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Originally Posted by I B Hankering
Evidently, blah blah blah blah blah
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I'm not sure "their politicians are just as dumb as our politicians" is such a great argument. I'll therefore respond with a more balanced approached.
Regardless of what you might think, Washington is filled with some very smart people. Unfortunately, the space between those people is filled with imbeciles. Here's Mazo's list of notables on both ends of the spectrum - some of which, sadly or gladly, have moved on:
The House -
Love him or hate him, Barney Frank is the smartest guy in the room 98 out of 100 times. He isn't the smartest only when Rush Holt or Vern Ethers are in the room. You can't blame Barney for that 2% lag, though. It's hard to top a couple of PhD physicists on brain power.
On the other end of the spectrum we've got Charlie Rangle and J.D. Hayworth - both of whom, I swear, could hurt themselves with a toilet brush.
The Senate -
On the other end of the building you couldn't do better than John Sununu or Hilary Clinton. Sununu is just plain smart. Misguided sometimes, but smart. And you can call Hilary a dumb cow all you want but the fact is that she'll kick your ass on an IQ test any day of the week.
John Chafee was a sad loss to that body. He was probably the only one who could hold his own with Frank. His kid was OK, but only had 70% of the brains his old man had.
With all of them gone there's not much left. Lieberman has some brains but doesn't know how to use 'em. Kyl can do some thinking but never let that get in the way of political stupidity.
After that it's a steep slope downhill.
I'm not sure how Patty Murry manages to put her pants on straight each morning. James Inhofe thinks wearing your pants backwards is just how it's done.
And don't even get me started about Katherine Harris, Conrad Burns, or Jim Bunning. I think the Republicans contracted with Disney to supply that cast of brain-dead characters.
I'll also say that whatever you think about Obama, he's a damn smart guy. Whatever you think about Biden . . . well . . . see my comment about Jim Inhofe above.
So neither political party is exactly boiling over with intellect right now. I just wish the smarter ones would step up and take the reigns. Then you'd see some leadership.
Cheers,
Mazo.
