Who do you think is the most intelligent person in Congress?
Of the 535 elected officials in Congress (100 senators and 435 house of representatives), who do you believe is the most intelligent? Intelligence differs from person to person but let's say oratory skills, academia, and what he or she has done before entering Congress. Who jumps out at you? If you can't think of anyone list people you find smart.
Mitt Romney
Christ I wish that man was crushing his second term right now.
America messed up badly passing on this man.
Kamala Harris -- worked for her in the SF DA's office when I was in high school. That woman is fucking ruthless. Smart as hell too.
Why do you say she is ruthless & smart as hell? Examples of each?
She's ambitious as hell, was willing to sleep with Willie Brown to get ahead. And she's a great networker; she made friends with the wealthy elite of San Francisco to fund her campaigns. But intelligent? No. I haven't seen anything from her that indicates she's super smart. She is good at reciting talking points, but when pressured, she becomes defensive and helpless. Look at how Tulsi Gabbard PWND her at the last debate.
Yeah, both those to me are indicative someone is not qualified for a position
Went to one of her rallies, felt like i was at another hillary rally where they weren't actually communicating what they were going to do but more or less please the crowd
All my teachers,they always solve peoblems that i can not solve.
Anybody that can make the jump from bartender to HOR is the modern day Will Hunting. Seems to me that AOC is the smartest, since she was that secret hidden genius.
Or it goes to show how unintelligent the people that voted for her are
I suppose it was just a movie after all. But saying that it was the accidental work of the electorate that enabled her to realize her true potential is like saying that it was not the genius work of Dr. Maguire to help Will. The reality is, the electorate in this case proves to have better understanding of her potential than even she realized. If she was held back by the socioeconomic situation of her upbringing (like Will), then she would never realize the great potential to begin with! If anything, it proves that the people that voted for her are anything but unintelligent, according to the movie Good Will Hunting.
No, she is an actor. Like not in the Hollywood sense, but in the legit sense that she is an actor. The Justice Democrats put out a casting call to find her.
That sounds like most politicians to me....
A lot of people have bartended. It's pretty common amongst unprivileged folks
Great. How many of them also have the intelligence to use that as the catalyst for their political career?
Bill Foster (IL) is up there. A PhD in physics from Harvard probably puts you well above all the polisci majors and dumbass lawyers.
Bingo.
This would have been my pick too. I live in Rep. Foster's district and he is respected by both sides of aisle. Ideal politician: avoids headlines, works on bipartisan issues, and is actually qualified for all the committees and legislation he works on.
I'm pretty sure there is or was some Republican Congressman who was in one of the Ultra-High-IQ societies (not Mensa, one of the more restrictive ones), but I can't seem to find the source again
Im thinking you're thinking of John Sununu
Yep, I was. Guess I was wrong about being a congressman
Obviously AOC - the way she's weaponizing her Twitter followers to shut down any critics of her proposals with a single '@' and the fact that she never has to defend any of her proposals speaks volumes to her intellectual vitality and appreciation of nuance / meaningful debate.
/s
She follows a value-based system, not a rational one that considers the complexity of systems & thinking beyond one step. As such, no matter what the consequences of those values, she attempts to impose her will onto other people. It's the ultimate 'short-term win, who cares about the long-term' thinking, which is particularly dangerous since we are NOT a global gov; actions that weaken us make it that much harder for us to leverage on a foreign policy perspective & that much weaker against China / Russia
She's using Donny's playbook, so you're going to have to admit he's a genius as well.
AOC is a tumor and so are her followers. And yeah she is copy and pasting from Donny's playbook. The woman openly uses false statements and allegations to gain following and support. And she even defends her actions by claiming that "motives matter more than the actual facts" . I mean WTF? A sociopathic mastermind who manipulates the uninformed indeed.
But seriously, nowadays, what politician doesn't do that? As far as I'm concerned they're all tumors and the Government needs to have less power
NANCY PELOSI
SOTHILF amirite boys
Nebraska Senator Benjamin Sasse comes to mind. I am sure some people read that and viscerally disagreed. That said, I am considering his deep academic background as well as his commitment to his values both in speech and his voting record.
Again, don't tear me a new one because I don't care. Raise me a better congressman or senator.
Is this the same Ben Sasse, noted defender of the constitution, who just yesterday voted to back Trump's executive overreach and blamed the whole thing on Pelosi? Sasse comes from the Marco Rubio School of Postulate As An Arbiter of Truth Then Cave to Partisan Politics.
Are you actually asking if there is more than one Benjamin Sasse in Congress or you just trying to Sass(e) me?
