Bush's I.Q. Greater Than Kerry's

A reader recently asked where one could learn the facts about Bush's I.Q. So it was a real serendipity for the New York Times to report that George W. Bush probably had a higher I.Q. than John Kerry:

That, at least, is the conclusion of Steve Sailer, a conservative columnist at the Web magazine Vdare.com and a veteran student of presidential I.Q.'s. During the last presidential campaign Mr. Sailer estimated from Mr. Bush's SAT score (1206) that his I.Q. was in the mid-120's, about 10 points lower than Al Gore's.

Mr. Kerry's SAT score is not known, but now Mr. Sailer has done a comparison of the intelligence tests in the candidates' military records. They are not formal I.Q. tests, but Mr. Sailer says they are similar enough to make reasonable extrapolations.

Mr. Bush's score on the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test at age 22 again suggests that his I.Q. was the mid-120's, putting Mr. Bush in about the 95th percentile of the population, according to Mr. Sailer. Mr. Kerry's I.Q. was about 120, in the 91st percentile, according to Mr. Sailer's extrapolation of his score at age 22 on the Navy Officer Qualification Test.

Linda Gottfredson, an I.Q. expert at the University of Delaware, called it a creditable analysis said she was not surprised at the results or that so many people had assumed that Mr. Kerry was smarter. "People will often be misled into thinking someone is brighter if he says something complicated they can't understand," Professor Gottfredson said.

Sailer notes this difference in the way the two candidates' intelligence is portrayed:

Kerry has generally tried to portray himself as an intellectual, which has been a successful strategy for him in college-crowded Massachusetts.

In contrast, the only election Bush ever lost was a 1978 Congressional race in the Texas Panhandle, where his opponent made fun of Bush for having degrees from Yale and Harvard.

Bush resolved never to get out-dumbed again.

Soon we shall see whether Kerry can beat him by trying to outsmart him.

You can read Sailor's analysis here.

Thanks to Betsy Newmark at Betsy's Page for the tip.

UPDATE: At Secure Liberty, Steve posts that President Bush must be smarter than Kerry, because "Kerry's proposals on healthcare, outsourcing, energy policy, Canadian drug importation and taxes, demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding of our entire economic system, the larger global economy and basic common sense." Well Said.

At INDC Journal Bill sums it up by posting that Both men are reasonably bright.

At WizBang, Kevin reminds us that in August former New York Times editor Harold Raines said:

Does anyone in America doubt that Kerry has a higher IQ than Bush?

At Incite, Beck posts the only evidence supporting the assumption that the Prez is a moron is that he's a sub-par extemporaneous speaker.

Comments

[alicia]

Maybe I should run for presidency, my score is 122.

[Chaotic]

Who cares if bush is dumb or not? Any man or woman of any IQ is capable of lying and bending the truth. Bush and his administration has done that and more, and showed lack of compassion and understanding for tens of milllions of americans. Really smart kids with actually high IQ have no money to go to college just because they came from a family with no money, and because financial aid doesn't pay enough. So what does bush do? Cut financial Aid. Millions of seniors aren't able to get the prescriptions because medicare doesn't pay enough for it. So what does he do? He cuts it again. Our healthcare system is the WORST in all of the developed nations, and is even worse compared to some 2nd world countries. So bush ignores it and cuts the funding again.

So what has bush done? Campaigned for the drilling of wildlife preserve. Ensured our good relationship with the Saudi Royalties (despite the fact terrorists are being trained there) such that we can contintue to get very cheap oil. Villified the French. Effectively labeled Kerry as a cold, wishywashy french. Made the tax loopholes for the rich and powerful even bigger so that pay less taxes. Slightly increased taxes for people who make less than $50,000/year. Made stem cells illigeal, pushing our biological research behind from other countries. Weakened EPA regulations for clean air by the cleaverly disguised and revised the Clean Air act. Went after Saddam Hussein who had nothing to do with major terrorsit organizations. Ensured our oil supply for the short term by invading iraq. Ensured our short term oil supply by building a pipe line through afganistan after invading that country. Allowed Osama Bin laden to escape, because of half hearted attempts to catch him. Cut our intellegence budjet, subjecting the U.S. to even more danger. And the military doesn't have enough money to supply bullet proof vests for the soldiers. and the list goes on and on. Oh yeah, he increased the national debt to the highest it has ever been in history!

[Filmore]

Bush is not as dumb as some people say. His raw intelligence is probably somewhat above-average, although we all know he is no genius.

It was best for America that Bush was elected, the Iraq quagmire notwithstanding.

