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Thursday, October 16, 2008

The “You know” Report: Third U.S. Presidential Debate

The third and thankfully final debate between U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama took place last night at Hofstra University, and as ever, Fourmilog has scrutinised the CNN transcript for the inarticulate, time buying, phrases interjected by the candidates. The results, compared to those of last time are nothing less than stunning—you'd think the debate coaches had been reading these “you know” reports!

  McCain     Obama  
 “You know”s  4 6
 “My friends”s  2 0
 “Look”s  5 7

Bravo candidates! If only the general populace could make such progress in extemporaneous speech. (Note: I did not count the one time Obama referred to “my friend and supporter, Warren Buffett”, as that clearly was not an interjection.)

Posted at October 16, 2008 15:33