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Comment by doesnt_know | Hacker News Reader

I dunno, I don't think it's very healthy that when presented with a bumbling idiot in a position of power you start to think it's a big ruse and they are actually a genius.

It's best to just assume they are in fact, a bumbling idiot.

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When there are actually samples of his speech before and after moving to Texas, and when he was Governor of Texas versus President of the United States, it kind of lends more credence to the claim.

There are two essential options:

1. W "knew stuff" and chose to present himself as a Texan

2. W "didn't know stuff" and chose to present himself as a Texan

The second option is by far more likely. For one of many examples take the following clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdimK1onR4o

Is there any evidence at all that W actually knew what tribal sovereignty meant yet chose to completely bumble the answer here?

He isn’t an idiot, but he was a extraordinarily weak president. He essentially allowed Cheney, who is in turn puppeteered by his wife, to act as a second president.

IMO he is someone who could have developed into a good Senator, but unfortunately was the president at critical point in history.

Would you have links to share?

> It's best to just assume they are in fact, a bumbling idiot.

That is intellectual laziness. Climbing the political ladder is no mean feat. Sure, serendipity plays a big role, you need to be in the right place at the right time but don't dismiss people's intelligence based on public speaking.

He didn't "climb the political ladder". He was born on the top rung. His whole family are politicians, and his dad was president.

No doubt that was a massive influence, but we all know every presidents' son is also a president, specially in USA.

That's Occam's Razor. There are all these complex theories that people in positions of power who come across as idiots must in actual fact be master manipulative geniuses given they can so convincingly fake blithering idiocy and they can't possibly have got to where they are by being so clueless. But the simpler solution is that they are just idiots. Remember also that Eton has a reputation for drumming into boys on a daily basis that they are born to be future leaders and have to be confident of their superiority irrespective of competence or abilities. BTW, has anyone seen Being There?

Edit: Maybe we need a corollary to Hanlon's razor - "Never attribute to genius that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

In general sure, but when that person happens to be leading a nation, I would not be so quick to jump to that conclusion.

We're talking about a former leader of a nation for which the body of evidence is in. What is the evidence that he was feigning ignorance on foreign policy, national security, etc.?

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