If Ben Stein is supposedly so smart...

[neverevergivein]

why the hell is he such an idiot? (sorry, he's on Faux now, and I caught him while flipping around - in my defense, they started the interview with an Austin Powers clip and that made me stop to watch)

[WahooJunkie]

1. because he's

a nixon administration schill

[Tom Joad]

2. Ben is a freakin' idiot.

Take his money. Please.

[CottonBear]

3. Because all he cares about is making money. n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. Bueller? Bueller? Anyone?

:rofl: He is an idiot.

[LeftNYC]

5. Thats the best thing he has ever done

playing a tightass buffoon.

[SharonAnn]

9. This article on UAL is the best thing he's ever done. It's truly good!

This was in the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/business/yourmoney/29every.html

January 29, 2006

Everybody's Business

When You Fly in First Class, It's Easy to Forget the Dots
By BEN STEIN

...

This scene comes to mind when I think of Glenn F. Tilton and other executives of the UAL Corporation and the hapless employees of its primary business, United Airlines. Its history is a perfect text for the ethical morass in which American business often finds itself.

...

Wait, Mr. Tilton and Mr. Bankruptcy Judge. The employees were the owners of UAL. They were the trustors, and Mr. Tilton and his pals were trustees for them. How were the trustors wiped out while the trustees, the fiduciaries, became fantastically rich? Is this the way capitalism is supposed to work? Trustors save up, and their agents just take their savings away from them?

If the company is worth so much that management has hundreds of millions coming to them, shouldn't the employee-owners get a taste? Does capitalism mean anything if the owners of the capital can be wiped out while their agents grow wealthy? Is this a way to encourage savings and the ownership society? Or is this a matter of to him who hath shall be given?

I know that this is basically the same story I described recently concerning the Delphi Corporation, where something similar is going on. But that's exactly the point. Management is using competition, higher fuel costs and every other cost complaint to cut the pay and pensions of its own employees while enriching itself.

[Mz Pip]

6. Stein is the poster boy

for the arrogant Republican. He looks down on everyone from his position of self righteousness.

He's a pompous ass in my opinion.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Left Is Write]

7. I used to like Ben Stein.

Even when I knew he'd been a Nixon speechwriter, I liked him.

I think I liked him all the way up until Dim Son got elected.

[amitten]

8. Ben Stein is SMART? Oh, you must be thinking of someone

else! Ben Stein is opinionated and has a nice vocabulary. Smart? Not so much.

[Canuckistanian]

10. He's the smartest man who JUST DOESN'T GET IT

He makes a less convincing argument than even, say, Jonah Goldberg.

Whoever said he was smart probably also said "And aardvarks live on the Moon!"

[spooky3]

11. He's simply someone with a good memory for trivia. That does not

make him analytical, intellectually curious, aware of important facts, or a person of integrity.

[Skittles]

12. he is a bush whore

being a bush whore requires that one be an idiot

[ecoalex]

13. He was a speech writer for Nixon, Hello, like Pat Bucannon

they are both believers of an elevated presidency. He is one sick puppy like Nixon, or shrub.