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Ted Cruz as Beowulf: Matching Candidates With the Books They Sound Like
New York Times ^ | OCT. 28, 2015 | Josh Katz

Posted on 10/28/2015 7:32:02 AM PDT by Isara

Donald Trump falls somewhere between “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen. Ben Carson resembles A.W. Tozer’s “The Pursuit of God.” Marco Rubio has a lot in common with “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” while Jeb Bush is a little simpler and sunnier — closer to “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up,” Marie Kondo’s tribute to decluttering.

...They are instead based on an analysis of the candidates’ speaking styles in this year’s presidential debates, measuring both the complexity of their speech and the positivity (or negativity) of the words they use. To help make their speaking styles concrete, we compared them with a range of books, drawn from the most commonly downloaded titles on Project Gutenberg and supplemented with selections from our personal libraries.

...

One striking aspect of the analysis is that the Republican candidates are debating in much simpler patterns than the Democrats. The only Republican who uses language as complex as the Democrats — slightly more complex, in fact — is Ted Cruz, a former solicitor general and law professor. His employment history shows in his debate rhetoric, with a level of complexity similar to “Beowulf.” (The speech patterns of President Obama in the 2008 debates were equally complex.) Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mr. Sanders have similar levels of complexity but are on opposite ends of the positivity spectrum: She is even more positive than Mr. Trump.

...

Ted Cruz “Beowulf”

Mr. Cruz’s debate style is much more complicated than that of his fellow Republican candidates, close to works like Beowulf and Don Quixote. The candidate whose debate rhetoric Mr. Cruz most resembles in terms of complexity and positivity is a fellow Harvard Law alumnus: Barack Obama in the 2008 debates.

...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: books; cruz; elections; tcruz; tedcruz
FYI
1 posted on 10/28/2015 7:32:03 AM PDT by Isara
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To: KC_Lion; Norm Lenhart

Ping.


2 posted on 10/28/2015 7:33:05 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: Isara
Another article of the presidential candidates' speech analysis:

Trump tops GOP field while talking to voters at fourth-grade level


3 posted on 10/28/2015 7:34:34 AM PDT by Isara
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To: Army Air Corps

Hillary is obviously the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of OZ.


4 posted on 10/28/2015 7:35:05 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: GingisK

That is on a GOOD day.


5 posted on 10/28/2015 7:35:51 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: Isara

So saith the “experts” chosen by the communist Boston Globe and the communist New York Times.


6 posted on 10/28/2015 7:38:51 AM PDT by NorthMountain ("The time has come", the Walrus said, "to talk of many things")
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To: Isara

Ted Cruz as hero Beowulf. I can see that, except for at the very end when he gets killed by the Dragon.


7 posted on 10/28/2015 7:39:18 AM PDT by Calpublican (Republican Party Now Stands for Nothing!!!!!(Except Conniving))
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To: Isara

I think Hillary pairs well with Napoleon in “Animal Farm”.


8 posted on 10/28/2015 7:44:09 AM PDT by jonathonandjennifer
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To: Calpublican

[Ted Cruz as hero Beowulf.]

I see TED CRUZ as Patrick Henry.


9 posted on 10/28/2015 7:45:06 AM PDT by stars & stripes forever (Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.)
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To: GingisK

Actually she is right out of THE OMEN.


10 posted on 10/28/2015 7:46:49 AM PDT by doug from upland (The ultimate in foolishness -- "'Romney is just as bad as Obama" WTF?)
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To: Isara

Ted Cruz “Beowulf”

And thus, the explanation of why he is doing so poorly in the polls.


11 posted on 10/28/2015 7:53:33 AM PDT by Duchess47 ("One day I will leave this world and dream myself to Reality" Crazy Horse)
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To: Isara
Hillary at 7.7 ?

More like 6.66

12 posted on 10/28/2015 7:54:14 AM PDT by Slyfox (Will no one rid us of this meddlesome president?)
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To: Isara

I can easily believe this since the Democrats have to obfuscate most of what they plan to do.

The Republicans tend to do the same except for Cruz, Carson and Trump. Trump is actively speaking to the broader audience in simple sound bite phrases, Carson is speaking from his heart and keeping it simple, and Cruz is trying to educate the voters on just how messed up our system is.


13 posted on 10/28/2015 8:04:14 AM PDT by wbarmy (I chose to be a sheepdog once I saw what happens to the sheep.)
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To: Calpublican

If Ted Cruz is Beowulf, Hillary is Grendel’s dam.


14 posted on 10/28/2015 8:45:04 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Isara
Bernie Sanders, who prefers both complex language and dire descriptions.

Just because libtards communicate like marx doesn't mean that they are right.

15 posted on 10/28/2015 8:58:07 AM PDT by mjp ((pro-{God, reality, reason, egoism, individualism, natural rights, limited government, capitalism}))
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To: Isara
Bernie Sanders, who prefers both complex language and dire descriptions.

Just because libtards communicate like marx doesn't mean that they are right.

16 posted on 10/28/2015 8:58:21 AM PDT by mjp ((pro-{God, reality, reason, egoism, individualism, natural rights, limited government, capitalism}))
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To: Isara
These morons must equate John Jay and Thomas Jefferson with early Sanskrit. Have they ever attempted to read Beowulf? Ted Cruz isn't even close to as complicated; he's not even as complicated as Shakespeare.
17 posted on 10/28/2015 9:26:59 AM PDT by Idaho_Cowboy (Ride for the Brand. Joshua 24:15)
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To: Verginius Rufus

That conjures up the lovely image of Beowulf doing her in.


18 posted on 10/28/2015 9:42:59 AM PDT by Calpublican (Republican Party Now Stands for Nothing!!!!!(Except Conniving))
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