but comparing those two clips is pretty much comparing apples and oranges. One was a prepared speech and one was a debate.

Both clips are purportedly unscripted speaking in public debates.

Public speaking is not a very good way to judge someone’s intelligence.

Agreed. But if you watch the linked video, there is also footage of a large faut-pas made in a speech by Pres. Bush – a speech where there is a script on the podium in front of him. And it isn’t the only example.

Our intent was not to assess the intelligence of the president, though his in-eloquence in recent years made light of by his opponents. We also weren’t trying to say conclusively what has happened to him in past few years. Our main focus was solely to point out that there is a big difference between the way he speaks now and the way he did before. If anything it should be construed to dispel the myth that he “is and always was stupid”. The video was meant to show the change … a challenging thing to try to do in under four minutes.

Lastly, pre-senile dementia is just one of the many conclusions put forward by a medical doctor. Clearly there are other theories as well.

As for me, I love you more than ever.

no, I’m going to stay out of this one, what if they track me down and won’t let me in when that holiday to california is finally coming up!

It is not the first time something like this has happened. Democrats used to mock Reagan about his bad memory. He even joked about it himself. Then it turned out he had Alzheimer’s and the jokes stopped.

Bush is (or at least was) smarter than Kerry. He got better grades at Yale and took harder classes.

On the one hand, no one wants a president with little or no experience (although the Democrats sure seem to this time around). On the other hand, there are definite problems that come with age — senility being one of them.

Once McCain became the defacto nominee on the Republican side the jokes about his age started up. Not a day goes by that Letterman, Leno, or one of the others takes a shot at him for being old. He is 71. Hillary is 60. Obama is 45ish.

Who do I want for President? None of the above. I think they should have two massive game shows: Jeopardy (economics, history, politics, and constitutional law) to pick the nominees for President and American Idol (or some other popularity contest) to pick a Head of State. That way you get someone who knows what the heck they are talking about making the decisions and someone who can look good and give long meaningless speeches at state functions.

Compare the health of former Presidents before they got into office and when they left.