Nixon was an asshole

Understatement I know but if you have read anything about the transcripts and recordings from his presidency you know that the man was not a good human being. He had droves of people digging up dirt on his rivals due to his vast insecurities. I wasn't alive during his presidency so I don't know what people were thinking but I want to know how this guy won elections.
As I read through this stuff though I wonder if we will, 30+ years from now get a glimpse in to Bush's presidency and realize that he truly was a blundering idiot. I can't quite bring myself to believe that a man of little means intellectually was able become president and remain so for a second term. All signs point to him being a dunce, see pretzel choking incident, but maybe it was all a show. Maybe he was just trying to pander to joe six pack, or plumber, or ah hell who are we kidding; joe ignorant.
Anyway, we have known for a while that Nixon was an asshole and now we have proof. We have known for 8 years that bush is prone to blunders on a massive scale and we don't have to wait for soundbites this time around. We might have to wait a couple of decades however for those close to bush to start telling the world what kind of man he truly was. In any event, I'm not sure what frightens me more. Our leader being intelligent yet evil or our leader being stupid and ultimately evil.