It turns out George W. Bush and John Kerry were mediocre students at Yale. Bush, in fact, had a slightly better average than his 2004 foe. I wonder if the "Bush is dumb" crowd, who incessantly invoke such trivia as Bush's college transcripts, will now do the same for Kerry. I'll settle for them ceasing to mistake modest academic achievements as an Oval Office disqualifier.

College is overrated. The almae matres of Harry Truman (never graduated from college), Lyndon Johnson (Southwest Texas Teachers College), and Richard Nixon (Whittier College) prove this. Stellar grades and a high IQ doesn't translate into a great president. When we elect a president, we don't necessarily look for the most intelligent or studious man. Intelligent people can be arrogant, fanatical, cowardly, and lacking in good judgment. In other words, many factors go into making a good president, intelligence being but one. Liberals forget this, insulting half of the men on national Republican tickets as stupid (Ronald Reagan, Dan Quayle, George W. Bush) and the other half--that can't be so dismissed--as evil (Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, Dick Cheney). Liberals want an intellectual in chief. Americans want a commander in chief. If you don't get this, look up President Adlai Stevenson or President Eugene McCarthy in the history books.

Reflecting on his "C" average at Eureka College, President Reagan often quipped: Imagine what I would have accomplished had I applied myself.

That is certainly an . . . . interesting school photo of Kerry. Yikes!

I got poor grades in college because I was preparing to become president one day. Yeh, that's it.

This explains Clinton to a T:

"When we elect a president, we don't necessarily look for the most intelligent or studious man. Intelligent people can be arrogant, fanantical, cowardly, and lacking in good judgment."

what's fanantical?

also, whittier college is a very well-respected school. it's not ivy league, but i wouldn't be ashamed to say i go there. nixon graduated from duke law school after whittier.

Reminds me of an incident on Hell's Kitchen last night on Fox. There was an customer that was irate about the wait for his order. Anyway, this moron tells the maitre'd that since he has a doctorate in music, that the maitre'd couldn't tell him what to do. I mean, c'mon, music?

He was kinda like the comic book store guy from The Simpsons "I have an advanced degree in Folk Studies"

Excellent points. I own a fine multi-volume collection of Abraham Lincoln's collected writings. It was edited by a committee headed by Adlai Stevenson after he retired from electoral politics. Ol' Adlai found his true calling, after all.

I got that one beat Ox. I overheard this conversation where this guy was talking down to the immigrant janitor, and he ended with the memorable line, "I have a sociology degree from the University of Massachusetts at Boston." Used the big name and everything.

They have pissa programs ova thea. You come out wicked smaaaght.

If you could go back in time and sit in on one class each for each of them, which would it be?

Hands down, Kerry trying to roll his r's here ... "Another of his strongest efforts, a 77, came in French class."

I guess secular theories of the universe's origin never sat well with Bush ... "He received one D in his four years, a 69 in astronomy."

bush is more philosophical than kerry, apparently. 88 in philosophy.

Yes, but Kerry got A's in Personal Grooming 401 (specifically for fake tanning and hair) and in Marrying Rich Bietches post grad.

Must have been a Liberal Arts major.

In Kerry people confuse intelligent with pompous.

In Bush, people confuse acting on principle with never varying your course no matter what happens, Webster.

As for Bush's stupidity, I think everyone knows that Bush isn't really any smarter or stupider than Kerry, at least when it comes to grades in school.

The main difference people are looking to is that Kerry is a (somewhat) practiced orator, and can be smooth in front of a TV camera, the way that Bush cannot.

Kerry is no William Jennings Bryant, but he can be smooth. Bush comes closer to that 'deer trapped in the headlights' look that Danny Quayle used to sport (OK, not quite as bad, but close ... am I wrong?)

This is what people are thinking of, when they say that Kerry is smarter than Bush, it think.

It's probably not all that fair, but that's the way it seems to people, regardless of the reality.

But I think people citing grades to prove their point are just nerds.

And I should know: I've almost had a Ph.D. in Philosophy for about 5 years now... `:P

In certain quarters of the country Ali G, "puttin' on airs" (as we southern folk call it) is quite popular. These places are generally the so-called blue states and it is this emphasis on seeming the intellectual that makes them disdain Bush as an idiot and conversely made Kerry receive undue praise for being thoughtful, a subtle thinker, etc. The Steve Sailer article demonstrating that Bush likely has a higher I.Q. than Kerry and now this revealing that someone who famously did not excel in college actually did better than the Democrat who strove to come off as a Massachusetts brahmin are thus quite significant.

But Sailer explained Bush best: "In the president’s lone losing race, his 1978 run for Congress from West Texas, the victor stressed Bush’s two Ivy League degrees. Bush resolved never to allow himself to be outdumbed again. And the Democrats haven’t outsmarted him since."

It is much easier and safer to feign simplicity than it is to attempt to command an intellect one actually does not possess. Hence Bush is seen by the volk as humble and straightforward while Kerry was seen through as a pompous fraud.

Btw, welcome back to FF, I knew who you were even before clicking your name when I saw you use the word "schadenfreude" in an earlier post.