Stupid Is As Stupid Does

We, as an electorate, apparently are not as astute as we would like to think when it comes to recognizing intelligence, or its polar opposite.

The single-digit IQ of someone such as Senator Sessions is probably too obvious to warrant much more than a passing mention. Perhaps worth an extra moment’s attention is how ill-advised it was for the Republicans to make him their point man in the confirmation hearings of a minority female.

Even other racists are embarrassed to associate with someone with such a dearth of synapses. Other racists but not his fellow senators. The reason is probably that, seen next to him, they appear almost intelligent by comparison.

As we rarely run into one with that low of an IQ, you would likely have credited him with recognizing how inappropriate it would be to display his frustration in accepting that a Latino, a female Latino at that, was going to realize the dream that his racism and ignorance had denied him. You would have been wrong.

Despite one of my brothers having recently acquired a farm barely inside the State of Alabama, I must be honest. The citizens of that state (or most of them) have only themselves to blame for the cretins that represent them.

Think back to your youth. Think back to your old school days. Did your school have a bully? I think the law requires every school to have one of their own.

What were the qualifications to be a bully? I think that my school was pretty much the norm. The stereotypical bully was not the class valedictorian. Not only was a highly developed intellect not a requirement, the probability is that there was a contraindication.

While it’s true that George W. could make almost anyone look intelligent by comparison, Dick Cheney’s primary claim to intelligence originated from his own mouth. It was such a classical attempt at compensation that old Sigmund might have considered it to be one of his personal cases.

Cheney’s personality deficit was too great to be satisfied with nothing more than bullying. He needed financial rewards. He got those rewards – from your pockets.

Cheney demonstrates just how dangerous stupidity can be when combined with such severe personality derangement.

Ayn Rand’s books were popular with my peers in junior high school. They outgrew that embarrassing phase by the time they were graduated to high school. Were my friends particularly astute? No. They were just normal kids growing to the next stage of maturity.

Alan Greenspan stalled out at that level. He knew that he was smart. After all, he could read a 3-page witless polemical rant crammed into only 1,200 pages.

Alan went much further than members of my little coterie. He was so taken by Ms. Rand’s supercilious mental masturbation he became her protégé. He authored articles for her newsletter. She stood with him as he was sworn in as Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

He wasn’t exactly famed for his speed or insight but it took six decades for him to come to the point of questioning her dicta. While that seems somewhat slow, the global meltdown only brought a question, no recantation, no change, no enlightenment.

Any consideration of Greenspan leads naturally to Robert Rubin. But, in deference to the potential damage this post may be causing by assaulting you so heavily with public stupidity, I will skip Bobby and discuss his toady Larry Summers and sub-toady Timothy Geithner.

Larry claimed the economy was in great shape as late as last August. The public has now seen the numbers. This recession/depression officially began the previous December.

If you remember, the most recent past Secretary of the Treasury, Hank Paulson, was constantly referred to as the smartest man in Washington. He also made the claim last August that the economy was in great shape. Larry has now taken the title of smartest man. Although there seems to be little competition, we are left to wonder just what it takes to qualify for that title.

Greenspan, Rubin, Paulson, Summers and Geithner, with the help of Phil Gramm and others with the reputation of expertise in economics brought us to this happy state. Could people without such vaunted reputations have done worse?

How many decades of learning the wrong lessons does it require to be considered intelligent in Washington? Summers has the additional entry on his curriculum vitae of being fired as president of Harvard. Apparently, ignorance can be supplemented by bigotry, somnolence and a lack of social and administrative skills. Do Harvard credentials no longer provide assurance of competence?

Let’s Change Gears

The media has shown the ability to match government officials in any cage fight to determine who has the least intelligence. There are too many media types who deserve to be included in this Pantheon of stupidity and they don’t need me to add more pictures of them to the web.

We still have Walter Cronkite’s example as an antidote. Many, many years ago I was a foreign correspondent. It was in those dim dark days before newsmen had agents and qualified for volume discounts on hairspray.

Walter was among those few public men who understood the appropriate role of the press. He had the stature to stand up to LBJ and the used car salesman.

The media types with which we are now burdened are trying to bask in his reputation. The problem is that they really don’t get it. They are not in the same business. He was a journalist. They are entertainers and sycophants to the power brokers.

Cronkite spoke to this. Here is one of his kinder observations: “What do I regret? Well, I regret that in our attempt to establish some standards, we didn’t make them stick.  We couldn’t find a way to pass them on to another generation.” Another was, “Let’s not call these idiots journalists.”

Who do we blame? Elected officials. Appointed officials. The media. They pretend they are intelligent. They provide us with a pretense of competence. They really need someone to scream that these demigods have no clothes.

But, the essence of the problem is that we helped them up on their pedestals. They climbed there on our backs but with our acquiescence.

Stupid is as we do.

Tagged as: cheney, economy, fed, geithner, greenspan, gump, paulson, senate, sessions, summers