It was surprising when MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough did a 10-minute segment last night on the question of whether the president’s limited intellectual strengths undermine the nation. It was even more surprising when MSNBC kept up the tagline “Is Bush An ‘Idiot’?” for the entire 10 minutes.<\/p>\n
Scarborough, to his credit, didn’t exactly shill for the White House, and repeatedly suggested the president’s deficiencies have serious real-world consequences. At one point, he quoted a former presidential aide who told Scarborough personally that the president is “intellectually shallow and one of the most incurious public officials” the aide had ever met.<\/p>\n
You know the segment went well for White House critics when the Wall Street Journal’s John Fund — the Bush defender<\/em> on the program — lamented the fact that the president isn’t “more inventive” and “curious.”<\/p>\n Ultimately, I realize this has dog-bites-man all over it. Yes, the president isn’t terribly sharp; we get it. But with midterms 83 days away, the president’s intelligence does matter — with crises here and around the globe, wouldn’t the nation be better off with a Democratic Congress willing to check the president who may not be up to the job?
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\nHere’s the video of the Scarborough segment:<\/p>\n