10 Dumbest Members of Congress [View all]

[Playinghardball]

A new study finds that Congress speaks at almost a full grade level lower than it did seven years ago. Meet the 10 conservatives dragging down their collective intelligence.

The Sunlight Foundation just released the results of a study measuring the scholastic grade level of speeches made by members of Congress. The scale uses the Flesch-Kincaid test and is based on the length of words and sentences used. Among its findings are, “Congress now speaks at almost a full grade level lower than it did just seven years ago, with the most conservative members of Congress speaking on average at the lowest grade level.” The study further found that it is the “most extreme members” who speak at the lowest grade levels, as well as the most junior.

As you may remember, a major turning point in American politics was the 2010 election that saw a wave of new Tea Party Republicans elected to Congress. Of the 20 lowest scoring members, 17 were Republicans, and 12 of those are in their first term of office. You have to go down to 15th place before you find a Democrat.

There are varying perspectives from which to interpret this study. On the surface it could be viewed as evidence that the intellectual capacity of the Congress is declining, thanks to the new Tea Party members who speak in short bursts of small words. That would be consistent with their shallow grasp of most issues and their tendency to reduce every discussion to a battle between liberty and socialism (drilling everywhere = liberty; clean air = socialism).

<snip>

The ten dumbest members are:

1. Mick Mulvaney, R-SC:
2. Rob Woodall, R-GA:
3. Rand Paul, R-KY:
4. Sean Duffy, R-WI:
5. Tim Griffin, R-AR:
6. Todd Akin, R-MO
7. Vicky Hartzler, R-MO:
8. Tom Graves, R-GA:
9. David Schweikert, R-AZ:
10. Ron Johnson, R-WI:

Read more at: http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/155545/10_Dumbest_Members_of_Congress/?page=1