Another CNBC vacuous moment

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'.




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