In 1974 a story in a Washington DC magazine listed the 10 dumbest members of Congress. 

Numero uno?

 Sen. William Scott of Virginia. 

Scott was infuriated and called a press conference to deny the allegations, drawing attention to the article in an alternative magazine and proving to many that he really was dumb.

Here’s an account of that amusing slice of American history from a website called Military Fandom:

A 1974 article in New Times by Nina Totenberg reported that Scott had been ranked at the top of the list of "The Ten Dumbest Members of Congress".

Scott's critics cited many examples to support this claim. While being briefed about the military capabilities of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Scott reportedly confused missile silos for grain silos and said "Wait a minute! I'm not interested in agriculture. I want the military stuff."[24] In addition, 1975 press accounts of a trip he took to the Middle East stated that Scott was a "diplomat's nightmare" who mistook the Suez Canal for the Persian Gulf, refused to enter a mosque because it wasn't "a Christian building", and asked Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin "What is this Gaza stuff? I have never understood that."[25] Scott held a press conference to deny the claims of the New Times story, which had the effect of giving the allegation wider circulation and enhanced credibility.

It’s clearly time to crown a new elected official as the most witless wonder in Congress. With so many to choose from, and so many really fatuous people running the country, it’s hard to pick just one, but the choice got a lot easier this past weekend.

The winner is, of course, Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York. He’s the Mensa member who pulled a fire alarm Saturday in the Cannon House Office Building, thinking that was how to open a door.

A door clearly marked as a fire exit, to be opened only when flames are licking your backside.

Sigh.

Trouble is, Bowman pulled the alarm and instead of going through the fire doors, he reportedly ran in another direction. The whole episode was caught on camera as anyone with half a brain would have known would happen.

Skeptics don’t believe Bowman’s fantastical story. They say he’s a partisan Democratic hack - he is a member of The Squad, after all - trying to cause chaos on Capitol Hill Saturday to delay the vote on the continuing resolution that kept the government open.

Of course, if he admitted to THAT he’d be in the same kind of trouble in which the January 6th protestors find themselves mired, criminally charged with trying to interfere with the workings of government.

(Who are we kidding, Bowman wouldn’t be charged! Not by Biden’s DOJ.)

To protect himself from accusations, his detractors say Bowman concocted a phony story. This 47-year-old former school principal from New York City wants America to believe that he isn’t completely clear on how fire doors work. Or fire alarms.

Didn’t they have fire alarms, extinguishers and fire doors in his school back in the Bronx?

Let me ask a question: How many of YOU have accidentally pulled a fire alarm to open a door? 

Just as I thought. Not one among us has ever done anything remotely that harebrained.

So either Bowman is a devious man who was up to no good on Saturday. Or he has the IQ of a bivalve. And should be crowned The Dumbest Member of Congress, 2023.

Which is it?