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Bush dumb, Gore bright?
WND ^ | Posted: March 6, 2002 | Larry Elder

Posted on 03/06/2002 7:36:40 PM PST by gubamyster

Bush dumb, Gore bright?

Posted: March 6, 2002 1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2002 Laurence A. Elder

President George W. Bush – despite his post-Sept. 11 performance – remains dumb, says "West Wing" producer Aaron Sorkin.

Bush's stratospheric popularity, claims Sorkin, results from our collective refusal to admit Bush's stupidity: "That illusion [of a fully-engaged Bush] may be what we need right now, but the truth is we're simply pretending to believe that Bush exhibited unspeakable courage at the World Series by throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium, or that he, by God, showed those terrorists by going to Salt Lake City and jumbling the first line of the Olympic opening ceremony. The media is waving pompoms, and the entire country is being polite."

Why, then, did "brainy" Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore lose to his obvious intellectual inferior? Sorkin offers this analysis: Gore, reluctant to demonstrate his superior intelligence, pulled his punches against Bush. In an upcoming "West Wing" episode, Sorkin intends to pit his fictional smart Democratic President Josiah Bartlet, played by Martin Sheen (who once called Bush a "moron"), vs. a less-than-bright Republican candidate. Sorkin explains, "Bartlet is going to be running against Gov. Robert Ritchie, of Florida, who's not the sharpest tool in the box but who's raised a lot of money and is very popular with the Republican Party. ... It was frustrating watching Gore try so hard not to appear smart in the debates – why not just say, 'Here's my f---ing resume, what do you got?'"

In this fictitious Gore vs. Bush II contest, President Bartlet's communications director, often portrayed as the White House's conscience, psychoanalyzes the boss and offers the following advice: "You don't want to lose as the smartest kid in class who's running against an everyman. But I'm telling you, be the smartest kid in your class. Be the reason why your father hated you. Make this an election about smart and stupid, about engaged and not, qualified and not."

Gore, according to Sorkin, possesses an impressive f---ing resume, but what about Gore's f---ing academic performance and his f---ing grades?

First, prep school. Although Gore received a SAT math score of 730, a former St. Alban's teacher called his performance in physics "terrible." What about chemistry? The former professor said, "He didn't do too well in chemistry."

After his graduation from St. Alban's High School, Gore entered Harvard. "In his sophomore year at Harvard," according to The Washington Post, " Gore's grades were lower than any semester recorded on Bush's transcript from Yale [emphasis added]." Gore, later the author of the environmental call-to-arms book, "Earth in the Balance," received a D in a Harvard science course. The Post described Gore's sophomore year: "[That was] the year Gore's classmates remember him spending a notable amount of time in the Dunster House basement lounge shooting pool, watching television, eating hamburgers and occasionally smoking marijuana."

On to graduate school. In 1971, Gore enrolled in Vanderbilt Divinity School. The Washington Times says, "It is said that Mr. Gore failed to hand in his book report on time. Thus, his incomplete grade turned into an F, one of five Fs Mr. Gore received at divinity school, which may well be a worldwide record." He later dropped out.

Gore then enrolled in law school, but also failed to finish. The Boston Globe said, "Nor did Gore graduate from Vanderbilt Law School, where he enrolled for a brief time and received his fair share of Cs."

Not only did Bush academically outperform the "intellectually superior" Gore, Bush scored a higher verbal SAT score than Rhodes scholar and former Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley, with Bush scoring 566 to Bradley's 485. True, Gore scored a higher verbal SAT at 625, but the "smart, engaged, and qualified" former vice president scored only 59 points higher than the allegedly intellectually deficient Bush.

Stupidity, it appears, flows from the ideological eye of the beholder. Reporters constantly asked the late JFK Jr. when he intended to run for president. The Kennedy glow never dimmed even when he flunked the New York bar twice before finally passing it. Recently in Los Angeles, leftist candidate Antonio Villaraigosa ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Los Angeles. Villaraigosa took and flunked the California bar four times, never passing it. Yet because of Villaraigosa's ethnicity, his opponents – fearing a charge of racism – refused to raise the issue.

