American Politics

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg has completed a computer-generated summary of a large number of Republican convention speeches delivered this week. The software analyzed the frequency of key words and recurring themes and produced a five sentence platform for the party.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg considers the movement to make English the official language.

Technology columnist for Newsweek Steven Levy comments on porn and the Internet.

TV critic David Bianculli considers the strange trends in this year's election, among which involves all three major candidates making an unprecedented number of television appearances. He thinks this is overall a good thing, and will become the new normal in future elections.

TV critic David Bianculli takes a look at the proliferation of coverage of the Democratic National Convention and the election more broadly.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg has some thoughts on the literal meaning of "the body politic."

Rock historian Ed Ward takes a look at the early days of the folk revival, and profiles some of the singers that gained exposure through the politically-charged magazine, Broadside.

Critic Maureen Corrigan, who lives in Washington, DC, talks about one of the unforeseen consequences of the current budget stalemate -- the closure of popular tourist spots in her home city.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg takes issue with the use and misuse of loaded terms like holocaust, genocide, and terrorism in political discourse. He says that a person's reluctance to use such inflated terms doesn't mean they take an issue any less seriously.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg looks back at the tradition of American political oratory. Debates and speeches drew crowds by the thousands in the 19th century., but television has reduced much of that discourse to soundbites. The rare moments in which we can hear a speech in full remind us of how much fun politics must have been in the past, says Nunberg.