The question was about the most intelligent congressman, something not directly tied to his voting record vis-a-vis his political beliefs. You alluded yourself to the fact that there are tradeoffs when it comes to principles versus what can be blocked or forwarded in legislation.
I will reiterate, I listened to him speak on broader social issues and I think he has an educated perspective on what troubles american society today. Just being able to articulate that in a non partisan way is a miracle for anyone from the US.
.
“Mitch McConnell uhhhh” - you fucking mouthbreathers
Ted Cruz Josh Hawley Mike Lee Mitt Romney
Can you elaborate on why Cruz. Genuinely curious
Alan Dershowitz said that Ted Cruz was "one of the best students I ever had" when he was teaching at Harvard Law School.
Mitt Romney has one of the sickest overall resumes. Cory Booker was a Rhodes Scholar.
I agree with you with Mitt Romney, he was accepted has both a M.B.A/J.D from Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. I like Cory Booker too. I don't take any political party consideration either in intelligence.
But one of the most respectful moments I remember is when Bernie Sanders got arrested for protesting for equality and civil rights. Sorry, if this is a distraction from the topic.
You realize HBS/HLS had acceptance rates in the 30% range back then right... and acceptance was literally synonymous with wealth/connections (i.e. his extremely well connected father)
Romney is so much more impressive than Obama, but alas, that's not what wins elections. One of the best men that the GOP ever nominated, in terms of character and lack of personal dirt. But the Dems and the media smeared him as a racist and sexist, a capitalist vulture who wanted to hurt old people. The decent Mitt just took the abuse. That experience led to us nominating Trump in 2016 and fundamentally "red pilled" the GOP.
That obviously depends on what your idea of "impressive" is.
I assume you mean the modern GOP, which isn't the same thing. And lack of personal dirt isn't a qualification for high office, but rather a bare minimum to even be considered. That you think the fact that Mitt Romney wasn't a child abuser or something is a vote in his favor, well.. yeah.
I'll also point out that the most successful recent GOP candidates have been complete idiots and moral cesspits; I would argue that to be a successful national Republican candidate in modern American politics you need to be unethical, a moron, or both. Who have the Republican base gone crazy for? Donald Trump and Sarah Palin, recently. George Bush, well, you can debate his ethics but he clearly wasn't among our more intelligent Presidents, and anyway seems to have ushered in the era on the American right of voting for the person that "seems genuine" or folksy.
I mean, it took him a good long while to say point blank that he'd obey the dictates of the Constitution over the Mormon Church. I am sorry to say it, but you choose your religious beliefs, and Mitt Romney has chosen a branch of religion with a particularly odious history in regards to both religion and ethnicity/race. He doesn't get a free pass on that. If you want to be a private citizen and live by the Golden Rule and expect people not to pry into your choice of religious establishment, that's fine. If you want to be POTUS, you need to expect questions about those beliefs, and if you associate with a sexist, bigoted Church then you need to be ready to address that. If Joe Biden started throwing up Nazi salutes at the end of his speeches, he'd take questions to.
And as for being a "capitalist vulture"... well, you may not agree with the wording, but it fundamentally isn't inaccurate in some cases. As for smear campaigns... I mean, Romney was quite upfront about his desire to repeal Obamacare, a law which could not have been more clearly based on his own MA healthcare plan. And since he, like the rest of the GOP, had literally no idea what to replace it with, it seems to me that it's perfectly accurate and in fact a mild criticism, to say that Romney would have hurt old people, and not a smear at all.
https://media2.giphy.com/media/PvTigzgNUWWRO/giphy.gif" alt="mitt romney best" />
If you really want to know, you have to dig deep. The ones who constantly appear in the media are usually the dumbest of the lot. It is the Frank Underwood idea, the ones who shun the media as much as possible and get things done in the dark are the smartest. This would disqualify many of the people mentioned here.
Two of the least intelligent are Rep Louis Gohmert and Sen Jim Inhofe
We can safely take Tom Cotton off the list. If Cotton and Hawley are the future of the GOP post-Trump, I don't think I'll be coming back anytime soon.
"The U.S. should obviously buy Greenland, and anyone who doesn't see that is blinded by disdain for the president" - U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton.
Yes, the problem here is clearly that we just don't like Trump, not that, oh, Greenland isn't for sale.
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2019/aug/22/cotton-backs-buying-gre…
Anyone that convinces people to vote for them.
All time I would say LBJ or Abe Lincoln. Right now nobody really stands out as being above and beyond the rest. I thought Paul Ryan was smart, but it was a shame to see him leave.
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