1/24    Regarding the charisma post below, Al Gore is very articulate but
        somehow I don't find him very charismatic at all. I don't think he's
        dumb (certainly smarter than GWB) but he's just soooo boring and
        not very charming. On the other hand, Clint Eastwood is very
        inarticulate but very charismatic. So I don't think charisma has
        anything to do with public speaking or such. It's much deeper than
        that I think.
        \_ Al Gore's speaking skills aren't really that great; he turns people
           off with his artificial manner. He talks kind of slow, and has this
           smugness that is just annoying. Clinton is a lot better speaker.
           It's related to one's attitude and self-confidence. Clinton and
           Clint Eastwood both have a relaxed self-assuredness, and can
           speak naturally. Al Gore has gotten a bit better over the years,
           but he's notorious for having that stiff and "uncomfortable in his
           own skin" kind of impression in public.
        \_ Al Gore is no smarter than Bush.  Other than personal animosity
           what evidence do you have for this?  Both are/were poor public
           speakers in 2000, when we last saw them together.  Neither was
           particularly articulate.  And Gore, despite being a silver spoon
           baby just like Bush, couldn't graduate from a decent white boy
           school, where as Bush did.  Gore didn't attend MIT.  He flunked
           out of the same easy-to-graduate-no-fails-out-of-here-sons-of-
           rich-white-boys-all-go-on-to-be-senators-from-here white boy
           schools.  Gore = zero charisma idiot.  Bush = charisma+++ silver
           spooner.  At least be honest about who your heroes are.  Clinton
           was smarter than both and super driven in a way neither is but
           is either incredibly arrogant or incredibly stupid given that he
           was on top of the world and threw it away.
           \_ Al Gore had higher SAT scores:
              http://www.insidepolitics.org/heard/heard32300.html
              \_ I think that actually summarized my objection with Bush.
                 I don't speak English and I got 1140 on my SAT.  And
                 obviously Bush couldn't get into Harvard with that
                 kind of score by itself.
                 \_ i don't speak english either, but i do type it. and
                    yes, that's why he went to yale.
           \_ Charisma is subjective.  Some people find Bush to be
              personally loathsome in his demeanor. I would rate Gore as
              zero charisma and Bush as Charisma---.  Of course, you could
              say that I just think this for political reasons.  But
              consider that this whole discussion started with the subject
              of movie stars' charisma.  Name one movie star who, in addition
              to their adoring fans does not have haters.  It's always
              subjective. Or maybe it's a vector, and the direction is
              subjective.  After all, you and I appear to agree on the
              *magnitude* of both Bush's and Gore's charisma vectors, just
              not the direction.
           \_ While Gore is not my hero he did write an article about the
              Internet for the September 1991 issue of Scientific American.
              I have much more faith in Gore's intellectual credentials
              than those of Bush.  !-op
              \_ ditto. i think bush may be better than gore at interpersonal
                 relations, but his (low) intelligence is a big detractor.
                 as mentioned previously, no one likes a dummy, except for
                 other dummies who don't realize he's a dummy.
                 \_ Remember, Bush didn't win the 2000 election; Gore lost
                    it.  The American people are not fond of watching an
                    intellectual tear some average schmoe apart on TV, and
                    that's what it looked like.  That really tipped the scale.
                    The dumbest thing alg0r did was listen to his campaign
                    managers.  He should have hired Bill's.
                    \_ indeed. too many dummies in america. but i for one
                       welcome our new dummy overlords.