How to Use Weasel Words

"How to Use Weasel Words to Imply Things on the Front Page of The New York Times That You Know You Cannot Support With Facts" by Adam Nagorney, here:

But when it came to tallying the final score on the most intense engagement so far in the 2008 presidential race, even Mr. Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, seemed to acknowledge that he may have been outmaneuvered.

Take out the weasel words "seemed to" and "may have" and it reads:

"But when it came to tallying the final score on the most intense engagement so far in the 2008 presidential race, even Mr. Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, acknowledged nothing at all, including the entire premise of this piece."

Remember, when you read the words "seemed to" -- Hamlet: "Seems, Madam? Nay, it is. I know not 'seems' " -- you can be pretty sure the writer is just making s**t up.

Try it at home:

"But when it came to tallying the final score on the most intense engagement so far in the 2008 presidential race, even Mr. Nagorney, the political reporter from The New York Times, seemed to acknowledge that he may have been Anna Nicole Smith's half-space alien love child ..."

Just as true ...

(Oh and I'm buying dinner at The Ivy in Santa Monica if you can make a credible case about just what the hell this has to do with who would make a better president ...)

Read the whole Altercation here