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(Lovenstein) Study pegs Democratic presidents as brighter
Plainview Daily Herald ^ | 1/16/06 | RICHARD ORR

Posted on 01/26/2006 10:56:35 AM PST by lowbridge

Study pegs Democratic presidents as brighter

By RICHARD ORR

Herald Correspondent

It´s really not all that hard finding GWB´s brain.

It´s right there in the files of the Lovenstein Institute of Scranton, Pa., which has been publishing its research on each new president since 1973.

The GWB study published in October 2004 took four months to complete and compared him to all the presidents from Franklin Delano Roosevelt through Bill Clinton.

Based on the report´s findings, Democrats are smarter than Republicans -- quite a bit so, in fact. The three smartest Democrats were -- in order of intelligence -- Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and John Kennedy with IQs of 182, 175 and 174, respectively.

At the bottom of the Democrat list were FDR (147), Harry Truman (132) and Lyndon Johnson (126).

The three smartest Republicans were Richard Nixon (155), Dwight Eisenhower (122) and Gerald Ford (121).

At the bottom of the Republican list were Ronald Reagan at 105, Bush the Elder at 98 and -- like father, like son -- Bush the Younger at 91.

The highest IQ readings of 200-plus were garnered by Marylin Vos Savant -- who holds the Guinness record -- and Truman Capote, whose IQ at one time was said to be so high, it couldn´t be accurately measured because they couldn´t come up with a test he couldn´t ace.

The report notes that the six Republican presidents in the past 50 years scored an average IQ of 115. Nixon led the pack with 155. The Democrat average was 156, with Clinton´s 182 at the head of the class.

Criteria for the study included any writings they generated on their own without help from staff, their ability to “speak with clarity, and several other psychological factors” that were “scored using the Swanson-Crain system of intelligence ranking.” It´s considered accurate to within five percentage points.

Of course, IQ isn´t everything. Jimmy Carter, for instance, was among the brightest but certainly not among the best because he lacked the charisma and forcefulness needed for true leadership ability. Genius and sincerity alone aren´t enough.

Ronald Reagan had the charisma and the sincerity and the public appeal but not the brains, which allowed him to be led around by forces he wasn´t even aware of.

When it comes to GWB, he´s not only short on brain power and charisma, he also has this disconcerting air of detachment -- even indifference -- about him. When told about New Orleans, his first response was, “I used to party there.”

His father before him projected that selfsame air of disengagement -- best illustrated when he glanced at his watch with an irritated look on his face during one the “debates” that are really nothing more than canned questions and predictable answers.

According to the Lovenstein study, GWB´s poor showing as president comes from his difficulty with the King´s English “in public statements, his limited use of vocabulary (6,500 words for Bush versus an average of 11,000 words for other presidents), his lack of scholarly achievements other than a basic MBA, and an absence of any body of work which could be studied on an intellectual basis.”

Said Dr. Werner R. Lovenstein: “He has no published works or writings, which made it more difficult to arrive at an assessment. We relied more heavily on transcripts of his unscripted public speaking.”

The complete report can be found at www.lovenstein.org. It includes a telling “voice-stress confidence analysis.”

(Richard Orr is a Herald correspondent. He can be reached at richard@texasonline.net or richard@plainviewdailyherald.com.) Posted to MyPlainview: JANUARY 16, 2006 19:59 CST


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: hoax; iq; lovenstein; lovensteininstitute; presidents; psychobabble; snopes
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To: 6SJ7

Empty promises, hot air, bad ideas, and horse manure.


41 posted on 01/26/2006 11:30:13 AM PST by auboy
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To: lowbridge

THIS HAS BEEN DEBUNKED 100 TIMES!!!


42 posted on 01/26/2006 11:35:30 AM PST by AmericaUnited
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To: msnimje
Liberals have a Wikipedia mentality. The truth is what we say it is and the veracity of that truth is cemented by the number of times it is said or printed.

No, that's a Goebbels. mentality.

43 posted on 01/26/2006 11:36:20 AM PST by AmericaUnited
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To: lowbridge

Democrats can never rely on truth. Democrats can only get elected by lying....either about their opponents or about what they truly stand for.


44 posted on 01/26/2006 11:38:10 AM PST by Cruz
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To: lowbridge

A great!
A bunch of "bright" guys with a lousy sense of what is best for the U.S.


45 posted on 01/26/2006 11:39:07 AM PST by G Larry (Only strict constructionists on the Supreme Court!)
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To: lowbridge

Let's just for laughs assume this was true. The two highest IQ presidents, Clinton and Carter were also the the WORST presidents the US ever had. So the conclusion should be .... Intellectual savant idiot democrats can't lead a nation.


46 posted on 01/26/2006 11:39:13 AM PST by AmericaUnited
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To: TeenagedConservative

I have read that Einstein checked in at 160.


47 posted on 01/26/2006 11:39:34 AM PST by jblair
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To: lowbridge

>and Truman Capote, whose IQ at one time was said to be so high, it couldn´t be accurately measured because they couldn´t come up with a test he couldn´t ace.<

There seemed to be some plumbing problems he couldn't figure out....


