Smart Talk and Girly Talk on the Campaign Trail(Study: Kerry depressed, Edwards girly, Cheney smart)

Washington Post ^ | 4/4/06 | Richard Morin

[Diddle E. Squat]

President Bush and Vice President Cheney sounded more presidential than their Democratic counterparts. Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) seemed the most depressed or suicidal. And Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards K(N.C.), sounded the most like a "girly man."

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin collected transcripts of 271 televised interviews, news conferences, town hall meetings and candidate debates conducted in 2004. The speech samples -- more than 400,000 words in all -- were run through a computer text-analysis program...

...The key to their study is previous research that has identified subtle but distinctive linguistic patterns and words that, for example, differentiate the way men and women talk...

...Cheney easily sounded the smartest of the four, while Edwards and Bush favored the least sophisticated language patterns...

...When it came to sounding presidential, both Bush and his running mate scored considerably higher than Kerry or Edwards...

...The vice president sounded the most honest of the four, and Kerry the least....

[AmericanChef]

Dick Cheney ROCKS! I always knew it.

[onyx]

[kromike]

Maybe we missed an opportunity to win the WoT in a shorter time. VP Girly-Man's presence & speeched would offend Muslim males' sensibilities, sending them into fiery rages. Then, as a one-two punch, Prez. Kerry would depress them all into committing mass-suicide.

/sarcasm

[birbear]

From the article:

"The vice president sounded the most honest of the four, and Kerry the least. Kerry's language also was most like that of a depressed person, followed by Edwards. Perhaps that's inevitable; after all, challengers must sound gloomy and doomy about their opponents' records, though in doing so they run clear risks. "Voters are most favorable toward those candidates who are the most optimistic," Slatcher said. "The depressive language that Kerry and Edwards used during the campaign may have contributed negatively to the way in which they were perceived by the public."


I suffer from depression. I know first hand when I sound depressed, people stay their distance from me. When I sound more upbeat, people flock to me.

We needed to fund a study to show this?

It also shows that if the Dems keep doin what they're doin, 2006 and 2008 will be a lock for Repubs.

[Echo Talon]

John Edwards...

[onyx]

ROTFLMAO!

[dfwddr]

I can't spell VW, but I drive a Porsche

ROFLMAO !!!! Duh-Huh !!!!

[knews_hound]

Well hey there sailor..

Quite the come hither look IMHO.

Cheers,

knewshound

http://knewshound.blogspot.com/2006/03/homebrewing-101.html

[onyx]

You're under construction.

[bill1952]

2 years later they are just catching on to the fact that Edwards look like a sissy and sounds like a smarmy snake oil salesman at a carnival, and that kerri appears dishonest? LOL! priceless

[Echo Talon]

:D

[onyx]

I also like the one with Richard Simmons...lol.

[Echo Talon]

i think the "ponch" is better. :)

[neodad]

And this is news because . . . . . .. .

[knews_hound]

Google is not my friend sometimes.

But then, you get what you pay for, and since it's free, I can't complain toooo much.

Check back however, I am really proud of the homebrewing article.

Cheers,

knewshound

http://knewshound.blogspot.com/2006/03/homebrewing-101.html

[Diddle E. Squat]

And this is news because . . . . . .

Why don't you ask the Washington Post, or Brit Hume, since he ran the story on his show tonight.

[woofie]

Ketchup is a depressant?

[pogo101]

A candidate's personal appearance isn't relevant to his fitness for office.

Therefore, I am allowed to post this:

[dfwddr]

I'm shocked I tell you, just shocked !!!!!