Don't misunderstand. Time magazine named Albert Einstein "Person of the Century," and President Bush will not demand a recount. But Al Gore, while performing well on standardized tests, and reportedly possessing a high IQ, nevertheless underwhelmed academically. If Gore possesses more brain power than Bush, what's more impressive? A Gore-like bright kid who refuses to apply himself, or the less-than-brilliant kid who gets the job done?

Maybe President Bartlet can sort that one out for us.


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1 posted on 03/06/2002 7:36:40 PM PST by gubamyster
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To: gubamyster
Au contraire!

A look at Gore's pronouncements before/during clintoon's impeachment reveal him to be a real boob.

  1. "I seek this office [of the President] to restore the rule of law and respect for common sense to the White House." ...
    "Americans in every region and in both political parties have been shaken by the betrayal of public trust ... and the dishonesty of the public officials."...
    "Any government official who ... lies to the United States Congress will be fired immediately."

    -- Presidential candidate Al Gore quoted today in the Seattle Times
  2. "My first pledge will be to restore integrity to the White House. And I'll fire anyone who has lied to the American people or the United States Congress." -- Al Gore, in a February 2, 1988 presidential debate.
  3. "I will say that I think that the ethical standards established in this White House have been the highest in the history of the White House." -- Vice President Al Gore, appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press"
  4. Gore claims to have inspired "Love Story"
  5. Gore retracts "Love Story" claim
  6. On the day that news of his affair with Lewinsky breaks, and knowing he would have to answer questions about her, the president turns to vice president Al Gore, who is traveling in Tennessee.
    • According to the New York Times, Clinton, before facing the interviewers, tells aides, "I just had a conversation with the vice president. He really gave me good advice. I'm really glad I talk to Al."
    • In those interviews, Clinton denies the affair and promises to answer questions about the issue at some point in the near future (but doesn't).
  7. On the day following that on which news broke of Clinton's affair with Lewinsky, Gore and Clinton discuss the Lewinsky matter at length in a private lunch at the White House.
  8. Vice President Al Gore takes a leading role in the effort to shore up Congressional support for Clinton in Congress.
  9. Vice President Al Gore works himself into a frenzy of loyalty for President Clinton in public appearances:
    • "Let us dedicate ourselves to working with President Clinton, to fighting alongside him for the 21st century that we all deserve," he tells an audience in Illinois during a joint appearance with Clinton.
    • His voice rising to a scream, Gore continues, "He is the president of the country. He is also my friend. And I want to ask you now, every single one of you, to JOIN ME IN SUPPORTING HIM AND STANDING BY HIS SIDE!"
  10. On the day on which Clinton appears before Starr's grand jury and later admits to an "inappropriate" relationship with Lewinsky, Vice President Al Gore immediately makes another public show of support and repeats the president's position that the investigation should now be brought to an end.
    • "I watched the president's televised address in which he took full responsibility for his actions and apologized to the nation," Gore begins. "I am proud of him -- not only because he is a friend -- but because he is a person who has had the courage to acknowledge mistakes. I am honored to work with this great President on his agenda for the nation, and I believe it is time to put this matter behind us -- once and for all -- and move forward with the business of the United States of America."
  11. Vice President Gore's reaction to the released Starr Report is to immediately re-affirm his support for Clinton. "I've stood with [Clinton] as he has led this nation," Gore tells the audience at the National Prayer Breakfast, "and on a personal note, I would like to tell you that he is not only a great president, he has been a great friend."
  12. On Impeachment Day, Gore calls Clinton "one of our greatest Presidents"
