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The estimable Bruce Bartlett apparently made a little news this morning by speaking his mind.
Former Treasury official Bruce Bartlett labeled newly-minted Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry “an idiot” Friday.
Bartlett, who served at Treasury under former President George H.W. Bush and as a domestic policy adviser to the late President Ronald Reagan, delivered the choice words to the Texas Gov. in reference to his recent comments about Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
“Rick Perry’s an idiot, and I don’t think anyone would disagree with that,” Bartlett said Friday on CNN’s “American Morning.”
This has caused a stir, since this kind of candor is uncommon on television news, especially if it’s directed at a Republican presidential candidate from a veteran of previous Republican administrations.
For what it’s worth, putting aside questions of propriety and name-calling, it’s awfully hard to disagree with Bruce’s assessment. As an objective matter, I suspect most detached observers would agree that Rick Perry just isn’t an especially bright person. That doesn’t make him unique — there are, alas, far too many unintelligent people in public office, and some are seeking the Republican presidential nomination — but it also doesn’t change the underlying truth.
The next question, though, is whether this realization matters, either practically or electorally. Ta-Nehisi Coates argued the other day that it does not.
I’m sure there some level of imbecility which would be too much for Americans, but it seems that the ability to understand and speak to the ambitions of a critical mass of the electorate is much more important. Intelligence might help that effort. But empathy — or at least the ability to communicate empathy — with your audience seems much more important…. Intelligence is overrated.
Maybe, but I’d draw a distinction between “too dumb to govern” and “too dumb to win.” Ta-Nehisi seems to be speaking to the latter — Perry doesn’t need to convince the electorate he’s an intellectually curious, creative thinker, capable of examining complex issues in a sophisticated way; he needs to convince them he’s likeable and relatable.
But after the election, the requirements change. Governing requires intelligence.
In 2000, voters were effectively told, “Don’t worry that George W. Bush isn’t bright; he’ll have capable advisors to keep him on track.” What this argument neglected to mention is that sometimes advisors will disagree, and it requires an intelligent leader to pick the wisest course among many complex options. Bush lacked the intellectual wherewithal to do so, and it contributed to tragic results.
Is Rick Perry conspicuously unintelligent? All evidence suggests he is. Are his intellectual limitations even worse than Bush’s? There’s a strong case to suggest that this is true, too. Will this hurt his chances in the election? I suspect not, but it would undermine his ability to function after the election.
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Texas Aggie on August 19, 2011 11:18 AM:
What can you say? This is a man that people like him would enjoy having a beer or two with. And since the number of people like him constitutes the majority of voters, there is a distinct possibility that he may get elected even though his actual history of governing Texas is completely at odds with what he tells you.
Ian A on August 19, 2011 11:19 AM:
Who knew that Bruce Bartlett was just another Obama lap dog?
In other words, it's Obama's fault.
John Dillinger on August 19, 2011 11:24 AM:
While it did him little good, and he too often chose to ignore their advice, at least Bush had his father's advisors as a potential backstop. But just who the hell is whispering in Perry's ear that he keeps coming up with these statements? We know it is few if any Bush vets. Really, he jumped in the race so late, he's likely drawing on the advisors passed over by all the other candidates. That is what is truly scary about Perrry.
ckelly on August 19, 2011 11:28 AM:
But just who the hell is whispering in Perry's ear that he keeps coming up with these statements?
the baby Jeebus.
neil b on August 19, 2011 11:29 AM:
Sweet, but it's no just a sanity/candor outbreak in action. The Bushies have a feud with Perry, so expect the usual nasty Republican infighting (REM how College Republicans train for vicious fights against Democrats: against each other.) Turd blossom is also involved. (BTW, if every Republican would munch on a different kind of "turd blossom", they'd be better off ...)
Which reminds me of oil. At http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/index.cfm we see more evidence of speculative gaming of oil markets, increasing cost to us of course and profits to the oilies.
QuestionEverything on August 19, 2011 11:30 AM:
It still amazes me how many GOP politicians can lack intelligence to this level or worse and still able to be elected into American and state government.
When was the last Bush/Palin/Perry/Bachmann/the list goes on, level of stupidity, lack of awareness on issues, etc. in a Democratic candidate?
How stupid would you have to be before the GOP voters finally draw the line and say, "You know what, you're much too stupid, unaware of the issues, incompetent for consideration for public office. I care too much about America to let this nimrod screw everything up."?
