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Silvio Berlusconi To Stand Trial

spud_meister said:
Well I keep hearing some conservatives railing against "liberal intellectual elites", so maybe politicians need to start getting dumber.
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Well, I'd settle for a few hundred Mr. Smith's go to Washington types.
 
Grant said:
Where are you posting from, Jetboogieman? I'd like to familiarize myself with some political intellectuals.
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Hope you get an answer to that question. But not going to hold my breath.
 
i guess cause i think i'm smarter than you do, perfesser
 
Ockham said:
Well, I'd settle for a few hundred Mr. Smith's go to Washington types.
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You are aware that Mr. Smith is a movie right? Not ever in the history of the United States has our government been made up of a few hundred Mr Smith types. Even the Founding Fathers were, for the most part, well educated men of high intellect. They weren't plumbers.
 
Jetboogieman said:
I'm posting from Canada like you. Why does that matter at all though?
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Because when you posted "there is a very anti-intellectual vibe I get from American Politics" it would suggest, in this case, that Canadian politicians are more intellectual. I don't get that same vibe from them at all.

Do you have an example of a Canadian intellectual who's involved in politics right now?
 
Grant said:
Because when you posted "there is a very anti-intellectual vibe I get from American Politics" it would suggest, in this case, that Canadian politicians are more intellectual. I don't get that same vibe from them at all.
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I'm pretty sure Canadian Politicians can be just as dumb as American Politicians.
 
Grant said:
Because when you posted "there is a very anti-intellectual vibe I get from American Politics" it would suggest, in this case, that Canadian politicians are more intellectual. I don't get that same vibe from them at all.

Do you have an example of a Canadian intellectual who's involved in politics right now?
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The issue was not whether there were actually intellectuals or not, its the "feeling" of intellectuals being successful in politics, fact of the matter is, to be a successful politician you have to be likeable and no one likes a smartass, and so you have to pretend to be a little dumber then you actually are in order to be more personable.

I would say Stephane Dion was an example of an intellectual in Canadian politics who didn't understand this concept and fell flat on his face for it. Smart guy, terrible leader.

That's it.
 
Jetboogieman said:
The issue was not whether there were actually intellectuals or not, its the "feeling" of intellectuals being successful in politics, fact of the matter is, to be a successful politician you have to be likeable and no one likes a smartass, and so you have to pretend to be a little dumber then you actually are in order to be more personable.

I would say Stephane Dion was an example of an intellectual in Canadian politics who didn't understand this concept and fell flat on his face for it. Smart guy, terrible leader.

That's it.
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So you don't get an intellectual vibe from Canadian politicians either.

I don't see the point in throwing stones at out neighbours unless we have an obvious and legitimate reason.
 
Grant said:
So you don't get an intellectual vibe from Canadian politicians either.

I don't see the point in throwing stones at out neighbours unless we have an obvious and legitimate reason.
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Are you engaging me for the sake of it?

Because I see absolutely no point in what we've had to say to eachother this thread.
 
Jetboogieman said:
Are you engaging me for the sake of it?

Because I see absolutely no point in what we've had to say to eachother this thread.
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He's pissed off an icky foreigner said something bad about the infallibly perfect USA. :roll:
 
Jetboogieman said:
Are you engaging me for the sake of it?

Because I see absolutely no point in what we've had to say to eachother this thread.
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I tire of these gratutious anti American remarks. It makes Canadians look as petty and uneducated as so many Europeans.
 
Jetboogieman said:
The issue was not whether there were actually intellectuals or not, its the "feeling" of intellectuals being successful in politics, fact of the matter is, to be a successful politician you have to be likeable and no one likes a smartass, and so you have to pretend to be a little dumber then you actually are in order to be more personable.

I would say Stephane Dion was an example of an intellectual in Canadian politics who didn't understand this concept and fell flat on his face for it. Smart guy, terrible leader.

That's it.
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I'd say Michael Ignatieff, as and when he becomes Canadian PM, will be THE most intellectual politician ever to be elected to the highest office. The guy is a multiply-published author and playwright of history, fiction, politics and sociology. He was a high-ranking don at Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Toronto and is one of the organisers of the World Economic Forum. I'm not sure what qualifications people might be using for 'intellectual' if they don't recognise Ignatieff as a perfect example.
 
Andalublue said:
I'd say Michael Ignatieff, as and when he becomes Canadian PM, will be THE most intellectual politician ever to be elected to the highest office. The guy is a multiply-published author and playwright of history, fiction, politics and sociology. He was a high-ranking don at Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Toronto and is one of the organisers of the World Economic Forum. I'm not sure what qualifications people might be using for 'intellectual' if they don't recognise Ignatieff as a perfect example.
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Ignatieff will never be prime minister of Canada, you can take that to the bank.
 
Jetboogieman said:
Ignatieff will never be prime minister of Canada, you can take that to the bank.
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They might be behind at the moment, but can you really discount the Libs? In any case, that's a little off topic. He's certainly a highly intellectual politician.
 
Andalublue said:
They might be behind at the moment, but can you really discount the Libs? In any case, that's a little off topic. He's certainly a highly intellectual politician.
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He might indeed be an "intellectual" but being an intellectual does not guarantee character or wisdom.

Jetboogieman is right.
 
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