There are many intelligent people surrounding Bush. However, the American people would get behind Tinley B. Fuzznuts at this point in time. My simple point is that this crisis has hit in a very weak spot for Bush, but not necessarily for those around him. All through the campaign it was no secret he was short on knowledge of International politics and religion (geography too), and he was never considered to be worth a damn "off the cuff." Now, those two liabilities have come home in one fell swoop.

No, people with speech impairments are not all dumb/ignorant/stupid or whatever words have been used. We do relate certain sounds and voice patterns with a lack of intelligence and others with great intelligence, but this has proven time after time to not always be the case. LBJ for whatever else he was had great political sense and was above average in intelligence, but that Texas drawl damn near killed him. It was tough back then for a man to stand up for civil Rights when the word Negro came out "Neegraho"......Southern accents are often particularly associated with ignorance, but like one fella' in Alabama said, "Just 'cause we talk slow doan mean we think slow."

I do have sympathy for the Bush handlers.......But I also have to have some confidence in the likes of a Colin Powell.

Spaw