Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
I somehow missed this story the other day, which illustrates perfectly the misology so common among pedestrian conservatives and, especially, our almost defiantly ignorant president:
After some more give and ake, Sen. Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, presents a five-page list of 192 economists and business school professors who oppose the plan. Bush isn't impressed. "I don't care what somebody on some college campus says," Bush says.
He might as well have said, "I ain't never had no need for book learnin'."
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As we like to say at home, whenever faced with something unpleasant: "We's agin it!"
Somehow, there's the idea that facts are of no importance, and ignoring them will make them go away. Better still, changing the reporting of these facts will actually change reality. When I read about EPA reports being redacted or altered to suit Administration goals and preconceptions, I am reminded of an old cartoon I watched as a child: A detective is shown in a car chase, and the needle of his speedometer is about to hit its limit, so the detective starts writing new numbers on the dashboard to extend the top speed of his car. Naturally, the speedometer needle jumps its tracks and goes ever higher . . .
Posted by: Daniel Kim | October 3, 2008 9:42 AM
Without knowing the qualifications required to make the list, and the number of qualified economists who support the proposal to balance against this list, it's hard to make any judgments by a leader for dismissing such evidence assuming that leader had critical thinking skills.
So while I assume Bush dismissed this data point for all the wrong reasons given overwhelming evidence he lacks such skills, I probably would peel the onion back a step further to understand what the volume of debate between qualified economists and each's best arguments are for and against the bill along with the best arguments for alternative solutions before I accept or reject this list.
Personally I oppose the bill with the relatively small amount of data I've seen and understand (which is probably way more data than most Congressmen know). I think there are better expenditure and investment opportunities for our tax dollars to bring liquidity back to the credit market.
Posted by: Michael Heath | October 3, 2008 9:45 AM
I wouldn't be inclined to lend much weight to such a list, either. My reasons, however, seem to be very different from Bush's. I simply hold that one well-argued case, by someone in a position to know, and backed up by sound logic and evidence, outweighs any number of signatures. How many believe isn't nearly as important as why they believe.
Posted by: DaveL | October 3, 2008 9:58 AM
That book-learning stuff just messes with your brain and turns you against Jesus!
I think America's streak of anti-intellectualism is the main reason that Sarah Palin remains popular among conservatives despite her lack of depth.
Posted by: Zeno | October 3, 2008 9:58 AM
You mean he didn't? I could have sworn... Uhh let me look around....
Oh well, maybe not. But he fully meant it all along.
Posted by: BaldApe | October 3, 2008 10:38 AM
Well, I'm glad he occupied space at places at Harvard and Yale. It's not like those places could have been taken by somebody who really wanted that opportunity and would have gotten something out of it by taking it seriously.
Posted by: Troublesome Frog | October 3, 2008 12:18 PM
By golly, he's right. If you want to know about the economy, you can't find that in a book. You need to ask people who've dug right into the economy, and worked with it, and smelled it -- folks with scars who still have bits and pieces of it stuck under their fingernails. How much do college professors make?
Posted by: Sastra | October 3, 2008 12:43 PM
i've had the dubious privilege of seeing el busho II in person on a few occasions and he never fails to trot out his favorite joke, pointed at a cabinet member: "He got straight A's and I'm the C student, but look who's president."
he's never hidden his disdain for education.
Posted by: khefera | October 3, 2008 1:51 PM
Zeno:
I think America's streak of anti-intellectualism is the main reason that Sarah Palin remains popular among conservatives despite her lack of depth.
That, and the fact that some of them are apparently convinced that she's some sort of Bizarro World surrogate for Hillary - at the risk of repeating myself, they seem convinced that she will pull enough votes away from Obama merely by dint of her sex despite two facts: (A), she holds practically no policy position that Hillary does; (B), Clinton also comes off as somebody who wouldn't produce a flatline if she were hooked up to an EEG.
Palin seems incredibly dim and ambitious at the same time, which is why she would be the last person I would want standing a cardiac episode away from the Presidency.
Posted by: Chris Krolczyk | October 3, 2008 5:52 PM
You skipped this part:
Admittedly this isn't an easy issue, but Bush falls back on his tried and false strategy of just picking someone to trust blindly. And, as we know, his skill in choosing the worst people to listen to is second only to Tonya Harding's.
Posted by: Scott Hanley | October 3, 2008 7:58 PM
khefera,
Next time your afforded the opportunity to hear the president make that remark, you should reply, yes, but which one of you is going to go down in history as the worst president ever.
Posted by: dks | October 3, 2008 8:08 PM
For no book learnin'. Grammar, Ed, grammar. Negative concord ain't got no exceptions.
Posted by: David Marjanović | October 4, 2008 11:17 AM
Speaking of grammar, misology is a great word. I feel almost cheated that I didn't know if it before today.
(Ok, definitions aren't grammar, I know. I just needed a segue.)
Posted by: Leni | October 4, 2008 4:57 PM
Leni: I had heard the word before, but can't claim to have used it in a sentence. Which is surprising, because I'm a Southern Baptist.
Posted by: kehrsam | October 4, 2008 6:03 PM