Reply #23: Rick James, Neocon Extraordinaire [View All]

On a purely personal, visceral level, I do agree with you. Intelligence should not be defined by the ability to manipulate public opinion into accepting pragmatic wargames. However, if you, like they, believe that sentiment and compassion are false objectives in a world with no meaning, save the meaning of power, they are absolutely brilliant.

You must agree that any assessment of their intelligence is subjective; it lies in the undeniable fact that they've wrested power, maintained it for years, and have generally gotten the results they wanted (scandal is to be expected, but those are slight fluctuations in the greater trajectory) - which are very different from the results you or I, or any other socially conscious American, would want.