Some time ago, under a different dKos ID, I started an analysis of Bush's State
of the Union Speeches. I simply counted "applauses" as indicated the official
Whitehouse transcription, uses of the word or variants of the word "terror",
uses of the word or variants of "freedom" and uses of the word "God"
Here are the numbers, my
anaysis is below the fold.
|
Year |
|
2006 |
2005 |
2004 |
2003 |
2002 |
Number of Words | 5435 |
5185 | 5284 |
5400 | 3948 |
Number of applauses |
66 |
67 | 72 |
77 | 76 |
Mentioned Terror/ist |
20 | 27 |
20 | 40 |
20 |
Mentioned Free/dom |
19 | 21 |
20 | 11 |
36 |
Mentioned God |
2 | 1 |
3 | 4 |
2 |
|
| |
| |
|
Fear Factor*
(%) | 0.4 |
0.5 | 0.4 |
0.4 | 0.9 |
*Fear Factor = Percentage of words in the speech referring to "terror"
Number of words: While there is a general trend upwards, 2002 is the
anomaly. Bush delivered 1,100 to 1,400 fewer words in his first SOTU address
than all subsequent addresses.
Conclusion? He's talking longer.:-)
_____
Number of applauses: The applause index shows a definite trend
downwards. In 2002, that index (the ratio of applauses to words) was a
respectable 1.9. Last night he performed at a dismal 1.2, the lowest of his
presidency.
Conclusion? While he is talking longer, the audience is less
appreciative of what he has to say. Or he is making fewer "applause" points
_____
Number of Terro/ists: With the exception of 2002, the fear factor has
held pretty steady. There was a slight blip in last year's speech but hardly
noticeable.
Conclusion? Terror level Yellow until further notice.
_____
Number of Freedoms: Freedom shows a slight decrease.
Conclusion? Freedom under pressure. Don't believe me? Ask
Cindy Sheehan.
_____
Number of Gods: Gods numbers are about the same as previous years.
Conclusion? No real trend here. Looks like normal random
variation.
So the real news here is that things haven't changed much. Despite 2,200+ dead
soldiers, the price of gasoline nearly doubling, the national debt skyrocketing,
the number of disenfranchised growing, his own poll data plummeting, Bush's
speeches show consistency.
We should not be surprised by this, Dr. Justin Frank's analysis (Bush on the
Couch) suggests that Bush is quite skilled at ignoring things that don't fit his
world view and his speeches prove it.
ARB