10 GOP Freshman Baggers Speak at 8th Grade Level

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.politicususa.com/stupid-teabaggers-10-gop-freshman-speak-8th-grade-level.html

<snip>An analysis by the Sunlight Foundation has found that the speaking level of Congress as a whole has dropped by nearly a full grade level since 2005. Prior to 2005, Republicans spoke a slightly higher level than Democrats, but since the Democratic Party has had a share of power, Republicans have moved to the right and gotten less intellectual. In seven short years, Congress has gone from speaking at an eleventh grade level to a tenth grade level. If this continues, Congress will be back in junior high in less than 15 years.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone who follows politics that the stridently anti-intellectual tea party Republicans would have the top fifteen lowest speaking levels. Not every member of the intellectual low ballers was new to Congress. Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) has been in Congress for eleven years, and he speaks at a seventh grade level. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett has been in the House for fifteen years, and he also speaks at a seventh grade level.

Mostly though, the drag on the GOP’s verbosity has come from Tea Party freshman. Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) led the way by speaking at a seventh grade level. Second was Rob Woodall (R-GA) who spoke at an eighth grade level. Third was Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) who speaks at an 8.03 grade level. Fourth was former reality television star freshman Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI). Ten of the top 15 lowest speaking levels were Republican freshmen. Only three Democrats were present in the top 25, Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA), Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), and Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-HI). snip

The Republican Party rank and file has drummed the intellect out of their party. They are a believers only club, by believers I don’t mean religion, but a group of people who have substituted feelings for facts.

[Liberal Veteran]

1. That's surprising.

If they are examples of 8th grade level education, then our schools have really low standards of scholarship.

The majority of them make Jethro Bodine look like Stephen Hawking.

[wickerwoman]

2. Is this a terrible thing though?

Many local governments have an unspoken policy of trying to pitch most of their documents so an 8th grader could understand them. That's the average reading level.

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to communicate in a way that your target audience can understand. And just because a message is expressed using simple language doesn't make it illogical or wrong.

Maybe it's because they're dumb but maybe it's also why they're winning.

[KamaAina]

3. Rep. Hanabusa grew up speaking Pidgin

officially 'Hawai'i Creole English".

For instance, "Eh, you like beef?" has to do with fights, not hamburgers.

There is a debate over the place of Pidgin in Hawai'i schools similar to that over "Ebonics" (African American Vernacular English, which, it should be noted, is Rep. Lewis' mother tongue). Some (mainly haoles) think it's "low-class" and "uneducated"; others point out that Pidgin has its own well-developed literature (disclaimer: perhaps the best-known Pidgin author, Lois-Ann Yamanaka, is a personal friend) and even its own publishing house.

http://www.bambooridge.com

[SoutherDem]

4. Two thoughts

Will one day the primaries be an episode of "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?".

I bet they are the first to support teaching bad (no) science be cause they don't "believe" in it, like their disbelief will stop climate change.

[ananda]

5. That high?

nt

[bayareamike]

6. To be fair,

the GOP has a numerical advantage over Dems at the top of the list...

I'm not sure how much stock to put into an analysis like this.