  13. Four days after Impeachment, Vice President Al Gore denies Clinton ever lied under oath. "The president has said that he did not lie under oath," Gore says in a CNN interview. "He has acknowledged that he gave statements that were less than helpful to his interrogators, and he was misleading. But that's a very different proposition."
  14. "We feel, and the Defense Department feels, that problem is not going to be a problem. Of course, it can't be a problem. We won't allow it to be a problem.... We're confident that it is going to be solved, but we're going to be doubly, triply and quadrupally confident that it's going to be solved before September of this year."
    -- Vice President Al Gore, quoted by the San Jose Mercury News regarding national readiness for Y2K
  15. Gore claims to have invented the Internet
  16. Gore retracts claim to have invented the Internet
  17. Gore says he was angry and disappointed at President Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky, but remained loyal throughout the scandal because the nation needed stability.
  18. Clinton admits for the first time that his lies about his affair with Monica Lewinsky might turn some voters against Vice-President Al Gore in the next election
  19. The Republican National Committee places a billboard of President Clinton and Vice-President Gore in a deep embrace across the street from Gore's Nashville headquarters, highlighting Gore's Impeachment day message praising Clinton as "one of the country's best presidents".
  20. A Nashville billboard company refuses to honor a contract with the Republican National Committee to let the GOP advertise a few hundred yards from Vice President Al Gore's campaign headquarters.
  21. The Tennessee billboard company that initially refused to honor a contract with the Republican National Committee to let the GOP advertise a few hundred yards from Vice President Al Gore's campaign headquarters again reverses its position and allows the ad to go up.
  22. Gore caught unprepared to defend Clinton's lack of explanation of Broaddrick rape claim
  23. Gore admits to being able to hypnotize chickens.
  24. The Republican National Committee wastes no time in thrashing Al Gore for his unwillingness to comment on Clinton's lack of explanation of Broaddrick rape allegations
  25. White House blasts reporter Les Kinsolving for asking at a press conference whether Gore has a position on the Broaddrick rape matter
  26. Gore is asked during a debate with opponent Bill Bradley whether Clinton's legal expenses should be reimbursed by the taxpayers -- Gore finesses an answer.
  27. Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Nicholson today sends Vice President Al Gore a copy of Lisa Myers' "Dateline NBC" story in which Broaddrick alleges that she was raped by Bill Clinton while he was Attorney General of Arkansas
  28. Gore's aides are unhappy with the image of the vice president standing behind the president and serving as his chief cheerleader during Clinton's last State of the Union address, but there was no way he could decline to attend
  29. Clinton all but ceases actively campaigning for Gore to succeed him as opinion polls have shown a majority of Americans are tired of the scandals under his administration and that they are a drag on Gore's campaign.
  30. The Tennessee Republican Party last November rented one side of a billboard just down the street from Vice President Al Gore's national campaign headquarters. Now it has rented the other side -- the panel facing the Gore office.
  31. Vice President Al Gore says today the Republicans are chasing their tails pursuing questions about his missing e-mail and staff calls to the Internal Revenue Service, but he offers little additional explanation about either in an interview. In a West Wing interview, the No. 2 man in one of the most investigated administrations in U.S. history appears as untroubled by the newest inquiries - and their implications for his presidential campaign - as he is vague about their details.
    Asked how much he used e-mail during the 1996 re-election campaign to communicate about fund raising, Gore replies simply, "Didn't.''
    He is pressed to go on: "Just 'didn't'?"
    "Well, first of all, I don't know," he responds. "But whatever is there will be disclosed - fully and completely."
    Reminded of his reputation as an Internet-savvy person who uses e-mail frequently, he says: "Not about this. First of all, I just don't know. I just don't know. ... They're reconstructing this."
  32. For the first time in months, Clinton and Vice President Al Gore appear together at a fundraiser in Los Angeles.
