![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The First Lady's speech Tuesday was written at a 12th grade level - the highest in history among the wives of presidential nominees and far above Ann Romney's lowest mark of a 5th grade level.
-- Eric Ostermeier at University of Minnesota and Smart Politics
An interesting analysis evaluating political speeches in terms of American grade levels. Of course, liberals have to enjoy a chuckle over how simple and childish the Republican speeches are, but one has to remember that these speeches are heavily manufactured, and our elites obviously assume that Americans are generally dumb. Hey, that's the way they make us! At least we can still amuse ourselves with the fact that the Red Staters are objectively dumber.
It's a shame that we don't have a comparative analysis on the speeches of the men. Though, it is noted that Obama's State of the Union speeches only clock in at the eighth grade level, which shows how the speech is crafted more to the assumed level of the audience than as a reflection of his own intellect. One wonders at what grade level Bill Clinton's speech from last night would rank.
_ _ _
The Flesch-Kincaid test is designed to assess the readability level of written text, with a formula that translates the score to a U.S. grade level. Longer sentences and sentences utilizing words with more syllables produce higher scores. Shorter sentences and sentences incorporating more monosyllabic words yield lower scores.
-- Eric Ostermeier at University of Minnesota and Smart Politics
-- Eric Ostermeier at University of Minnesota and Smart Politics
An interesting analysis evaluating political speeches in terms of American grade levels. Of course, liberals have to enjoy a chuckle over how simple and childish the Republican speeches are, but one has to remember that these speeches are heavily manufactured, and our elites obviously assume that Americans are generally dumb. Hey, that's the way they make us! At least we can still amuse ourselves with the fact that the Red Staters are objectively dumber.
It's a shame that we don't have a comparative analysis on the speeches of the men. Though, it is noted that Obama's State of the Union speeches only clock in at the eighth grade level, which shows how the speech is crafted more to the assumed level of the audience than as a reflection of his own intellect. One wonders at what grade level Bill Clinton's speech from last night would rank.
_ _ _
The Flesch-Kincaid test is designed to assess the readability level of written text, with a formula that translates the score to a U.S. grade level. Longer sentences and sentences utilizing words with more syllables produce higher scores. Shorter sentences and sentences incorporating more monosyllabic words yield lower scores.
-- Eric Ostermeier at University of Minnesota and Smart Politics
