MSM Smear FAIL: Palin E-Mails Show She Writes At 8th-Grade Level. Reality: Ranks Higher Than Most CEOs, Obama’s “Yes, We Can” Victory Speech…
D’oh!
(NYDN) — She may have attended four universities, but Sarah Palin still writes like an eighth-grader.
AOL Weird News gave two writing analytic companies samples of the former Alaska governor’s recently released emails and both agree that the Tea Party favorite writes as if she’s in middle school.
The 24,000 emails during Palin’s time as Alaska governor are still being sifted through. But the documents are filled with her famous folksy phrases like “holy moly,” “shindig” and “holy flippin’ crap.”
It turns out Palin’s writing skills are still better than most educated Americans. Global Language Monitor gave Palin’s emails a score of 8.2, which actually exceeds that of most chief executives.
Obama’s “Yes, We Can” speech clocked in at a 7.4, almost a full grade below Palin.
(CNN) — Language experts weighed in Thursday after poring over the nearly 2,700 words of President Obama’s Oval Office speech on the Gulf oil disaster. . . .
Obama’s nearly 10th-grade-level rating was the highest of any of his major speeches and well above the Grade 7.4 of his 2008 “Yes, we can” victory speech, which many consider his best effort, Payack said.
Posted by ZIP on Wednesday, June 15, 2011, at 10:45 am | 
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It could be that she doesn’t need to prop up her ego with words like “inchoate”, “nuanced” and “gravitas”.
Some folks don’t need to show off and would rather just communicate with ordinary people without trying to make them feel stupid.
As they say in the tech world, “That’s not a bug. That’s a feature.”
Obama not only writes like a 12 year old prepubescent boy he also acts like one.
When ever he doesn’t get his way he throws a bitch fit.
Comparing email to a prepared speech isn’t exactly apples to oranges – but she still wrote better. Although the truth will never be known, I suspect Ms. Palin’s IQ and *real* writing abilities are well above bs’s.
Btw, I had a friend who was a newspaper writer and he was instructed to write at an 8th grade level because it’s bad form to make your paying customers feel stupid. Maybe bs could learn something here – no, never mind, continue as you were.
You want to talk about some fine writing:
UNDERGROUND
Under water grottos, caverns
Filled with apes
That eat figs.
Stepping on the figs
That the apes
Eat, they crunch.
The apes howl, bare
Their fangs, dance,
Tumble in the
Rushing water,
Musty, wet pelts
Glistening in the blue.
mmmm mmmm mmmmm Barack Obama!
Demand the effin genius in the WH release all his school transcripts and any scribblings “credited” to his fine mind.
Here is a gem from 1981. Brilliant!//
Under water grottos, caverns
Filled with apes
That eat figs.
Stepping on the figs
That the apes
Eat, they crunch.
The apes howl, bare
Their fangs, dance …
@StrangernFiction:
. . . Obama’s nearly 10th-grade-level rating was the highest of any of his major speeches and well above the Grade 7.4 of his 2008 “Yes, we can” victory speech, which many consider his best effort, Payack said.
“HIS: best effort ?
LMAO!!
Someone at CCN needs to read “Deconstructing Obama”
Are these people being deliberately dense?
What am I saying? Of course they are. It’s Palin Derangement Syndrome.
Look, I’ve worked in office settings all of my adult career, going on ten years. There is one rule that has repeatedly been hammered into me whenever it comes to writing something that’s going to be shared with others, and that is to keep the wording at a sixth to eighth grade reading level. Eighth grade is pushing it, actually, at least for information disseminated to a general public that includes those who are merely functionally literate and others who are outright illterate. When communicating with a diverse group, or when trying to ensure that a point is made effectively, you need to keep the writing concise and uncluttered.
Strong communicators don’t need flowery words and overblown vocabulary to make their point; those things just get in the way of the audience’s comprehension of the message. This is why “CliffsNotes” were invented, for heaven’s sake; to take the wordy, textually dense literature of the past and break it down into digestable pieces that communicate the overall messages of the original work. It’s not ideal, but there is no such thing as an ideal audience either.
Writing at an “8th grade level” is not a flaw; it’s a function of effective communication. Allow me to demonstrate:
Suck it, MSM.
Holy flippin’ crap!! Do you know how absolutely preposterous this apples to oranges comparison is?! Who in the hell (other than an anal retentive journalist) actually writes an e-mail with the intent of making it sound or read like a speech? E-mails, no matter who writes them, are typically replete with errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, and other attempts are slaughtering the English language. An e-mail is NOT a formal document. Governor Palin probably didn’t spend a lot of time agonizing over the content of her e-mails while executing the responsibilities of her office. No one else does either, including Chicago Jesus! Comparing a speech ostensibly written by the worst president in our nation’s history with e-mails written by Mrs. Palin proves that the leftards at AOL Weird News are worse than the typical village idiots. Commissioning writing analysts shows how desperate the media is to redeem their constantly vanishing credibility. Worse than that however, is how openly obvious they are at thinking the American public is too stupid to see through their cunning and crafty BS. Don’t these critical morons have anything constructive to do with their time?