  33. A U.S. map shows itineraries on President Clinton's "School Reform Tour" website. The website claims, "President Clinton and Vice President Gore: An Unprecedented Commitment to Education... dramatically increasing accountability." The map shows the state of Kentucky occupying what is commonly known as Tennessee.
  34. Facing a Republican inquiry into missing e-mails, Vice President Al Gore says today he remembers his office losing three days of e-mails and the problem getting fixed after he asked aides, "What in the world happened?"
  35. Today Al Gore, who last year boasted that he "took the initiative in creating the Internet," denies any knowledge of how his subpoenaed e-mails were lost by conceding, during a Fox News Channel interview, "I'm not an expert on computers."
  36. Insight Magazine's Paul M. Rodriguez cites "technical communications experts" as saying that copies of all White House electronic communications are likely to have been captured on secret backup tapes unless interfered with by White House insiders. Insight also reports that a current White House employee has blown the whistle on Al Gore and his staff involving the storage and handling of e-mails into and out of the vice president's office that allegedly were lost due to technical glitches between March 1998 and April 1999.
  37. In an apparent move to bolster his presidential campaign among social conservatives, candidate Al Gore today announces the selection of Senator Joseph Lieberman as his Vice Presidential candidate.
  38. "'When my sister and I were growing up,' Mr. Gore told a small audience made up mostly of women, 'there was never any doubt in our minds that men and women were equal, if not more so.'" -- NY Times, 08/12/00
  39. Matt Drudge reports on the Gore campaign's efforts to further distance itself from Clinton, despite years of being "joined at the hip"
  40. Vice President Gore, who in every speech distances himself from President Clinton by declaring that he is his "own man," defends his controversial impeachment-day declaration that Clinton would be remembered as one of America's foremost presidents. But just as he praises the President for his job performance, Gore tries to distinguish himself from Clinton by saying he would be a different kind of leader.
  41. "[T]he American democratic system was an early political version of Napster." -- Vice President Al Gore
  42. George W. Bush defeats Al Gore for President. Gore will bitterly and divisively contest the election results in both state and federal courts for more than a month before finally conceding.
  43. After more than a month of legal wrangling and a series of appeals in both Florida and Federal courts, the Gore campaign finally concedes the presidential election to George W. Bush.
  44. It's later reported that a few days after Al Gore conceded the 2000 presidential election, he and Bill Clinton had a "tense meeting."
  45. The Arizona Republic reports that evicted White House staffers weren't the only ones playing pranks on the incoming George W. Bush team -- someone spray-painted a big "G" on one of the bedroom walls in the vice president's residence, forcing workers to repaint. The "G" graffitti was found in the former bedroom of 18-year-old Al "I Can't Drive 55" Gore III.
  46. Gore consultant Carter Eskew publishes a post-election analysis in which he says the "deep dissatisfaction and anger" felt by swing voters over Clinton's scandals was "the elephant in the living room" preventing Gore from making his case, and causing him to lose the election to George W. Bush.
  47. The Washington Post reports that a few days after Al Gore conceded the 2000 presidential election, he and Bill Clinton had a "tense meeting."
  48. It's later reported that an e-mail recontruction technician today files a declaration in court stating it will be impossible to restore much of the White House e-mail traffic in the office of former Vice President Gore, despite a yearlong effort in which technical experts recovered 3 million missing messages from computer tapes.
    • The court papers also show that the universe of messages that was never properly archived and therefore was never searched to see if they were relevant to various investigations is far more vast than the Clinton administration ever suggested.
  49. It's reported today that recently filed court papers reveal it will be impossible to restore much of the White House e-mail traffic in the office of former Vice President Gore, despite a yearlong effort in which technical experts recovered 3 million missing messages from computer tapes.

