Dr. Robert Beard of yourDictionary.com takes apart the last Bush-Kerry debate, word by word, to decode the candidates' "talking points" and define the message behind the message.

NEW YORK, October 15, 2004 -- As the polls narrow, President Bush abandoned the fear factor in Wednesday's debate, clinging instead to his old friend, "freedom." Senator John Kerry, however, took pains to style himself as a fighter, but not in the Rambo style formerly favored by the president. Rather, Kerry pushed the sunshine element, pleading to fight the good "fight" for economic and social justice.

"Fight," "faith" and "Americans" headlined the Democratic candidate's word choices. Kerry, of course, wants to associate himself with those fighting for social, religious, and economic rights. He also reiterated his faith in a good outcome of all those struggles. Kerry used both "faith and "fight" 14 times (the more outwardly religious Bush a mere three times for "faith" and none at all for "fight.") The patriotic theme was critical here, too: Kerry used the word "Americans" a whopping 42 times compared with a surprisingly low nine times for Bush.

Yet despite the Democratic nominee's desire to show "respect" for the rights of those whose struggles for equality he supports (17 times for Kerry, three times for Bush), both candidates ran neck and neck on the specifics of social welfare. "Minimum wage" was a phrase Kerry felt more at ease with, mentioning it nine times to Bush's two. The president did show an interest in social security, mentioning it seven times to Kerry's four. Both candidates talked about health care (Kerry 15, Bush 20), but Kerry mentioned those people who had lost their "health insurance" under Bush six times, while the president avoided all mention of the term.

Perhaps to undercut this appeal, Bush tried to link Kerry with Ted Kennedy, another Democrat known for his espousal of social welfare issues and derided by Republicans as a liberal. President Bush likened Senator Kerry to the Massachusetts senator three times, in an apparent attempt at attributing "guilt by association".

Kerry echoed the Kennedy theme, but by embracing the less controversial President John Kennedy -- the subject of three mentions by the Democratic candidate during the debate.

That improvement could well be the result of the extensive 90-minute rehearsals the president reportedly underwent in preparation for this last verbal sparring match. Apparently, revisions of the president's verbal repertoire were made. Unlike earlier debates, Bush never used the words "destruction" or "threat" and used "terror" only twice and "terrorist(s)" only four times (to Mr. Kerry's two). Kerry narrowly outpaced Bush on references to Osama bin Laden, referring to the Al Qaeda ringleader five times to Bush's four.

Old political stand-bys still stood strong: "freedom" (five times to Kerry's one mention) and "liberty" (three times for Bush, none for Kerry).

For the president, the practice paid off.

In the first debate, Bush spoke with the language of a student eight months into the sixth grade. By the second, judging by their words, Kerry and he had both completed the first three months of the seventh grade. But in the final face-off, Bush soared ahead, scoring at the 8.1 grade level, or one month into the eighth grade. Kerry, by contrast, had pulled his vocabulary level up only by three months, scoring at the 7.6 grade level.

The candidates' speaking levels were scored using the Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level Index, which measures the reading grade level of texts.

Measures of readability, though, were identical. According to the Gunning-Fog Index, which measures the number of years of education required to understand a text, viewers needed to have completed only the first six months of the seventh grade to understand both debaters.

Kerry's text, however, was slightly easier to understand. On the Flesch Readability Ease Scale, which measures the ease with which a text may be read, Kerry scored a 68 versus Bush's 62.4. However, despite the ease of understanding Kerry's responses, the Democratic candidate managed to squeeze in a few more words per sentence: 15.2 words per sentence to Bush's 14.9.

-- Dr. Robert Beard is a former professor of linguistics at Bucknell University and the CEO of yourDictionary.com.

© MediaChannel.org, 2004. All rights reserved.

= = = = = = =
 MESSAGEMETER  Mine Bush and Kerry speeches for the message behind the spin.
= = = = = = =
 TAKE ACTION  MediaChannel's citizens media movement to improve election coverage.
= = = = = = =
 SUBSCRIBE  to Media Savvy, MediaChannel's free daily news update.
= = = = = = =
 SUPPORT  MediaChannel's 2004 campaign by donating to MediaChannel.org
= = = = = = =
 RETURN  to MediaChannel's Homepage
= = = = = = =