American's are stupid and atheist secular Marxist femimazi transgender boogeymen have been infiltrating every corner of America at all levels...as libtard bogeymen do.

When retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, the current GOP 2016 front-runner, campaigns, he routinely pitches "common sense solutions from We the People." But it seems the candidate who celebrates a cheerful and straightforward populism has a fair bit of disdain for many of his fellow citizens, for at a videotaped event last year, while discussing the American people, he declared, "Many of them are stupid."

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Comment by Reg The Fronkey Farmer on November 5, 2015 at 5:05pm: Ouch....that is brain melting. Does he even know his ABC's

Comment by matt.clerke on November 5, 2015 at 5:27pm: American people, he declared, "Many of them are stupid."

True of any large population, depending on your definition of "many" and "stupid", really... Maybe he was trying to advocate for additional government spending on education? Being republican, I doubt it...

Comment by Davis Goodman on November 6, 2015 at 10:21am: American voters aren't stupid. Perhaps some a uninformed or unable to detect blatant lies and impossible promises...but that goes for every country. I would be willing to bet the ratio of uninformed voters in the US is no different to the uninformed voters in Belgium or Australia.

I believe that when a candidate calls their electorate stupid...it tells you everything you need to know about the kind of leader they will be.

Comment by MikeLong on November 6, 2015 at 8:32pm: ratio of uninformed voters in the US is no different

This seems to contradict your premise - that voters aren't stupid, they're uninformed. My contention would be a combination of both. America, among civilized countries, must be one of the most uninformed electorates. And I consider this to be by design. Right wing politicians don't WANT the electorate to know what's going on. The very income of the oligarchs depends upon it.

On the other hand, looking at a plot of IQ scores (a bell curve, I'd assume), you'd find that around a quarter of the population has an IQ score of less than 85. At that level people would have trouble learning how to balance their checkbook. How would you expect them to understand the intricacies of politics. However these have all the same rights of the other 3/4 - and so it should be.

I've often maintained that the left needs a good televangelist to explain (in their unique way) how Christian the right really are.

Comment by Davis Goodman on November 7, 2015 at 5:42am: I actually thought the same about "uninformed" ratio until I took a deeper look into voting behavior in Europe. I'll admit off the top that this isn't rigorous formal research. But I found...that even in Scandanavia there was an enormous chunk of voters who followed slogans instead of actual policy...who followed personality rather than platforms.

For me...the best comparison is between the United States and Canada. People tend to label Canadians as somehow smarter than Americans which I've always found trite. This might be true when covering political and geographic trivia (a Canadian is less likely to think that Hungary is in Africa or that France is the capital of Paris or that socialism is the first step towards soviet Russian totalitarianism. Allow the campaign to start and Canadians were easily swayed by cheap and impossible campaign promises and cheap attack adds and Canadians threw out a very conservative government for a decade (despite the fact that the middle class voter base was being and would be hurt financially and politically by them).

Comment by Belle Rose on November 7, 2015 at 8:59am: Sorry.....I don't like Carson (altHough I'll take him over Trump any Day!!!!!)....and I'm certainly not going to vote for him....

But he's right. That's why his joke got laughed at. Because tHere's an element of truth to it. If American voters were "smart" we would have laughed our asses off and dismissed Donald Trump in an instant as a serious contender. Not allow him to lead the polls for weeks on end. HELLO!!!!!!!!!

Comment by MikeLong on November 7, 2015 at 9:16pm: Davis, I still think you're getting the two confused. How about some rough definitions from my perspective:

Politically Uninformed Voters:- Those, regardless of their intelligence level, who are kept from (or who purposely keep themselves from) information which would further their understanding of how their government actually functions

Unintelligent Voters:- Those unable to conceptualize how their vote might actually affect government policy as it relates to themselves

The Scandinavian yoters you describe sound much closer to unintelligent (stupid, in your words:-). These voters are far more likely to be affected by slogans and personality cues because they simply can't understand the implications of their voting pattern. Since Nixon's "Southern Strategy", the right has targeted low-intelligence voters who would normally have voted left - toward an ideology far more likely to have a positive effect on them personally. That's why the Democratic Party should be focusing on this electorate - using techniques that are known to work - like flag-draped crosses and Jesus.

Comment by MikeLong on November 7, 2015 at 9:19pm: You can make voters better-informed. You can't make them more intelligent.

Comment by Davis Goodman on November 8, 2015 at 5:58am: I agree with your definitions. I disagree that these particular voters are unintelligent. Canadian voters cannot be 40% stupid one campaign and then 20% stupid the other. They can be uninformed and misinformed through campaign rhetoric, being unaccustomed to getting their information from more than one source, unaccustomed to delving deeper into political discourse, less educated on political-social issues (basic ideologies, history of political change, modern socialism, modern capitalism, utility of coalition building etc.

In fact...the only country where there tends to be less of massive ideological voting swing (no party sees more than a 10% change in votes...even less on their side of the political spectrum)...is where campaign commercials are seriously limited, attack ads banned in other media, corporate donations are banned and social/political education is strong in schooling. Denmark

I feel rather certain that if campaigning styles changed in the united states, if more parties prospered and if Americans were educated younger on political-social ideologies and the political system...there would be a lot less swing and less successful clowns in the republican race. Americans in general aren't stupid...with the information they have they vote for the candidate they believe will serve their interests the most.