2 posted on 03/06/2002 7:41:13 PM PST by martin_fierro
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Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: martin_fierro
Did you read the article, before posting your reply? The article makes your point - that despite "popular wisdom" GWB actually outperformed Gore in academics.

Thanks for the links, though, they'll keep me busy for awhile.

4 posted on 03/06/2002 7:47:59 PM PST by gubamyster
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To: gubamyster
"It was frustrating watching Gore try so hard not to appear smart in the debates..."

Hey, Sorkin - you indict your own flunkie. After all, only a dummy like Gore would take such an approach to a debate.

5 posted on 03/06/2002 7:49:29 PM PST by anniegetyourgun
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To: gubamyster
You have to forgive Aaron Sorkin. Apparently the Crack has eaten out a major portion of his brain. If you saw tonight's West Wing, you would have seen the result of a brain on Crack. The show was incredibly BOOOORRRRRINNNG and went NOWHERE. Anybody else see tonight's dull WW episode?
6 posted on 03/06/2002 7:51:32 PM PST by PJ-Comix
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To: gubamyster
Thanks for posting this. I heard Larry talking about it today.
7 posted on 03/06/2002 7:54:09 PM PST by doug from upland
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To: gubamyster
If Gore was so smart then why did he wear that ridiculous orange day-glo makeup in the first debate and then loudly huff and puff so everybody could see what a shmuck he was?
8 posted on 03/06/2002 7:55:14 PM PST by PJ-Comix
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To: gubamyster
The links should be back to operational in a few hours -- traffic to my TRIPOD site keeps exceeding its puny bandwidth limits.

I read your article before posting -- the first line should have read, "'Bush dumb, Gore bright?' Au contraire!"

9 posted on 03/06/2002 7:55:23 PM PST by martin_fierro
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To: gubamyster
Sorkin needs to lay off the drugs.
10 posted on 03/06/2002 8:05:55 PM PST by EternalHope
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To: PJ-Comix
What can you expect from a guy who just made it through his Fine Arts degree.
11 posted on 03/06/2002 8:06:48 PM PST by anniegetyourgun
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To: gubamyster
Not only did Bush academically outperform the "intellectually superior" Gore, Bush scored a higher verbal SAT score than Rhodes scholar and former Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley, with Bush scoring 566 to Bradley's 485. True, Gore scored a higher verbal SAT at 625, but the "smart, engaged, and qualified" former vice president scored only 59 points higher than the allegedly intellectually deficient Bush.

I got all of them beat (in modesty, too) :)

12 posted on 03/06/2002 8:08:25 PM PST by BrooklynGOP
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To: martin_fierro
The links should be back to operational in a few hours..
Man I hope so!,I want to read about gore and his chicken.
13 posted on 03/06/2002 8:08:49 PM PST by reloader
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To: EternalHope
Sorkin needs to lay off the drugs.

He can try but I doubt if he can ever kick the Crack habit. I heard that is one addiction that is almost impossible to stop. Look for Sorkin to relapse soon...very soon (although I suspect that he is already back on the crack pipe.)

14 posted on 03/06/2002 8:09:25 PM PST by PJ-Comix
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To: gubamyster
Don't be so hard on Sorkin, he is an expert on refusing to believe someone's stupidity. Lest you forget he's one of millions whose defense of Slick Willy resulted from a collective refusal of his stupidity!
15 posted on 03/06/2002 8:13:10 PM PST by 100%FEDUP
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To: PJ-Comix
They say crack cocaine affects the same area of the human brain as sex, only 40 times more powerfully. Pretty hard to imagine anybody ever really getting any sort of a handle on anything like that.

As to Algor, "superior intellect" obvoiusly is not a cure for being a crybaby, and Algor's the biggest crybaby I've ever seen since Crybaby Corby retired from professional wrestling in 1959.

16 posted on 03/06/2002 8:15:18 PM PST by medved
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To: BrooklynGOP
First, prep school. Although Gore received a SAT math score of 730, a former St. Alban's teacher called his performance in physics "terrible." What about chemistry? The former professor said, "He didn't do too well in chemistry."

Something here smelling like yesterdays fish.

17 posted on 03/06/2002 8:15:19 PM PST by jwalsh07
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To: jwalsh07
Gore was on pot much of the time. Give him a break. That's why he did well in math. Pot interferes the least in that endeavor. But when it comes to reading comprehension, that is a whole different matter. I speak from experience, albeit somewhat out of date experience.
18 posted on 03/06/2002 8:19:03 PM PST by Torie
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To: jwalsh07
Didn't one of the Kennedeys get busted for hiring someone to take a Spanish test for him? How do we know Gore didn't have someone take that SAT for him? I am suspicious because there's no way IMHO that Al Gore behaves like someone pulling a hundred point differential in favor of math SAT. Anyone have some facts on this score?
19 posted on 03/06/2002 8:24:31 PM PST by maro
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To: Torie
Gore was on pot much of the time

If by that, you mean he was full of crap, I agree.

20 posted on 03/06/2002 8:24:55 PM PST by jwalsh07
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