Palin-tology

Sarah Palin’s speeches are given to “meandering phraseology of a kind suggesting someone more commenting on impressions as they enter and leave her head rather than constructing insights about them,” writes John McWhorter. He doesn’t think that Palin’s way of speaking is attractive to her fans, per se, but he thinks it’s interesting that this kind of thoughtless way of speaking no longer prevents someone from becoming a major public influencer. “Candidates bite the dust for being untelegenic, dour, philanderers, strident, or looking silly posing in a tank. But having trouble rubbing a noun and a verb together is not considered a mark against one as a figure of political authority.”