Um, if Arnold had ever actually debated things might have been different. But perhaps not.

Still the above quote without acknowledging that Schwarzenegger refused to debate is intellectually dishonest.

Huh? Doesn't his not debating feed into the notion he was the dumber?

Hmm. Chris Scheer -- any relation to Robert?

It's interesting to note that 12% more voters voted for No on recall than voted for Bustamente.

That means that even this 12% who wanted to keep Davis voted for someone other than the Cruze man (probably for Aaahnold!) to replace Grayout Davis.

I think a major reason Americans distrust "brilliant" politicians is that they are more likely to have brainy, complex schemes for remaking society. The "dumb" distrust of such things is a virtue in disguise.

Papaya - Bingo. I do NOT want left-wing superbrainiacs running the government. Period.

Americans have a great deal of "horse sense," and they know enough to distrust people with grand schemes for re-making society.

I'm a history major in college. These people are dangerous. Trust me.

Hey Matt..

You wouldn't be referring to one Hillary Cinton, would you?!

Try naming the men who historians consider the five "smartest" presidents of the 20th Century, and then try naming the men most people consider the five worst presidents of the 20th Century. The corrolation of the two lists isn't exact, but it's pretty close (and the reverse -- naming the five so-called "dumbest" presidents of the last century and the five best presidents -- corrolates pretty closely as well).

Well let's see:

Smartest

1. Woodrow Wilson
2. Richard Nixon
3. Herbert Hoover
4. Bill Clinton
5. Eisenhower

Dumbest:

1. Warren Harding
2. Ronald Reagan
3. Calvin Coolidge
4. Harry Truman
5. George W Bush

Ali,
Generally (excuse the pun), I agree with you.

There seem to be revelations about the Eisenhower presidency coming to light.

The thought had been that Eisenhower was a lightweight, and presided during a period of national tranquility and conformity.

It seems Ike actually implemented some brazen covert national defense initiatives that are now coming to light.

I would have swapped Carter for Eisenhower on the "smartest" list, based on the general public perceptions that still exist to this day. Ike's gotten more credit in the past 15 years, but he's still seen in many parts as an affiable ex-general who spent lots of time at Burning Tree; Jimmy, as we were incessantly reminded during the 1976 presidential campaign, was both an engineer and a nuclear submarine expert compared to Gerald Ford, who could take GWB's place on the "dumb" list if you confine it only to presidents who served in the 20th Century.

I sort of figured most people in the States would think the man in charge of the Allied war effort in Europe and North Africa would be a pretty smart guy as opposed to a Georgia peanut farmer.

Well, Ike and Wilson were university presidents.

Intelligence is not the quality that is of most interest to me, though. It might be more instructive to list the presidents who were obviously, clinically and seriously mentally ill:

Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan. Coolidge was either a norcoleptic or had disabling personality disorder, perhaps both.

Grit counts, too. I don't know how to compare overcoming polio and overcoming alcoholism.

Reagan & Coolidge? That's just asinine.

All polio did for FDR was teach him that no one should have to take care of themself, that government should walk you from cradle to grave.

Ali:

In America, military men are never considered bright. Ike compounded that by reading Westerns and speaking in a tortured syntax.

Come on Harry, Coolidge liked to take lots of naps and didn't like flapping his mouth.

Doesn't mean he was suffering from any disorders.

Although Lincoln was probably a depressive and I've read that Washington was apt to cry when he was feeling particularly stressed.

oj: FDR was actually pretty self-sufficent for a guy stuck in a wheel-chair. And he'd abandon his pretence of not being a cripple when visting injured Allied soldiers which at least shows character.

Kennedy was mentally ill? Come on, he had a lot of physical problems and was a satyr, but he fulfilled his calling, both as a son and as a man of his time. Besides, he gave one of the best political quotes ever, about Eleanor: "She always hated me (and my parents), because the Kennedy kids turned out better than hers did".

Actually, the most important affect in a president is probably whether or not he learns to enjoy the job without being consumed. In this regard, Coolidge, Truman, Ike, Kennedy, and Reagan seem to be about the same. Johnson, Nixon, Carter, and Clinton would be failures. But none of them had much grit, either.

Not mentally ill, but if you read Michael Beschloss's Crisis Years and Thomas Reeves's Question of Character (?), he was no mentally competent at times, including during one summit, because of medications.