From the Las Vegas Sun: Ever listen to Rep. Mark Amodei give a speech and you know the man can be long-winded.
But his verbosity seems to have earned him a new ballyhooed distinction—ninth smartest speechmaker in Congress.
According to a new study by the Sunlight Foundation, Amodei speaks
at almost a 14th grade level—putting him in the top 10 smartest
speechmakers overall and the smartest speaker in Nevada’s delegation....
Conversely, Sen. Harry Reid, who speaks at a 9th grade level—the lowest in Nevada’s delegation—has the strongest vocabulary, according to the study.
Well, at least at first glance.
Reid is ranked No. 1 for most frequently using words that appear on
the top 100 list. But that’s because he loves to use the word
‘compromise.’
He’s uttered ‘compromise’ 147 times this session—more than any other lawmaker.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/may/21/amodeis-long-winded-speeches-rank-him-among-top-10/
Well, I always knew Coward Harry Reid just wasn't that smart, and now we have evidence that he talks like a 9th grader and he also thinks like a 9th grader or even lower.
Here is the list of the congresscritters to see how smart they talk:
https://data.sunlightlabs.com/dataset/Members-And-Grade-Level/iwhe-qaqu
However, to be honest with you, I would rather have someone speak to me who doesn't use big words so they think they sound important, so I guess I would rather have a conversation with Reid than Amodei, if Reid would dare talk to me. (He and his staff refuse to answer e-mails from me, so why would he talk to me?)
There are some surprises on the list, for instance, the GOP occupies most of the lower grade speaking levels, so maybe they speak more to the common person than the Democrats? Of course, the liberals will say they are just dumber than most. (right, Jamie?) BTW, there are two Wisconsin GOP congress critters on the low end and except for them, the top 12 are from Southern states.
In end, all it matters is if the congress critters are able to communicate with their constituents and the number criteria for that is to lie and most of them are very good at that.
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Well, since you asked. . .no, I wouldn't call most members of Congress dumb. There are exceptions (and Boehner is just drunk). But I do think they pander, and depending upon who they're speaking to, they surely will adjust their speaking style. Remember Dubya? His accent and phrasing was full-on goober by the end, but early video of him is different. It's like Chrissy on Three's Company. . .first season daffy, last season learning disabled! Oops, tangent, sorry.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, newspapers are supposed to be written at an 8th grade level, so none of this is surprising. And I think "comprimise" is essential for effective two-party government. So, I understand why Harry is saying that all the time. He's not getting it though.