Their reaction to a GOP politician lying or saying something that reflects an inability to think or to think logically or to show competence with important issues, is not to recoil in disgust or to withdraw support. They react by making excuses for them or to attack the people who report or speak against this.
I'm still waiting for them to draw a line in the sand somewhere but they continue to support failure because ideology is more important than competence or truth.
Why do these guys hate America so much?
neil b' on August 19, 2011 11:33 AM:
Ckelly, no, it's the baby Kochsus. Jeebus is mostly a mask for the former, to snag the gullible pious, so they can peeonus.
stormskies on August 19, 2011 11:34 AM:
Is Rick Perry conspicuously unintelligent? All evidence suggests he is. Are his intellectual limitations even worse than Bush’s? There’s a strong case to suggest that this is true, too. Will this hurt his chances in the election? I suspect not, but it would undermine his ability to function after the election.
*****************
And that is because the American population itself, in general, is STUPID. And because it's stupid it elects stupid people.
neil b on August 19, 2011 11:35 AM:
QE, the don't hate America so much as they love their money so much more.
Josef K on August 19, 2011 11:36 AM:
Will this hurt his chances in the election? I suspect not, but it would undermine his ability to function after the election.
I don't think the country will survive another 4 years of idiocy in the Oval Office.
Okay, the country will (provided they keep The Football out of his reach), but I truly fear our social fabric is far too frayed to endure Perry's brand of idiocy.
sparky on August 19, 2011 11:36 AM:
Bartlett's analysis is spot on. It's best to let the republican realists make comments such as this rather than have it come from the left as this would provide fodder for the right wing talk radio crowd.
Captcha is being especially stupid today
Brenna on August 19, 2011 11:37 AM:
Texas is a country onto itself, that's why Perry keeps getting elected.
A lot of prominent republicans came out in 2008 and denounced McCain's judgment regarding his pick for VP. Sarah cost him the election.
Maybe I'm naive, but I don't think the general population is stupid enough to vote for Bachmann or Perry for president.
Anonymous on August 19, 2011 11:37 AM:
QuestionEverything,
"How stupid would you have to be before the GOP voters finally draw the line and say, "You know what, you're much too stupid, unaware of the issues, incompetent for consideration for public office. I care too much about America to let this nimrod screw everything up."?
There IS no limit to the stupid, none, as long as he/she hates Liberals and Democrats.
And that's why they keep electing people they can drool a beer with.
neil b' on August 19, 2011 11:38 AM:
Sad. My mother used to say about Bush, which Steve Benen said "she's right" - "They like him because he's dumb like them." Perry is even "better"!
June on August 19, 2011 11:40 AM:
"...Will this hurt his chances in the election? I suspect not, but it would undermine his ability to function after the election."
Uh, no it won't. Perry can then join the right-wing caravan of speaking engagements, book tours and reality shows - why? Because he will at the point be an also-ran looking for his next gig, as President Obama prepares for his second term.
Unstable Isotope on August 19, 2011 11:44 AM:
Will this hurt his chances in the election? I suspect not, but it would undermine his ability to function after the election.
I don't agree. Perry's underperformed Republicans in elections in deep red Texas. Your video from earlier today demonstrates that Perry sees things ideologically. That sounds like poor empathy skills to me.
We shall see I guess. With a horrible economy, anything can happen. This will be an interesting election season.
T2 on August 19, 2011 11:45 AM:
Perry is way further down the Evangelical road than Bush (a reformed alcoholic). The people whispering in Bush's ears were NeoCons. The people whispering in Perry's are guys who hope that the end of the world is near, so Jesus will return and put THEM into power.
I'll remind everyone that election before last, Perry was elected to the Governor's office by getting 39% of the vote and would have lost that election to a Democrat had it not been for two wackos that also ran, siphoning off votes that would have gone to the Dems.
Mimikatz on August 19, 2011 11:47 AM:
He's Bush without the Brains. He really can't think his way out of a paper bag. Bush wasn't so much unintelligent as intellectually lazy. There is no evidence Perry has much in the way of brain power, and he lacks whatever Bush picked up by osmosis from a pretty capable father and all his time in politics. Perry is so dumb he probably doesn't realize how dumb he is.
He's not going to win, fortunately. He just won't play aong the suburban managerial class who really turned against Bush after Schiavo, Katrina and the other missteps of 2005.
doubtful on August 19, 2011 11:55 AM:
I feel bad for Reagan and Bush for suffering a socialist like Bartlett on their team. Truly they are saints.
