I think he tried to play it off like he was regular Texas good ol boy when he was really a Yankee intellectual.

That's true enough but I don't think he faked being dumb/clumsy with words. I think his stupidity was over exaggerated but I don't think the "fool me once can't be fooled again" type gaffes were staged.

And I think he honestly expected Iraq to be much more successful than it was.

Bush really was that stupid. Cheney was the scary one.

I should be careful with my words. I don't think he 'faked' it per se, but I do think he purposely cultivated that image (and did so successfully as you can see from Anteater's post above), especially as it became more obvious that the war was not going well.

Cultivated it how?

Ultra wild https://boxden.com/smilies/2je4n4y.png

Here's a speech he gave in 2001 in which he spends the majority of said speech in reading from a "Bushisms" book.



Struggling to figure out how to put on a rain poncho during Trump's inauguration.



And of course, his vocal love for one of his favorite hobbies, painting cute pictures.

https://images.currentaffairs.org/20...4-1024x646.jpg

Of course, my opinion on him cultivating this image is somewhat of a hot take. There's no way (at least now) to know for certain, but I do think he was smarter than people give him credit for and I do think he cultivated the image of him being an idiot to disarm people and make them more forgiving of his legacy. Me, personally? I think he's a war criminal that should be in jail. And even if Jeb was running against Trump, I'd still vote for Trump because **** the Bush dynasty. America has had enough Bushes. It's easy for most Americans to forget about Abu Ghraib - in fact, I'd imagine less than 10% of Americans would know what it is if you took a massive poll - but the Bush government oversaw some absolutely horrendous abuses of human rights. If one were to tell me that Bush didn't know about these black site torture camps, I'd be as convinced and persuaded if one were to tell me that Stalin didn't know about the gulags or that Hitler didn't know about Auschwitz and Dachau. If it were up to me, Bush Jr. would be painting his puppies from a prison cell.

https://www.mintpressnews.com/wp-con...0613061039.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...raib-leash.jpg

Reminds me of something Nietzsche once said:

"Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Mrs. Harris finna take mike's lunch snack and eat it in front of him...https://boxden.com/smilies/oBhebxW.png

You said this tongue-in-cheek, right?

Yes.

The youth don't vote anyway (in large numbers).