemble that of a real intellectual.

I'll leave it up to acctual intellectuals to determine Kerry's intellectual credentials.

Originally posted by: dude1394


If you're smart, that means you usually say interesting things and have no trouble coming up with original thoughts. When is the last time you heard John Kerry say something interesting or express an original thought?.

Exactly what definition of an "original thought" are we using here?

Originally posted by: dude1394


Many political intellectuals, but not all, have a penchant for the pithy phrase that boils away the complexity and gets to the heart of the matter. So, when is the last time you heard the Democratic nominee utter anything even remotely clever? Being smart means separating the wheat from the chaff and finding clear themes among seemingly disconnected facts. But all Kerry ever does is introduce complexity, showing that his mind hasn't matured to the point where it can connect the dots in any meaningful sense.

Not an agreeable assessment.

Originally posted by: dude1394

Knowing that he doesn't value any one position over any other, there's a certain randomness in Kerry's mind that's disturbing for someone seeking an office where a moral and intellectual compass is an absolute requirement.

He's not a perfect presidential candidate.

Originally posted by: dude1394


Congratulations, Democrats. You've just nominated for yourself an epistemological zero.

Hardly. An interesting discussion but the only thing that can be remotely garnered from it is that maybe Kerry isn't as intelligent as he thinks he is or wants you to think he is. That's a certain possibility. Even so, he's still smarter than Bush. And if we really want to reduce the presidential election to an intellectual competition featuring someone who's own foreign policy advisor described him as a man that doesen't "know much". Give me John Kerry everytime.

[reeds]

"Does “I voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it” sound like the workings of a brilliant mind? "

Do you people even know the reason why he did that or are you just throwing out blind quotes to bash Kerry? Im betting most on here have no clue about the 87billion..

Kerry just didn’t explain it very well. There wan an amendment saying it should be paid for out of the tax cut. He voted for that. So in a sense, had that passed he would have voted for the $87 billion. When it didnt pass, he voted against it...Its simple really, but, of course the republicans will continue to make it an issue...

[dude1394]

John F. Kerry weeks before this vote stated on National TV that to NOT vote for this bill would be irresponsible for ANYONE. Then dean began to kick his ass in the primaries and he decided to vote against it.

He's a tool.

[MavKikiNYC]

I don't think Kerry's intelligence is or should be any more of an issue than Bush's. Clearly Bush is intelligent enough to be President--to be a great Presient even--but it's not his intelligence alone that serves him best. It's his ability to analyze information and make a decision. Decisiveness may be an even bigger asset for leadership than raw intelligence. Bush is much smarter than his detractors give him credit for. People try to point out that W was a legacy admission to Yale, but does anyone really want to argue that that's enough to get a person through Harvard business school?

I don't really regard Kerry that well at all, but I don't think his intelligece is the problem. He strikes me as plenty intelligent, probably as intelligent as Bush, although it manifests itself in different ways. He clearly has more verbal intelligence than Bush, but he often seems to like to talk just for the sake of talking. Kerry's major problem is indecisiveness. In fact, in my experience, more 'intellectual' people often have trouble parsing the most relevant information, and making the best decision. All too often, they get mired in tangential detail and hypothetical 'nuance', and can't make a practical decision under pressure. This, in addition to some questions of personal integrity, is how Kerry impresses me.