sarah palin no speak-y the english

i don't know how my friend tim does it, but by the time i am just beginning to get my brain going, he has already read, digested and eloquently blogged all things of interest to me.

so it was one of tim's recent posts that turned me on to this slate.com article about trying to diagram sarah palin's sentences.

remember the charlie gibson interview, wherein he asked a question, she babbled, and he said something like, i'm sorry did you answer the question? i just heard a bunch of words...

bush in a skirt, indeed.

says the author, kitty burns 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.

and:

Yet surely, more than most of us, politicians need to be able to think on their feet, to have a brain that works quickly and rationally under pressure. Do we really want to be led by someone who, when asked a straightforward question, flails around like an undergraduate who stayed up all night boozing instead of studying for the exam?

touche.

i'd like to have a contest where we all have a mock debate, wherein we answer the same questions as the candidates. the winner will be the contestant who actually answers the questions. clearly. deductions will be taken for any "well, yes and no..." responses.