Bush is not dumb
he's single-minded, narrow-minded, suffers from functional fixedness... and likes to mangle words. It's easy to perceive this as dumb, but he's a smart politician... and if the Democrats lose this election (God help us all) it will be because everyone running against Bush keeps assuming he's an idiot.
"We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?"
- Edward Young