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The DaPalin Code
November 13, 2008 5:11 PM
Asked by CNN's Wolf Blitzer if she had any new initiatives to introduce to the Republican Governors' Association to help the GOP out of its rut, Gov. Sarah Palin yesterday said:
"Sitting here in these chairs that I’m going to be proposing but in working with these governors who again on the front lines are forced to and it’s our privileged obligation to find solutions to the challenges facing our own states every day being held accountable, not being just one of many just casting votes or voting present every once in a while, we don’t get away with that. We have to balance budgets and we’re dealing with multibillion dollar budgets and tens of thousands of employees in our organizations."
What does that mean?
Writing at the American Conservative, Daniel Larson says he's cracked the Palin code:
"I have concluded that the problem that so many people have in understanding what Palin is saying is that we make the mistake of assuming that all of the words have some reason for being there," Larson writes. "What we have to do instead is decrypt her message by filtering out all of the confusing chatter that keeps her statements encoded and difficult to follow. Let’s take the first sentence, and identify the essential elements in bold:
"Sitting here in these chairs that I’m going to be proposing but in working with these governors who again on the front lines are forced to and it’s our privileged obligation to find solutions to the challenges facing our own states every day being held accountable, not being just one of many just casting votes or voting present every once in a while, we don’t get away with that.
"See? If you just cut out about 60 percent of what she says, it hangs together nicely. By comparison, the second sentence is a piece of cake. Pretty much every word in the second sentence serves a function. Once reporters and voters acquire sufficient training in Palinonics, there should be no more misunderstandings."
Writing in Slate last month, Kitty Burns Florey set out to diagram Palin's sentences.
She got lost in this one from the Charlie Gibson interview: "I know that John McCain will do that and I, as his vice president, families we are blessed with that vote of the American people and are elected to serve and are sworn in on January 20, that will be our top priority is to defend the American people."
Writes Florey: "To me, it's not English -- it's a collection of words strung together to elicit a reaction, floating ands and prepositional phrases ("with that vote of the American people") be damned. It requires not a diagram but a selection of push buttons."
- jpt
November 13, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (269)
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Hey DeAndromita, I think your flux capacitor has a bit of a short in it.
Winkie, winkie.
Posted by: BikernAz11 | Nov 15, 2008 11:20:15 AM
Bea, Bea, Bea, You presented, I simply interpreted and handed it back. Maybe you should work a bit on your delivery? But, nonetheless, both you and I know were you were going with that query, now don't we?
Posted by: BikernAz11 | Nov 15, 2008 11:11:16 AM
Palin will hypnotize you with the cylindrical nature of the syntaxical banter of knowledge that she is laying at your feet for you to soak up like osmosis and have your brain over clocking itself like a DeLorean's flux capacitor. ;-)LOL YEAH, Something like that!! You betcha!! (wink)
Posted by: DeAndria Mitchell | Nov 15, 2008 11:09:58 AM
Yawn, There is nothing in that first sentence to indicate that what follows will be a feeble attempt at humor.
Posted by: BikernAz11 | Nov 15, 2008 11:05:18 AM
I love Sarah Palin’s superlative usage of verbs.
Anyway, I won’t complain her but I do have one question. In progressing the state of Alaska, has she proceeded the gas pipeline recently? Bush policy has struggled the country and I wonder Sarah’s future plans. We need to thrive the entire nation and resulting energy independence for this great land of ours.
Posted by: Yawn | Nov 15, 2008 8:07:50 AM
---------------------------
Ha ha, good one Yawn, I got your joke (the first time I read it).
Wink, wink!
Posted by: Stringer | Nov 15, 2008 10:37:28 AM
Take a hint Sarah, those of us in the lower 48 do not like or want anything to do with you. You lost, now just go away!
Posted by: Independant from Colorado | Nov 15, 2008 10:31:30 AM
BikernAz11, in response to your overactive comment generated by my inquiry… the question about Palin’s was of genuine interest not meant to be perceived in such a hostile, unintelligent manner by others. Sorry you could not figure that out without my intellectual assistance. As John McCain would say “have a nice day my friend”!
