That's his wife's pride talking. To me, the whole theme of the movie and moral is pride. Van Doren and Stempel are brought down by pride; Herb wants to stay in the spotlight and Van Doren thinks his "years of study and erudition" entitle him to win on a rigged game show and be rich and famous. Van Doren's father has "always been proud" of his son. Dick Goodwin is proud and thinks he's perfect and without sin and can't be tempted to do evil. Just because you haven't been severely tempted and tested doesn't mean you could resist evil always. See what happens in prison or a death camp or torture chamber or if you're starving, freezing, and homeless. I think people are capable of anything given the right situation.
Goodwin's wife is proud of him and herself, thinking he's "ten times the man that Charles Van Doren is, ten times the brain and ten times the human being." And she doesn't know the first thing about him. Stempel calls Van Doren a moron while he sits in underwear spouting trivia to his son. He has done nothing intellectually or of any substance at all, he does not teach or write books or gives lecture or make music or anything else that we know of. Everyone is flawed and capable of good and evil. Nobody has any right to take pride in themselves for the circumstances of their lives, many of which resulted from things they could not control, including their energy and mood and temperament and personality, their family and peers, their environment, their thoughts, their interests, their aspirations. Pride is a despicable trait.
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