"The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum."

"The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

"The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum."

"The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

So the basic premise of the paragraph is that,as we have proven,we typically elect folks who allow us to be able to say "Well,at least I can pronounce 'nuclear' " or "Hey baby,it's not like I got a hummer from a fat intern and glazed her dress;it was just a hand job which is really like a handshake when you think about it".We basically are electing people we can ultimatly measure our own selves by and then feel better ?

We basically are electing people we can ultimatly measure our own selves by and then feel better ?

I'm afraid that is the case. Many people are threatened by someone who seems smarter than they are. There is a strong climate of anti-intellectualism. I would think I should want my leaders to be smarter than I am, but it doesn't seem to be a common attitude.

I'm sure that most of you are too young to have even heard of Adlai Stevenson, but when he ran for President, I recall that the common rap on him was that he was too smart. Here is a quote from Walter Cronkite.

The (1952 Democratic) convention . . . nominated as its presidential candidate the reluctant Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois.

I met with Stevenson several times during the ensuing campaign, and as with most of those who knew him, I became a great admirer of his intellect, his personality, his gentlemanliness. I also decided he would probably not make a good president. He was also too bright, too humane, too liberal (in the best sense of the word). He saw and understood, it seemed, all sides of all issues.

God forbid we would have a President that was too bright or too humane and saw all sides of all issues.

Its certainly not a concern with he present incumbent.

The real problem with someone too bright or too humane is that perhaps they are not as easily swayed by the heavily entranched and exponentially louder short sighted policy hounds, short term gain proponents or niche agenda driven money donors. Hence, they just don't get the support needed to jump the hurdle erected by such jackasses.

I really think that is the problem, more so than us being incapable of electing someone better than ourselves.

There is a lot of truth to that.

I'm afraid that is the case. Many people are threatened by someone who seems smarter than they are. There is a strong climate of anti-intellectualism. I would think I should want my leaders to be smarter than I am, but it doesn't seem to be a common attitude.

I'm sure that most of you are too young to have even heard of Adlai Stevenson, but when he ran for President, I recall that the common rap on him was that he was too smart. Here is a quote from Walter Cronkite.



God forbid we would have a President that was too bright or too humane and saw all sides of all issues.

Its certainly not a concern with he present incumbent.I know a Presidents fits Walter Croncite`s description, I mean perfect fit and we did elect him too. Bill Clinton not only America, But the rest of the world loved him too.
A guy from one of the poorest state,did not have really dad,no family name to bank on it; yet,
he becomes the President of United States of America
what are the odds; what a great figure to show future generation. you still can be, all you want to be in this Country; What a inspiration for all bright young minds are in this nation, I think just for this reason he will all ways be remembered by future generation with great admiration. This is a still a nation, you can be all you wanna be

Amen brother.

God forbid we would have a President that was too bright or too humane and saw all sides of all issues.

Its certainly not a concern with he present incumbent.

Bill,

Speaking of smart people, do you think John Kerry or Al Gore is smarter than Bush?

Bush was smart enough to beat those 2 guys in a presidential election, I know you will say that Bush stole the election, but the real truth (not that you are interested in it) is that it was Al Gore who tried to steal the election in Florida, so he would win the presidency.

I don't think Bush is the smartest guy on the planet, but he isn't as stupid as a lot of people try to make him out to be, sure he is a moron sometimes and is not a good public speaker most of the time, I wonder how you would look if you had a camera on you for the last 20 years and the media was looking to point out every boneheaded comment you made.

Bush has a degree from Harvard and Yale, he was also a Fighter Pilot, although he didn't fly any combat missions, I think you have to have some brains to become a pilot, no matter who your dad is.

How smart is Gore, Kerry, Hillary, Obama, Edwards or the other democrats?

I am not happy with Bush as President, but he was the lesser of two evils the last two times he ran, I would truly like to see a person get the nomination that I could vote for, instead of voting against the other guy.

Kaan, if you were a little familiar with Bill McIntyre's posts you'd understand the severity of that remark. I'm glad that he never directed anything like that at me and drew the line at alluding to my business practices being shady :D



Severity? What I meant was that I agreed with him. Isn't that the normal meaning of "Amen brother?" I have no idea what the hell goes through your paranoid little mind, but leave the interpretation of my posts to me, and just concentrate on selling stuff.

Edit: an afterthought. The best thing about Spearboard these days is that you aren't there, trying to say cute things to cause trouble. This was a perfect example of your work. I said "Amen" to indicate agreement with someone. I bet there was not another person on this board that thought it indicated anything but agreement, but you tried to make trouble out of it.

I've been staying out of your numerous sales threads. How about staying out of my threads.

I've been staying out of your numerous sales threads. How about staying out of my threads.You are staying away after not staying away. I may have been wrong thinking that you meant that remark sarcastically but you being wrong sure did not stop you from messing with my threads. I think I'll let it stand, I'm not about to start taking instructions from you. What I said was not in poor taste anyways.

What I said was not in poor taste anyways.

I suppose there is no use arguing with you about taste, but what did your comment contribute to the thread, other than bringing it to a halt?

Did you read the quote from Mencken? Do you have an opinion on it? Or did you just see a chance to slip in a personal comment on me?

CAN you even read the Mencken quote?

And if you can read it at some level, can you UNDERSTAND what he was saying? Or was it something that you simply glossed over in your rush to vent your anger for me and mention my comments in your sales thread, which has not a damn thing to do with this thread.

Since my comments in one of your many sales threads seem to be eating at you, permit me to explain an important difference.

In the sales thread, I talked about why someone would want to buy from you rather than the guy who established the product name and had demonstrated a record of service, not only to each customer, but to our sport as a whole by buying ads in publications that support our activity. I mentioned the fact that he publshed his name for all to read rather than hiding behind a user name, promising that we could find out who he was after placing an order.

And if I didn't say it explictly, I sure felt that even if it was possible for you to legally take advantage of the fact that the maker didn't give him an exclusive, it didn't mean that it was moral or ethical.

But whatever you think of anything that I said, the fact is that it was all pertinent to the subject of your thread, which was that you wanted to sell something. If you want to use this board as a sales vehicle (and I have seen little else from you) then you can't expect to be immune from comments on the wisdom of buying from you.

By contrast, your comment here had not a damn thing to do with the subject of the thread. It simply tried to imply that I didn't mean what I clearly indicated by an "amen," and it tried to bring up your grievances over my comments in your sales threads.

Do you understand?

Your rebuttal to my post is what brought the thread to a halt, either that or no one is interested.

Yeah i can reed de kwote end i waz in no rash.

I didn't think much of it because it's just stating the obvious. I subscribe to the theory of chaos so for me it's just a matter of time before everything goes to shit, hence there's little point in me taking the time to say something about it. Hopefully it will not happen within mine or my children's lifetime.

To me buying ads and supporting publications is not a measure of one's devotion to spearfishing, it's a measure of one's devotion to business. It also has the effect of putting more people in the water who would not have gotten there otherwise, with the end result of there being less fish for us who were there first. No one mentored me into the water, I did it all on my own so I earned it. I don't think you've ever seen depleted waters.

I'm not angry at you about posting nonsense in my sales thread, water under the bridge, I know you can't help yourself. Besides you give me fresh reasons to be bewildered at you all the time. I think you need the memory helmet Bill, you brought up my sales threads first, post #9.I've been staying out of your numerous sales threads. How about staying out of my threads.Lastly, I think I contribute somewhat..

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s170/da4095/CrapaCuda.jpg

Haha! Bill, he got you with that one. Why are you so petty sometimes:wtf:

With that said, I do like the POSITIVE things you contribute.