Texas Aggie on August 19, 2011 11:55 AM:
The person whispering in Goodhair's ear is Dave Carney and he is Rove on growth hormones. Don't underestimate him. Goodhair doesn't have much in the way of Bush advisors because the two groups don't really like each other for a variety of reasons. As a matter of fact, I've seen little evidence that Goodhair has many knowledgeable advisors on nonpolitical matters like governing. Most of it comes from the religious far right.
jim filyaw on August 19, 2011 11:59 AM:
he most certainly is, but i was hoping this would not be bruited about until after he was nominated.
p.s.: is there one g.o.p. candidate who is not either an idiot, a liar, a coward or a fool?
Rex Trailer on August 19, 2011 12:03 PM:
In "The Devil's Dictionary," Ambrose Bierce defines "idiot" as follows:
"a member of the numerous tribe whose influence on human affairs has always been dominant and controlling."
square1 on August 19, 2011 12:05 PM:
It's the economy, stupid.
As long as Republicans nominate someone who isn't, per se, unacceptable to a (voting) majority of Americans, the Republicans will win. Bachmann and Palin, e.g. are nonstarters.
Is a good-looking Texas governor with a powerful fundraising team and personal charm unelectable just because he is a policy lightweight (i.e. stupid)?
The question answers itself.
Molly Weasley on August 19, 2011 12:16 PM:
"Dumber than a box of rocks" is how he's usually described, according to Rachel Maddow. And that's by Texas Republicans.
I may be too hopeful about this, but somehow, I think that when lots of people see an interview or a debate performance by this half-brain, they won't be impressed. Indeed, they may stare in horror at their TV sets.
Perry has lucked out in many Texas elections. Many half-wit GOP members of Congress were elected in 2010 because voters really don't pay much attention to congressional races. But the presidency is different. It's why $arah Palin has tanked on the national level. Those running for it have to make at least SOME modicum of sense.
Rick Perry: Not the sharpest tool in the shed. Not the brightest crayon in the box. Not the deepest oil well on the ranch. (Anyone else have a Texas-type analogy?)
SadOldVet on August 19, 2011 12:18 PM:
What the hell does governing have to do with being a republican president?
The role of republican presidents is to rule, not govern. It does not take intelligence to do that, just the capability to proclaim everyone who disagrees with him the enemy of the country.
Ricky Bobby Perry is highly qualified to be our next republican president.
JMG on August 19, 2011 12:19 PM:
"Someday the American people will achieve their fondest dream, and the White House will be occupied by a downright moron" -- H. L. Mencken
Frank Logan on August 19, 2011 12:21 PM:
I'm reminded of when Nixon nominated South Carolinian Clement Haynesworth and Floridian G. Harold Carswell to the supreme court. When people complained the two jurists were too mediocre to serve on the high bench, Sen. Roman Hruska, R-Nebraska said, "Mediocre people deserve representation, too."
While I'm not ready for Perry, I believe he would be only marginally more mediocre than "W" was.
stratplayer on August 19, 2011 1:01 PM:
I concur with Mimikatz that Bush is not unintelligent but that he is lazy and intellectually incurious. Perry, on the other hand, is an incurious dolt who has no idea how stupid he really is. He's skated all his life on looks and charm (a charm that eludes me, however). With any luck (on the part of the country), Perry's skates may finally be losing their edges and rusting away.
sparrow on August 19, 2011 1:37 PM:
Perry may be an idiot, but like Bush, he is a useful idiot for powerful monied interests on the Right. I'm not at all convinced though that most of the public in this economic climate is willing to just elect another someone that is likeable and relatable (although Rich Lowry seems to think that Perry should primarily pursue his "personal story" angle). When the bubble was still inflating and so many were lulled into thinking that housing was their path to riches and when credit was easily available to leverage their accustomed standard of living, that may have been acceptable. Now, with savings earning little return, underwater mortgages, fears of another double dip recession, a lack of jobs, and the experience of witnessing the efforts of Republicans and their subset of Teabaggers to styime anything and everything to help get the economy moving, and doing anything and everything to shred the social safety net, I think they are a little more attuned to, you know, intelligence. Having been there with Bush, gotten the tea-shirt only to be ultimately unsatisfied with the fit, it's hard hard to belive that the majority really are looking for a replacement with the same logo, style, and measurements.
square1 on August 19, 2011 1:38 PM:
I agree. Bush wasn't stupid. He just wasn't an intellectual.
In fact, I'd argue that Bush was fairly savvy when it came to campaigning. And he had a solid, intuitive, almost animalistic sense of power dynamics.
