Word Choice

The New York Times has a cool applet up that lets you scan Bush's State of the Union Addresses (including a speech in 2001 that technically doesn't count) for word use instances and frequencies. It lays out all the texts side-by-side and highlights in red each instance of your word. Off to the right, it shows bubbles under each year that get bigger the more often he used the search word. (Provided for your convenience and out of no desire whatever to manipulate you or influence your opinion of President Bush is a list of examples).

One interesting find: the word "Osama" didn't get mentioned until this year, and "Laden" has only been included the past two years. Does this indicate a shift in strategy toward, oh, I dunno, maybe at least thinking about capturing the actual perp?

Of course, it's silly to read too much into word frequency in speeches. And by "too much" I mean "much of anything." But alright, it's an interesting diversion. Pointless, but better actually reading the news.