Pathetic Earthlings has a post analyzing the language of White House press releases. One must wonder whether there is some sort of hierarchy of sadness; "deeply saddened" being more important than "saddened," etc. For example, although the press release about the death of Dale Earnhardt calls him an "American legend," (right up there with Paul Bunyan and Mike Fink, I would assume) the rather short length of the release (and the fluff that makes up the majority of its content, especially when constrasted with the statements on more important personages) seem to tell a different story.