In July 2001 an e-mail began to circulate claiming that the Lovenstein Institute, a think-tank based in Scranton, Pennsylvania, had conducted research into the IQ of all the Presidents of the past 50 years and had concluded that George W. Bush ranked at the bottom, with an IQ of only 91. (
Click here to read the text of the email.)
The claim that G.W. Bush had the lowest IQ of any recent U.S. President attracted the attention of the international media. The London
Guardian broke the story on July 19, and on August 26 Garry Trudeau featured the report in his Doonesbury comic strip. Unfortunately both Trudeau and the
Guardian had fallen for a hoax.
The e-mail had originated as a joke on a website called
linkydinky.com. In its original version, the joke was quite obvious. For instance, Linkydinky.com cited the Pennsylvania Court Observer as its source for the news, noting that this newspaper only had a circlation of five readers. Furthermore, it described Dr. Lovenstein as "living in a mobile home in Scranton, Pennsylvania."
However, as the joke made its way through people's inboxes, these textual clues were stripped away, until in the final version of the email it sounded as if the Lovenstein Institute was an actual research organization (which it is not).
Once they learned of their mistake, both Trudeau and the
Guardian published retractions.
Comments
this is an obvious fake. Notice how Cilinton's I.Q. is exactly twice that of Bush's. The study claims t run for 50 years but they put a president from before that time period on it. Not every president has written a book, and it is impossible to test IQ from writing and speeches. They used a bogus test... google it and you'll realize that it doesn't exist.
Any doubt the man is an idiot?
...or maybe he's just a psychopathic meglomaniac.
Liberals no nothing of economics, war foreign or domestic policy but they can sure piss away our tax revenue on moronic things.
Even if this was true, which it isn't,43 now isn't the dumbest to be POTUS.
That belongs to Barack Husain "Barry" Obama!
Semper Fi