@ uncivil & right
I still believe that if Sarah Palin runs for President, she will be a far more formidable candidate than most people realize. I think she is far more competent and electable than the so called “conventional wisdom” says. The Progressive / MSM mob fears her and is hoping that their smear campaign will convince her not to run.
The Left is really scared shitless of this woman.
I agree with the apples to oranges comparison in others comments. I would like to add one thing: who says that Obama writes his speeches? If he doesn’t, then you are probably comparing apples to roadkill.
Preposterous statements – besides, are we not supposed to write to our audience? Not everyone out there has a Masters degress in English.
I recall when I was an applications engineer running all over the country (25 years ago) that in many towns the average blue collar factory worker was rather well-spoken and literate, while in a few other towns we had to drop the f-bomb in every other sentence or the guys didn’t understand us. We changed our speech to match the audience.
degress – degree – sorry about the typo
@Thom.
It’s okay all of us here read at a 1st grade level just ask the liberal progs who troll WZ trying to enlighten us,and bestow all their earthly wisdom.
We’re all stupid Rednecks as far as they’re concerned.
Of course I was born and raised in Southern California and only moved to the Mid West 3 years ago but I’m a redneck to the progressives.
Oh and Thom AHS remember?
A properly educated graduate of an elite university should write & speak thusly: ” I, uhh; me, duhh; myself, wuhh; mine, muhh.”
So they are assessing emails, most of them hastily composed and meant to be quick memos, for sophistication? I would figure that an 8th grade level for emails is well above average. Of course, they make no relevant comparisons because they want this to be used as a smear against Palin. The fair thing to do would be to take more carefully worded and meaningful emails (like the one about Trig) and score those–unfortunately, those wouldn’t back up their attempt to smear her as an illiterate (even though journalists are taught to write at a 6th grade level).
Instead they make a half-assed comparison to Obama, using his speeches that were carefully written FOR him, not by him. It’s telling that they didn’t use the grade levels of his two (non-children’s) books–I’ve seen this anaylsis posted before where “Dreams of my Father” scores much higher than “Audacity”, and they wouldn’t want to inadvertently help the argument that Ayers wrote the former.
@xavier says:
June 15, 2011 at 10:55 am
Comparing email to a prepared speech isn’t exactly apples to oranges – but she still wrote better. Although the truth will never be known, I suspect Ms. Palin’s IQ and *real* writing abilities are well above bs’s.
Btw, I had a friend who was a newspaper writer and he was instructed to write at an 8th grade level because it’s bad form to make your paying customers feel stupid. Maybe bs could learn something here – no, never mind, continue as you were
————————————————————————————–
Children tend to read ‘up’ in level, and adults tend to read ‘down’ …
Truth be told, your friend’s boss was correct. The Majority of people read at about the 8th grade level. Given today’s insta-culture where people get the bulk of their news from soundbites, or worse from comedy/opinion shows, when they do slice a portion of time from their busy cluttered day they want to read something indepth they look to things un-cumbersome and clearly written.
As some stated above, while the English language is a complex thing, the use of the ‘higher’ and less familiar words often times are used as a “posing nearly nude in front of a government gym mirror while using a cell phone to snap one’s overblown qualities”.
While I do like Palin’s conversation style with the American public, I think she needs to slow down a tad because she tries to load too much color and emotion into the things she says. Often times it sounds a little muddled (recently the Paul Revere comment that was proven correct, but sounded too jumbled). Her message is spot-on, but she tries too hard to ‘sell’. She doesn’t need to. She and her messages sell themselves. She is liked/loved/(and hated) because she speaks her mind clearly, without hiding or tricking or splitting-hairs.
Obama, on the other hand, is like the used car salesman that uses whatever bullshit polish he can find to hide the fact he’s selling not only a lemon but a POS. He believes the American people think he’s higly intelligent simply because he uses words most folks have to either run for a dictionary for, or simply nod in deference to a master…
For me, I ONLY do this with [real] scientists and mathematicians.
In the world of clear and solid ideas Palin far outweighs Obama because all hers have been proven successful (freedom, capitalism) and Obama’s have consistently failed (communism and socialism and totalitarianism) for the last century or more all around the world.
If Palin runs she wins. The libtards and RINOs know this, which is why they have been desperate to stop her from entering the race.