Yes, Bush had Rove, who is far more talented than anyone associated with the current administration. But Bush had natural instincts too.
Do you remember when Bush when after Social Security after he won re-election? The guy sounded like an idiot when he talked about how he had "political capital" and that he "intended to spend it". But you know what? He was right. Bush understood that the time to act was soon after the election, when his popularity remained fairly high.
While President Obama completely dwarfs Bush on the policy wonk scale, Obama's senses of political timing and power dynamics are far worse than Bush's.
sparrow on August 19, 2011 1:54 PM:
In reply Molly weasley: Sarah Palin with spurs.
ComradeAnon on August 19, 2011 3:33 PM:
Sparrow is spot on. And further, Ricky Bobby Perry (that's a good one SadOldVet) can keep people distracted so the robbers can continue to ...rob. At some point, more people have to notice all the strings. On second thought, their too stoopid to notice and the rest of them don't care about the strings since they can all sing along with the racism.
rrk1 on August 19, 2011 5:23 PM:
I’m sure there's some level of imbecility which would be too much for Americans,
Bless the eternal optimists for they shall bring laughter to the morose.
The complete Mencken quote is:
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
TCinLA on August 19, 2011 5:46 PM:
Perry's not an idiot, he's a Goatroper. That's an old Texanism that's not a compliment to the one so labeled - "Too dumb to rope a goat."
He also proves that "nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."
priscianusjr on August 21, 2011 2:14 PM:
I'm not really surprised at the apparently limitless capacity for stupidity of the republican electorate. After all, republican messaging has been cultivating this select group for decades, and those with any sense have been winnowed out. What I do find fascinating is that the GOP leadership (whatever exactly that is, help me out here) does perceive some sort of a limit to the degree of stupidity it can accept. Fascinating because in all these years of incessant dumbing-down, in which Roger Ailes, Morton Blackwell, Lee Atwater, Karl Rove, and others have done yeoman service, they had not yet reached it. And now, suddenly, they have. I have lived to see the day. But really, what is the mystery behind this magical line in the sand?
Anonymous on August 21, 2011 2:23 PM:
@jim filyaw:
"is there one g.o.p. candidate who is not either an idiot, a liar, a coward or a fool?"
Yes, there is one -- Huntsman. All the same, he is an extremely conservative republican, of which this country has had quite enough already, thank you.
Nancy Irving on August 21, 2011 11:34 PM:
"...sometimes advisors will disagree, and it requires an intelligent leader to pick the wisest course among many complex options. Bush lacked the intellectual wherewithal to do so, and it contributed to tragic results."
This is an important point which, notwithstanding its obviousness, is hardly ever noted.
Bush decided to listen to the self-deluded Rumsfeld and Cheney, and freeze out the wise man in the room, Colin Powell.
I would add that his tragic mistakes resulted not only from his intellectual deficits, but from his emotional ones as well--specifically, his need to swagger, prove his toughness and do what his (wiser) Daddy had "failed" to do vis-a-vis Iraq.
There's something along this line in one of Plato's dialogues, but I can't remember which one. Something about a shoemaker...
walkingbass on August 27, 2011 7:11 PM:
Republican Minority leader, Mitch McConnell said, "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president." Ever since then, the republican playbook is "oppose everything Obama is for", no matter how much it damages the economy. Republicans know that the more damage they do to the economy, the more the American voters (i.e., idiots) will blame Obama and return control of the Senate and the White House to them.
Robert on September 02, 2011 1:14 AM:
Perry can win where Palin failed, and where Bachmann will fail, because he has a deeper voice. Yes, a deeper voice. He gives off all the entitled alpha-male signals.
So much of this is primate behavior. Arguments that it is unreasonable to elect an idiot President are themselves unreasonable, because they credit idiocy as more than the small inconvenience it is in contests of dominance.
More intelligent alphas may hope to manipulate him from behind the scenes, later, but even these may misjudge their ability to maintain control once his primacy has been validated in what is ultimately a play of instinct.
ww40 on September 05, 2011 8:27 AM:
After reading the comments here one can only conclude that the only group you commenters think are more stupid than Republicans are, AMERICANS. Why does the left, ie Democrats, seem to have such a dim view of this country? Maybe because it sees through you and your kind and votes you out of office quickly when it makes the mistake of ever voting you IN in the first place? Obama can make a speech but he can't run a country, he's proven that. Let him go back out on the speakers circuit. One and DONE, and I frankly don't much care which Republican candidate replaces him.