The Power of Words: John Kerry--

By now, almost everyone has heard of John Kerry's fumbled-joke/insulting-and-honest-comment. And if you haven't, how is that cave dwelling working out for you?

So, how can we measure the power of words? In Kerry's case, we can actually measure the power of the word "us" (or the lack of it).

What Kerry said that has everyone so angry is:

"You know, education--if you make the most of it, you study hard and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

What Kerry says he meant to say was:

"You know, education--if you make the most of it, you study hard and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get us stuck in Iraq."

He meant it as a bash on Bush (ain't that original and statesmanly), but without that all important two-letter word, it took on a dramatically different meaning. In the last few days, that meaning has translated into:

• currently the #1 search on Technorati is "Kerry"
• currently the #3 search on Technorati is "John Kerry"
• those searches hit 824,066 and 372,848 blogs, respectively
• a search on Google for "Kerry AND Iraq remark" returns 1,060,000 recent hits

Without "us," it's a lonely world. In Mr. Kerry's case right now, it's a world where everyone is interested in you, but not too many people like you.

Comments

[Mark Goodyear]

Very clever post, Patrick. It reminds me of Grapes of Wrath. When a "you" and "me" becomes a "we," the world will take note.

To many politicians on both sides spend their time pointing at others, "you, you, you."

Actually, that's not fair. Too many people point at others and blame them for whatever evil they want to complain about. Me included.

[Patrick Borders]

Amen, Mark. I'm always amazed when politicians act in ways that would get my children grounded. But then I act the same way, at least in my thoughts. Fortunately, I don't divulge those thoughts at press conferences and public speeches... :) I still stand a shot at not fighting Mr. Joad's one, big soul.

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That's so funny! Thanks for sharing that, Patrick.