Posted by: Bea | Nov 15, 2008 10:24:17 AM
women against Palin,
Where are you getting information on Sarah Palin’s GPA? I thought that information hadn’t been released.
BikernAZ11,
Read the first sentence of my last comment again. It may progress your understanding. Or not.
Posted by: Yawn | Nov 15, 2008 10:13:28 AM
Those extra words are to conceal the fact that she does not know what she is talking about and wants to sound knowledgeable or vice presidential. I think the republican party should move on to someone maybe not as pretty but has more cranial capabilities. She still doesn't realize that she lost.
Posted by: Pat Napolitano Marietta. Ga. | Nov 15, 2008 10:12:23 AM
Bea, evidently Palin has enough smarts to be elected governor to one of our fifty states. How about you?
Posted by: BikernAz11 | Nov 15, 2008 10:05:19 AM
Hey Yawn, judging by your post, your gpa has to be far below Palin's.
Posted by: BikernAz11 | Nov 15, 2008 10:00:40 AM
Can anybody tell me what is Palin's IQ???
Posted by: Bea | Nov 15, 2008 9:49:49 AM
Not to mention, Palin's GPA was a whopping 1.89. How difficult is it to acheive at least a C GPA? And it wasn't even a good school. It was somewhere in Idaho (not Idaho State University even)
---------
Just to refresh your memory of backgrounds since there seems to be Obamaphobia out there, McCain graduated 895th out of 899 naval students. BARE BOTTOM OF CLASS. Obama on the other hand, graduated with honors from Columbia and Harvard Law, was prez of the college paper there and can form complete sentances (unlike the two characters I mentioned above)
Posted by: women agaist Palin | Nov 15, 2008 8:31:18 AM
So, all of you that voted for this excuse for a "lady", please take an introspective view for once and look at yourselves. Ask yourself why you would have ever elect someone as blatently stupid as this woman. It's not that the media is being "cruel, or unfair" or even "sexist".
If Hillary for example, started talking like this, I would have been worried of her suffering brain injuries, because no one with an IQ higher than 110 and a college degree should speak like this.
Posted by: women agaist Palin | Nov 15, 2008 8:25:14 AM
I love Sarah Palin’s superlative usage of verbs.
Anyway, I won’t complain her but I do have one question. In progressing the state of Alaska, has she proceeded the gas pipeline recently? Bush policy has struggled the country and I wonder Sarah’s future plans. We need to thrive the entire nation and resulting energy independence for this great land of ours.
Posted by: Yawn | Nov 15, 2008 8:07:50 AM
just leave the lady alone !
Posted by: tony-england | Nov 15, 2008 6:59:54 AM
Her last gasp on the national stage is, as usual, incoherent and incomprehensible.
Posted by: Fatesrider | Nov 15, 2008 5:12:10 AM
jiaenglish,
Not only are you removing words again, you're adding them also. Additionally, she didn’t use the word “progress” as a verb, she used it as a transitive verb. “Progress” can only be used as an intransitive verb according to any English dictionary I’ve seen.
Posted by: WWW | Nov 15, 2008 3:10:05 AM
WWW: “It would be my honor to assist and support our new president and the new administration. Yes. And I speak for other Republicans, other Republican governors also, they being willing to (again) seize this opportunity that we [now] have to progress [used as a verb] this nation together [as a] united front.”
Posted by: Jiaenglish | Nov 15, 2008 2:31:41 AM
jiaenglish,
You removed words from the quote. That's not sporting.
I dare you to turn the following response from the same interview into real English, without removing or changing words:
"It would be my honor to assist and support our new president and the new administration, yes. And I speak for other Republicans, other Republican governors also, they being willing also to, again, seize this opportunity that we have to progress this nation together, a united front."
Posted by: WWW | Nov 15, 2008 1:52:53 AM
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