The Volokh Conspiracy

NewsBusters reports (for links, go to the NewsBusters site):

Former CNN and MSNBC commentator Bill Press has denounced bloggers as people "with no credentials, no sources, no rules, no editors and no accountability."

On his official site, BillPressShow.com, Bill Press ... reported [last week] on the "Lovenstein Institute of Scranton, Pennsylvania" and their IQ study that the last six Republican presidents have had an average IQ of 115.5, while the last six Democrats had an average IQ of 156. Press proudly noted that it was with "President Clinton leading the class at 182."

As for George W. Bush:

You guessed it again: George W. Bush, with his rock bottom IQ of 91: seven points lower than his Daddy.

So now we know. Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Social Security, Medicare, Stem Cells, FEMA, the deficit, immigration...

The reason George Bush has screwed up in so many areas the last six years.

He's not just incompetent. He's just plain dumb -- the dumbest president in the last 50 years.

The only problem with this stunning "new development" is that it is a joke, a five-year-old one. According to Snopes.com [details omitted -EV].... [The item has been removed from the site, but i]t can still be accessed with Google Cache....

Snopes, incidentally, reports that "As obvious as this joke was, at least two publications were taken in by it: The [London] Guardian and the New Zealand Southland Times. Both ran the "Presidential I.Q." tale as a factual item (on 19 July and 7 August 2001 respectively). The Associated Press publicized The Guardian's error on 12 August, moving The Guardian to post a retraction on 14 August, and U.S. News & World Report clearly reported the I.Q. item as a hoax on 20 August, 2001." Several news reports also state that Doonesbury had fallen for the same hoax.

UPDATE: By the way, here's an OpinionJournal Best of the Web item on this from the 2001 hoax season.

	[Eugene Volokh, July 26, 2006 at 5:35pm] Trackbacks Whoops! NewsBusters reports (for links, go to the NewsBusters site): Former CNN and MSNBC commentator Bill Press has denounced bloggers as people "with no credentials, no sources, no rules, no editors and no accountability." On his official site, BillPressShow.com, Bill Press ... reported [last week] on the "Lovenstein Institute of Scranton, Pennsylvania" and their IQ study that the last six Republican presidents have had an average IQ of 115.5, while the last six Democrats had an average IQ of 156. Press proudly noted that it was with "President Clinton leading the class at 182." As for George W. Bush: You guessed it again: George W. Bush, with his rock bottom IQ of 91: seven points lower than his Daddy. So now we know. Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Social Security, Medicare, Stem Cells, FEMA, the deficit, immigration... The reason George Bush has screwed up in so many areas the last six years. He's not just incompetent. He's just plain dumb -- the dumbest president in the last 50 years. The only problem with this stunning "new development" is that it is a joke, a five-year-old one. According to Snopes.com [details omitted -EV].... [The item has been removed from the site, but i]t can still be accessed with Google Cache.... Snopes, incidentally, reports that "As obvious as this joke was, at least two publications were taken in by it: The [London] Guardian and the New Zealand Southland Times. Both ran the "Presidential I.Q." tale as a factual item (on 19 July and 7 August 2001 respectively). The Associated Press publicized The Guardian's error on 12 August, moving The Guardian to post a retraction on 14 August, and U.S. News & World Report clearly reported the I.Q. item as a hoax on 20 August, 2001." Several news reports also state that Doonesbury had fallen for the same hoax. UPDATE: By the way, here's an OpinionJournal Best of the Web item on this from the 2001 hoax season.