It's no secret that the New York Times is a left-leaning newspaper that wants Kerry to win in next week's election. During the 2000 election campaign, Bush was caught by a microphone in an unguarded moment pointing out an NYT reporter to Dick Cheney and describing him as a 'Major League Asshole'. So it doesn't surprise me that the paper seeks revenge this time around and deals out a dirty trick - straight from the bottom of the deck. Knowing that there is little time for him to react, they report incontrovertible evidence that Bush has a higher IQ than John Kerry.
Click here to see the full story. (May require registration).
Mr. Bush's score on the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test at age 22 again suggests that his I.Q was the mid-120's, putting Mr. Bush in about the 95th percentile of the population, according to Mr. Sailer. Mr. Kerry's I.Q. was about 120, in the 91st percentile, according to Mr. Sailer's extrapolation of his score at age 22 on the Navy Officer Qualification Test.
This is damaging. Bush goes to great lengths to conceal his intelligence in public. He knows how damaging it can be electorally to be perceived as 'clever'. He's only ever lost one election in his life - a 1978 Congressional race in northern Texas. On that occasion, his opponent's campaign made this radio broadcast:
"In 1961, when Kent Hance graduated from Dimmitt High School in the 19th congressional district, his opponent George W. Bush was attending Andover Academy in Massachusetts. In 1965, when Kent Hance graduated from Texas Tech, his opponent was at Yale University. And while Kent Hance graduated from University of Texas Law School, his opponent -- get this, folks -- was attending Harvard."
Bush lost. He had been outdumbed. But he did at least learn the lesson and plays the simpleton at every opportunity. In subsequent elections this has always been the winning strategy. The moment you are perceived as being too smart in American politics, you are dead meat. Ronald Reagan was always portrayed as an ignoramus and won two presidential elections. Arnold Schwarzenegger was derided as a fool and comfortably won the Governorship of California. In the 2000 election, Bush outdumbed Gore and won (Gore does have a higher IQ than Bush, as proved by the same sources that place Bush over Kerry).
It's a testament to Bush's campaigning strengths that he's allowed Kerry to come over as the clever one. As the NYT article explains:
Linda Gottfredson, an I.Q. expert at the University of Delaware, called it a creditable analysis said she was not surprised at the results or that so many people had assumed that Mr. Kerry was smarter. "People will often be misled into thinking someone is brighter if he says something complicated they can't understand," Professor Gottfredson said.
As a Bush fan, I just hope that the revelations have come out too late to harm him. I recall that a similar dirty trick was attempted just before the 2000 election, when it was reported that he'd had a drunk driving conviction. That didn't work because it was no secret that he'd been an alcoholic. You don't make great gains attacking your opponent's weaknesses. The key is attacking his strengths, as the Swift Boat Veterans have done so admirably by taking apart Kerry's Vietnam record. The NYT now wants to do the same thing. I must cross my fingers and hope it fails.
_ DY
at 3:20 PM BST
