Giving Oprah too much credit

F. Andy Seidl, in linking to an Oprah webmail site asking we skeptics what information Jenny McCarthy should have on her new show, is way too generous to Oprah. He says:

Why would Oprah do this? (Partnering with Jenny McCarthy.) She's obviously an intelligent woman — nobody achieves what she has without being intelligent.

Wrong and wronger.

I responded:

Frankly, she's NOT that intelligent. Unless it comes to the intelligence of making bucks off a co-produced new TV show based on fear-mongering and pseudoscience.

As for her achievements, there's pure random dumb luck and other factors.

I submit the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush, as a crystal-clear counterexample to your statement.

And there I rest my case.