At least Bush has a graduate degree. I don't believe Steve Sailer of VDare.com has one, though he likes to declare his articles to be "scientific."

[Veet]

In order to chose the best qualified individuals as the leaders of our country the candidates abilities and qualities need to be tested and measured. Problem solving, and IQ tests are among the most important test. Besides we need to test the candidates intent, honesty and integrity, courage, emotional maturity, self-control, sincerity, enrolment and negotiation skills, and above all their ability to keep their promises.
Proper tests need to be developed by the team of specialists.

Additionally in order to assure that the candidates are applying for the job as leaders out of caring and love for their country, it must be arranged so that there is no personal gain through the leadership position. The best choice would be that the members of congress and presidents agree to live on the average income of the American people. They should be asked to give up all their possessions in excess of the average American. If the are not willing to “sacrifice” that much, they are probably motivated by personal gain and convenience rather than their love for the country.

[JACK KIRWAN]

One other comment for Steve Sailer.

I dealt with attorneys for 30 years in the insurance business, none of theme who graduated from Harvard or Yale.

Not one of them mangled the English langauage as badly as Bush.

Admittedly Bush has improved over four years but during his first term, he couldn't put two sentences together on his own without a speech writer. Then he magled his pre-written speeches.

Through practice reading the same thins repeatedly he has improved. However during his first term, he read his pre-written speeches by someone else, like Ned and the first grade reader. "See the cat run."

He read most of his campaign speeches on the campagin circuit, which no doubt were written for him.

Usually he read in two sentence rhetoric that stopped until he read the next two sentences.

Although I'm sure he was heavily rehearsed, he lost the debates because he can't think on his feet and has a very limited vocabulary.

One's abiliy to speak clearly, to put several sentences together to formulate thoughts is an indication of the ability to grasp and articulate ideas and concepts. Bush exhibits strong disabilities in this area.

The mere fact that Bush, unlike any other President in history, is believed by most,other than red necks and die hard Republicans who won't admit it, to be a dimwit and there are entire websites devoted to his stupidity, his lack of intelliegence is the butt of every comedian's jokes, is strong very evidence in and of itself, that at best, his intelligence or lack thereof, is highly suspect.

If it walks and talks like a dumb duck, it probably is a dumb duck.

Before it came back to bite him and he later claimed to read the newspapers, Bush boasted "I don't read the newspapers."

More evidence that we have a dim bulb, uninquisitive President making major policy and war decisions for the U.S.

Although Bush has demonstrated no abilities that would indicate he is intelligent, he is very deceptive.

Bush's war planning with "Rummy" Rumsfeld before the invasion of Iraq and his decisons after the Iraq invasion are very strong evidence the man is a few bricks short of a load.

[JACK KIRWAN]

Dear Mr. Steve Sailer, a conservative columnist.

I believe that Bush's "SAT Scores" and his "Air Force Officer Qualifying Test at age 22" are just about as legitimmate and that no pals of his daddy made arrangements for those scores are as legitiate as his claim that he served his Air Force National guard duty in Alabama and that he got no special treatment when he was put at the top of the waiting list ahead of those on the list before him, to get into the Air National Guard.

"Steve Sailer, a conservative columnist at the Web magazine Vdare.com and a veteran student of presidential I.Q.'s. During the last presidential campaign Mr. Sailer estimated from Mr. Bush's SAT score (1206) that his I.Q. was in the mid-120's, about 10 points lower than Al Gore's."

"Mr. Bush's score on the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test at age 22 again suggests that his I.Q. was the mid-120's, putting Mr. Bush in about the 95th percentile of the population, according to Mr. Sailer. Mr. Kerry's I.Q. was about 120, in the 91st percentile, according to Mr. Sailer's extrapolation of his score at age 22 on the Navy Officer Qualification Test." Quote unquote.

[jorge]

I am from LUE and i like teh bonar on this thing k bye

[LUEshi]

Durrrr, I am from LUE and this article was a waste of time.

[f]

Probably cheated on the IQ test, like he did through life.

[Kyle Arnold]

I am a clinical psychology PhD candidate trained in intelligence testing. I don't know what it means to attribute somebody an "IQ" that was not found through "formal" IQ tests but through "reasonable extrapolations." I don't know what the heck kind of "extrapolation" would be reasonable in this respect. Your IQ is by definition what the "formal" tests say it is, when their results are scored and calculated. That's all that "IQ" means. No formal intelligence test results, no IQ.

I doubt that this business about bush and kerry's relative IQ's has any validity to it at all.

[Pat]

The list of things Kerry has refused to release just keeps getting longer. Now we can add grades and Sat scores to ALL his military documents and Theresa's full tax return.