Thursday, October 2, 2008

VP Debate Wordle

Since Jeri suggested it....






I thought the word Maverick would be much more prominent.

5 comments:

vince said...

Mavericks? Where?

Random Michelle K said...

You might also like this analysis at Language Log.

Eric said...

No, that really is interesting, actually. It suggests the subject of the debate was John McCain--which, now that I think about it, it in fact, was.

Many pundits suggested Biden not attack Palin or talk down to her, out of a concern he appear sexist or appear "mean," and Biden followed that advice to the letter: he attacked McCain and barely referred to Palin or what she said. And of course Palin had to talk about McCain while doing what she could to justify McCain's choosing her as a running mate.

I normally find Wordle to just be kind of a silly amusement, but in this instance it actually offers an insight into what last night's events were and what they weren't: Biden and Palin didn't say much of substance about the economy or foreign policy or industry policy because that wasn't really what they'd decided to talk about. They were talking about the guys who weren't in the room--John McCain and how Obama compares to McCain.

And here's the rub: I remember Biden getting off some good "John was wrong" lines, but I don't remember Palin getting off anything particularly strong about why McCain would be a good President (just general assertions he would be). Which isn't good for McCain. And if that's what the public picks up on and carries away, then my initial impression (the debate was a tie, and the tie goes to Palin for not messing up too badly) was probably wrong. If the debate was really a debate about John McCain, Palin lost.

That's interesting. I'm starting to wonder what people will be saying about last night a few years from now.

Jeri said...

You know, I don't even see maverick on the graphic. Interesting.

I did notice interesting trends in how they referred to each other. Governor Palin vs. Joe - Mcain vs. Barack - Senator McCain vs. Obama - formalizing your own party and informalizing the opposition to the greatest degree possible.

Pat R said...

the GOP wouldn't dare schedule any more unscripted air time for Palin, this would give people more time to realize that she's totally clueless... the prospect of her becoming the Commander in Chief is frightening