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Monday, April 14, 2008

The “You know” Report: “Compassion Forum”

Just when you thought the eternal campaign for the presidency of the United States couldn't get any more absurd, the two contenders for the Democratic nomination appeared yesterday at Messiah College in Pennsylvania for a “Compassion Forum”, broadcast live on CNN. As always, Fourmilog was there—well, not there—but rather here, sorting through the transcripts of the appearances of Clinton and Obama (courtesy of Real Clear Politics) to count the number of inarticulate “you know”s these politicians sprinkled into their remarks. And the answer is…

  Clinton     Obama  
 “You know”s  53 34

That's a stunning total of 87 in a 90 minute event, or more than one every sixty seconds the candidates were speaking, when you consider time taken by questions, breaks, etc. Are these people running to be president of the U.S., or president of their junior high class?

There are headlines today about “Clinton Opens Up Twenty Point Lead in Pennsylvania”. I don't know about the voters, but she's certainly doing so in the “you know” contest.

Posted at 19:33 Permalink