It looks like the neurologically challenged writers at CNBC are at it again with attacking the GOP presidential candidates. In a typically slanted hit piece entitled "College-level speaking not required at the GOP debates" the leftist network attempted to categorize the candidates as contestants on "Are You As Smart As A Fifth Grader."
The opening sentence read: In debates rife with confrontation and verbal barbs, there was one thing that wasn't a big surprise. Nobody was speaking above a high school level. (Italics are mine.)
Then the writer pointed out: And at least one front-runner was in elementary school territory. (Again, my italics.)
The grade scores they gave to each GOP contender, according to speech patterns based on the Flesch-Kincaid readability test were:
Ted Cruz: 9.1; Marco Rubio 7.9; Dr. Ben Carson 7.9;
Mike Huckabee 7.6; Jeb Bush 7.3; Chris Christie 7.1;
Dr. Rand Paul 7.1; Carly Fiorina 7.0; John Kasich 6.9;
Donald Trump 5.2.
They describe Donald Trump as "at the youngest end of the spectrum--averaging a fifth-grade level of vocabulary." They admit that this may be why he is polling so well and thus seem to be implying the GOP electorate isn't as smart as those incredibly intelligent liberals.
But this is called 'plain talk' and the kind of speech that everyone (not just highly articulate, morally superior, secular, vegan, granola munching liberals) can relate to.
The article was a put-down of conservatives. I hope you'll read it and see that it's true.
On the other side of the spectrum, we have the Mensa-level liberals, the ever scandalous Hillary Clinton comes to mind, and I thought it would be interesting to use the same readability scale on one of her speeches--something she prepared in writing and not off the cuff in a debate.
This is it in part:
Thank you! Oh, thank
you all! Thank you so very, very much.
It is wonderful to
be here with all of you.
To be in New York
with my family, with so many friends, including many New Yorkers who gave me
the honor of serving them in the Senate for eight years.
To be right across
the water from the headquarters of the United Nations, where I represented our
country many times.
To be here in this
beautiful park dedicated to Franklin Roosevelt’s enduring vision of America,
the nation we want to be.
And in a place… with
absolutely no ceilings.
You know, President
Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms are a testament to our nation’s unmatched aspirations
and a reminder of our unfinished work at home and abroad. His legacy lifted up
a nation and inspired presidents who followed. One is the man I served as
Secretary of State, Barack Obama, and another is my husband, Bill Clinton.
Two Democrats guided
by the — Oh, that will make him so happy. They were and are two Democrats
guided by the fundamental American belief that real and lasting prosperity must
be built by all and shared by all.
President Roosevelt
called on every American to do his or her part, and every American answered. He
said there’s no mystery about what it takes to build a strong and prosperous
America: “Equality of opportunity… Jobs for those who can work… Security for
those who need it… The ending of special privilege for the few… The
preservation of civil liberties for all… a wider and constantly rising standard
of living.”
That still sounds
good to me.
It’s America’s basic
bargain. If you do your part you ought to be able to get ahead. And when
everybody does their part, America gets ahead too.
That bargain
inspired generations of families, including my own.
It’s what kept my
grandfather going to work in the same Scranton lace mill every day for 50
years.
It’s what led my
father to believe that if he scrimped and saved, his small business printing
drapery fabric in Chicago could provide us with a middle-class life. And it
did.
When President
Clinton honored the bargain, we had the longest peacetime expansion in history,
a balanced budget, and the first time in decades we all grew together, with the
bottom 20 percent of workers increasing their incomes by the same percentage as
the top 5 percent.
When President Obama
honored the bargain, we pulled back from the brink of Depression, saved the
auto industry, provided health care to 16 million working people, and replaced
the jobs we lost faster than after a financial crash.
But, it’s not 1941,
or 1993, or even 2009. We face new challenges in our economy and our democracy.
We’re still working
our way back from a crisis that happened because time-tested values were
replaced by false promises.
Instead of an
economy built by every American, for every American, we were told that if we
let those at the top pay lower taxes and bend the rules, their success would
trickle down to everyone else.
What happened?
Well, instead of a
balanced budget with surpluses that could have eventually paid off our national
debt, the Republicans twice cut taxes for the wealthiest, borrowed money from
other countries to pay for two wars, and family incomes dropped. You know where
we ended up.
Except it wasn’t the
end.
It scores a 7.9 on the Flesch-Readability test. But don't forget, this was a prepared speech with the opportunity to check and revise vocabulary. Hillary's words are no better than Ben Carson's unrehearsed statements.
So you can stick that so-called journalistic analysis into your nether regions, CNBC.
Oh, and by the way, I checked my own score (up to, but not including Hillary's speech) and it came to 10.9.
Just sayin'.