@Shay
You beat me to it. Obama has speechwriters…all Presidents have speechwriters. Obama doesn’t write a GD thing that comes out of his mouth. And the press knows this…
Additionally, as so many others have pointed out, intra-office e-mails, like comments are written quickly and casually, for clarity and emphasis, not nuance and pedantics.
I’ve always liked Palin but didn’t think she was suited for the Oval office, but I’m starting to think her ‘okey-dokey’ style HAS to be better than another four years of Kid Zero -or- one of the gutless R’s.
If Allen West would run it would be a blow-out…it seems like the fix is in.
I’d like to know what grade level that “sittin’ in the ditch, sippin’ on a Slurpee” scans at.
The MSM can’t seem to recognize that the reason Palin connects with ordinary people is precisely because she speaks (and writes) plainly and clearly. This email witch hunt ranks right up there in the annuls of journalist malpractice with the refusal to properly vet Obama, and the unquestioning and spontaneous Chicken Little dance over man made global warming.
8th grade level means not that an 8th grader wrote it but that an 8th grader can read it.
Somewhere around that level is a goal of good writing.
It’s considered a fault to write at a 12th grade level, for instance.
rhhardin says:
June 15, 2011 at 12:39 pm
8th grade level means not that an 8th grader wrote it but that an 8th grader can read it.
Somewhere around that level is a goal of good writing.
It’s considered a fault to write at a 12th grade level, for instance.
——————————————————————————-
BINGO!
Libtard commenter: T.V. Should be TV… hmmmmm should be Hmmmm, them goes off on Sarah with the PDS routine. Oh the horror. They are desperate. unintelligent. mindless. dimwits ( DUMB)
Writing a personal email is normally done in a more casual style than composing an essay. It’s an absurd criticism.
truly painful stupidity and delusions from you folks…you people ACTUALLY think this woman has a shot in hell of winning the Presidency…her national approval rating is hovering around 30%…she has a 61% disapproval rating in her home state…what in God’s name makes you think she has a chance? She can read polls, and thats why she isn’t running…she’d rather make money and be a reality television star…she quit her job as governor when the going got tough and you folks think she should be President…not to mention her pure INTELLECTUAL BANKRUPTCY!!!…truly baffling that anyone could support this self-promoting bimbo
Dave says:
June 15, 2011 at 12:20 pm
If Palin runs she wins. The libtards and RINOs know this, which is why they have been desperate to stop her from entering the race.
…complete and utter delusions…who has tried to stop her from entering the race? NO ONE…no liberals are scared of her…we are praying the GOP nominates her to ensure another landslide for Obama…but even the GOP isn’t stupiud enough to do that.
Hmmmm she quit her job because things became to stressful….lets make her President!
@John
You lack common sense. It is logical to spend the majority of one’s time on one’s priorities, rather than those things considered insignificant. In keeping with that logical assumption, the amount of time the Activist Media Minions and other Leftist Groups and Bloggers spend on tearing Sara Palin apart, gives evidence of her importance in the Leftist mind.
Dear John,
If you’re so convinced that Sarah Palin has no shot at winning the Presidency, why are you so eager for us to stop saying she can?
*curious blink*
Hmm?
i’m just stating facts…the woman quit her job, has a 30% approval rating nationwide…has countless gaffes and has displayed numerous times that she has no serious grasp on the issues…she speaks in generalizations and never offers any concrete plans or details…i mean, if you want to praise her for being a entertaining reality star or FAUX news pundit, go ahead…but lets not pretend she has a chance to be President…and stop saying the left “fears” her…they most certainly do not…in fact, we would LOVE for the GOP to nominate her.
i agree with you Katherine, the media pays her WAY too much attention…she is completely irrelevant when attempting to make any political progress in this country…she’s insignificant…i just wanted to post on here to point out some of the delusions of people claiming she has some sort of chance at winning a national election…she doesn’t….its just facts.
Wow…John sure seems invested in getting his libtard point accross.
If she’s so irrelevant, and she carries no political, then whose endorsement was the most sought-after in 2010?
If she’s supposed so inneffectual politically, then I draw your attention to two words: “Death Panels.”
And here’s another two words for you John: “Dumb shit.” As in: “One day John hopes to be smart enough to be considered merely a dumb shit, rather than the brainless amoeba that he currently is.”
Why does John want Obama for another term anyway? 20% unemployment not good enough? Hoping for 5-10 trillion more in debt? What?
OBAMA DOES NOT EVEN WRITE HIS SPEECHES! He only recites them via a teleprompter. He couldn’t even write one– if he tried it would be at a 5 level based the one book and the children’s book he wrote.
AND I’m quoting the above poem Obama wrote: Whats the obsession he has with apes living underground , baring their fangs? It is because the Koran says “Jews are “apes and Pigs”–did some of the Koran he was so immersed in in an Indonesian madrassa rub off on him and leave an indelible imprint on his brain??? DID IT????