Quote of the day:
I have nothing but respect for you—and not much of that.
—Groucho Marx
Instead of just turning today’s post over to e-v.com, I’m going to point to their Saturday Q&A and mention of a few of the questions that they answered that I think might be of general interest.
The first concerns the current president’s intelligence (or lack thereof). Is he the dumbest ever? And who are the five stupidest presidents overall?
In their answer they have some interesting things to say about intelligence (and I’ve been planning to write a post or two about IQ, so I have some things to say on the topic as well), and they try to apply those criteria to the current president. Then they list the five stupidest presidents in their opinion. Before they did that, I came up with my own list, as I did a survey of all our presidents last year. Here are the five that I came up with:
- Martin Van Buren
- James Buchanan
- Andrew Johnson
- Ronald Reagan
- the current incumbent
My list agrees with theirs in all but one, and as I came up with mine off the top of my head, I think I’d change it to match theirs.
Then they answer questions of why does the incumbent always seem to get off scot-free in court cases, the implications if Obergefell is overturned, how would things be different if Harris had won the election, and a question about which was worse, Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s decision not to retire or Joe Biden’s not to drop out until late in the cycle.
Later on there are some history questions, such as the five dirtiest Attorneys General.
Then finally there is the Reader Question of the Week, which they let the readers answer:
M.C. in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, asks: Democratic administrations have a track record of being relatively good for the economy and for government debt. Even much of the compassionate welfare spending and healthcare reform turns out to provide excellent value for money: That investment in “human capital” results in productive tax-paying workers in the long term.
So, why are wealthy capitalists so pro-Republican?
The readers have some very good answers but I can give you the executive summary. Rich people tend to be very stupid and very possessive about their money and they don’t want to pay any taxes. They are extremely self-centered and don’t give a spit about anyone or anything except themselves, certainly not the environment. All they care about is making more money, especially making more than their friends and neighbors.
I reached that conclusion back when I was in college, and I spent the next thirty years trying to convince myself and letting others convince me that I was being too simplistic. And then Alan Greenspan and Bush Jr. came along and I came to realize that no, I had been right all along. Sometimes the simplistic answer is the right answer.
https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2025/Senate/Maps/Aug23.html