48 posted on 01/26/2006 11:40:53 AM PST by G Larry (Only strict constructionists on the Supreme Court!)
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To: jw777
A long time ago (maybe 17 years now) I was unemployed for an extended period. I had been on a LOT of interviews but I kept getting passed over for more experienced guys. Eventually, I started to feel a little discouraged and I was afraid I was telegraphing that in the interviews so I decided I would do something as an ego booster.

Mensa gives IQ tests to prospective applicants so I took the test and joined.

I never went to a meeting and I've since let my membership lapse because net net it probably cost me potential jobs by irritating interviewers, but I happen to remember what my score was.

Not that it matters, I really don't believe it means much of anything. The most successful people I know aren't a success because they are smart, they are a success because they refuse to have it any other way and simply will not be discouraged... period.

49 posted on 01/26/2006 11:44:56 AM PST by tcostell
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To: lowbridge
I read that Bush's military IQ test was higher than John Kerry's. In fact, I remember reading that President Bush had a high IQ from an actual IQ test, not the phony test from the article above that does not even test the person but goes off speeches, etc.
50 posted on 01/26/2006 11:50:24 AM PST by Hendrix
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To: lowbridge

I recall that in the last election, John Kerry was posturing as the more intellectual candidate. I also recall that he was embarressed by some expert who apparently estimates the IQ's of presidential candidates.

He estimated GWB's IQ to be in the 126 range and John Kerry's to be in the 120 range. Tom Brokaw pointed that out to Kerry who then sniffed that he "must have been drinking the night before."

I guess if he had had those extra 6 points of IQ he would have been smart enough to realize it's not real bright to get drunk the night before you take an exam.


51 posted on 01/26/2006 11:51:23 AM PST by July4th64 ("If someone from Al Qaeda is calling you, we'd like to know why." GWB)
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To: lowbridge

I'd say Dr. Lovenstein is an amiable dunce!


52 posted on 01/26/2006 11:55:32 AM PST by ReleaseTheHounds
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To: July4th64

(oops...forgot to say that the way the expert guy estimated IQ was through old tests; etc.)


53 posted on 01/26/2006 11:55:57 AM PST by July4th64 ("If someone from Al Qaeda is calling you, we'd like to know why." GWB)
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To: lowbridge

Fortunately, this thread gives an excuse to show off Lowbridge's brilliance. This is some of the funniest stuff I've ever read:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1171051/posts


54 posted on 01/26/2006 11:57:02 AM PST by Our man in washington
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To: lowbridge

I seem to recall Bush 41 being in the high teens, as in 118 or something like that. Wasn't he a couple of points above Kerry? And Kerry's considered a genius.


55 posted on 01/26/2006 11:57:32 AM PST by conservativewasp (Liberals lie for sport and hate our country.)
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To: PA Engineer

Wishful thinking by all Democrats. This can go on Oprah with the rest of the make believe stories.


56 posted on 01/26/2006 11:58:14 AM PST by motherof 3
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To: xzins

The results are not an IQ test like you take in college.

They are 'ratings' given based on:

"Criteria for the study included any writings they generated on their own without help from staff, their ability to “speak with clarity, and several other psychological factors” that were “scored using the Swanson-Crain system of intelligence ranking.” It´s considered accurate to within five percentage points." (of what?)

Of course, IQ isn´t everything. Jimmy Carter, for instance, was among the brightest but certainly not among the best because he lacked the charisma and forcefulness needed for true leadership ability. Genius and sincerity alone aren´t enough.

Ronald Reagan had the charisma and the sincerity and the public appeal but not the brains, which allowed him to be led around by forces he wasn´t even aware of.

When it comes to GWB, he´s not only short on brain power and charisma, he also has this disconcerting air of detachment -- even indifference -- about him. When told about New Orleans, his first response was, “I used to party there.”

His father before him projected that selfsame air of disengagement -- best illustrated when he glanced at his watch with an irritated look on his face during one the “debates” that are really nothing more than canned questions and predictable answers.

According to the Lovenstein study, GWB´s poor showing as president comes from his difficulty with the King´s English “in public statements, his limited use of vocabulary (6,500 words for Bush versus an average of 11,000 words for other presidents), his lack of scholarly achievements other than a basic MBA, and an absence of any body of work which could be studied on an intellectual basis.”

Said Dr. Werner R. Lovenstein: “He has no published works or writings, which made it more difficult to arrive at an assessment. We relied more heavily on transcripts of his unscripted public speaking.”


IN OTHER WORDS, they rated the DEMS on preprepared speeches, and written documents that were done by a team of specialists, but GWB was rated by his responses to the MSM.


57 posted on 01/26/2006 12:01:30 PM PST by UCANSEE2 (When I learn everything, I will know nothing.)
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To: jw777

Kan u spill kat. ef u kan, u b way smat 'n u don half 2 wury none.


58 posted on 01/26/2006 12:01:40 PM PST by geezerwheezer (get up boys, we're burnin' daylight!!!)
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To: geezerwheezer

otay!


59 posted on 01/26/2006 12:02:22 PM PST by jw777
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To: jblair

Not right!! He got there at 11:25pm.


60 posted on 01/26/2006 12:03:48 PM PST by geezerwheezer (get up boys, we're burnin' daylight!!!)
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