Funny that Noem wasn’t mentioned;
The most conservative Republicans in Congress tend to speak at the lowest grade level, according to an analysis by the Sunlight Foundation.
The analysis found that the more conservative a Republican was, the lower his or her speech level tended to be. But same is also partially true for lawmakers on the opposite side of the political spectrum. More progressive Democrats in Congress also tend to speak at a lower grade level. However, the decline in speech complexity is less pronounced for Democrats than it is for Republicans.
I’ll just go ahead and leave this here while I search my bedroom for my flame retardant underwear.
Psychological Science: Lower Cognitive Ability Predicts Greater Prejudice Through Right-Wing Ideology and Low Intergroup Contact
http://pss.sagepub.com/content/23/2/187
Thank goodness Noem got her college degree, now we can expect her cognitive abilities to go up. Right???
Oh but wait “the more conservative a Republican was, the lower his or her speech level tended to be.” Never mind (in my best Emily Litella voice) .
Funny that they didn’t mention Obama’s SOTU speeches hover in the mid to low 8th grade level…
I couldn’t care less what grade level politicians speak at. They’re lying every time they open their mouths anyways.
Funny that they didn’t mention Obama’s SOTU speeches hover in the mid to low 8th grade level…
“Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.”
“I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family.”
“I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.”
“Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country.”
“They misunderestimated me.”
“Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?”
“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”
“There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”
I don’t think they are stupid, just deceptive.
“Funny that they didn’t mention Obama’s SOTU speeches hover in the mid to low 8th grade level…”
Can you blame him? He is speaking to Congress so he has to dumb it down to their level.
Rumor has it he tried to speak at his normal ivy-league level one time, but the cost to equip every member of Congress with a dictionary and “Presidential Speeches for Dummies” book was prohibitive, so he decided it was a better idea to just refrain from using words with more than three syllables.
How sad is it that a “higher education = snob” attitude is actually sought when considering leadership?
Listening to a speechwriter, there is a clarity at 8th grade English level. The vocal inflections and audience retention are better.
Speakers pretending to be more intellectual than they are use big words to impress.
But I think the moral of the story is, the more polarizing and fringe a politician is, the more ignorant and dare I say “dumb” they are (regardless of party).
I suspect most intelligent people understand there are shades of gray versus simply black and white. A less intelligent person is often ignorant of these gray areas and they often fear what they don’t understand. There are exceptions to every rule of course (there are some very intelligent people who are far, far left or far, far right) but averaged across a larger sample size, I have no doubts about the accuracy of this analysis.
My Grandpa Carl didn’t talk a lot, but he was one of the smartest people I have ever met.