In fact, a phony claim from the non-existent "Lovenstein Institute" which circulated on the Internet in 2001 and was eventually included in leftist Gary Trudeau's "Doonesbury" comic strip, pegged the president's IQ at 91, the lowest of any modern-day president.

Never mind that the young George W. Bush mastered both Yale and fighter planes, and managed to succeed in a number of business ventures, which included the successful purchase and sale of Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers.

Now Bush bashers should get ready to wince, moan and groan: The New York Times reports Bush is not only a brainy guy, but may actually be smarter than the other Yale-educated presidential candidate, John Kerry.

The Times quoted Steve Sailer, a columnist for immigration reform Web magazine Vdare.com, who is also adept at estimating a person's IQ, and has done so for many presidents in the past.

In the 2000 presidential race, Sailer estimated Democrat Al Gore's IQ to be 10 points higher than Bush's score, which figured to be around the mid-120s.

Reports the Times: "Mr. Bush's score on the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test at age 22 again suggests that his I.Q. was the mid-120's, putting Mr. Bush in about the 95th percentile of the population, according to Mr. Sailer. Mr. Kerry's I.Q. was about 120, in the 91st percentile, according to Mr. Sailer's extrapolation of his score at age 22 on the Navy Officer Qualification Test."

Sailer's analysis was called credible by Linda Gottfredson, an IQ expert at the University of Delaware. She told the Times she wasn't surprised at the results or that so many people had assumed that Mr. Kerry was smarter.

"People will often be misled into thinking someone is brighter if he says something complicated they can't understand," she said.

We won't hold our breath waiting for the president's detractors to apologize.

Editor's note: