The candidates' answers on Wednesday night were predictably positive: “Consistent,” trumpeted Ron Paul. “Courage,” said Rick Santorum. Romney went with “resolute,” and Newt Gingrich said “cheerful.”
But when we asked readers of The Daily Beast's Facebook page the very same question, their responses were somewhat more varied—and reflected the Internet's love of snark. Using Wordle, an online application that converts text into word clouds, we turned the hundreds of words submitted for each candidate into visual representations. (Larger words indicate that multiple people chose that term.) A few particularly offensive words were omitted from the clouds.
Mitt Romney
Out went “resolute” and in came “fake,” “plastic,” “presidential,” and “dog-challenged” for the former Massachusetts governor.
Ron Paul
Congressman Paul called himself “consistent” at the debate. “Honest,” “crazy,” “racist,” and “old” were among your top submissions. Our favorite: “guanopsychotic.” (We had to look it up too.)
Rick Santorum
Poor Rick Santorum, who described himself as “courageous” at the debate, just can’t escape that Google problem. Other terms for Santorum: “religious,” “sanctimonious,” and “God-talker.”
Newt Gingrich
Newt Gingrich may think he’s “cheerful,” but your responses include “hypocrite,” “soulless,” and “biscuit”—a likely reference to Ginger Newts, a type of cookie in Harry Potter.
All Four GOP Candidates Combined
And here, ladies and gentlemen, is your bird's-eye view of all four GOP candidates, in all their reptilian, guanopsychotic, hypocritical goodness.
