From the T-P:
Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, announced Tuesday that he will run for a 10th term in office…
Get out!
…even as he faces a Dec. 2 political corruption trial in what he called an “overly zealous” prosecution based on “false factual allegations.”
If the “allegations” are based on facts, then doesn’t that mean that they, by definition are not false? Oh, wait. I’m a scientist. I think way too logically to understand law.
Actually, regardless of your point of reference, the whole article is hilarious. I’m placing a bet that before this whole thing is over, he’ll be quoted saying, “I’ll be goddamn. Bitch set me up.”
jenny | 18-Jun-08 at 5:17 am | Permalink
If the “allegations” are based on facts, then doesn’t that mean that they, by definition are not false? Oh, wait. I’m a scientist. I think way too logically to understand law.
perhaps we should look at the phrase “false factual allegations” grammatically – as allegations are supposed to be based on “fact,” (although too often they are based on rumor and innuendo) the word “factual” is redundant and the phrase could be read as “false” modifying “allegations” and indicating that jefferson believes they are trumped up charges.
or, the phrase could be read as a freudian slip, with jefferson acknowledging the factual basis of the allegations, and hoping that if he keeps saying they’re not true, others will believe him.
or taking yet another possibility, jefferson could simply be plagued by bad grammar (something that truly concerned me last night while watching a Newshour with Jim Lehrer report on the state of reading instruction in new orleans’ public schools – an uncertified teacher doing her best to teach kids how to read and yet when interviewed explained that “nobody told me nothin'” about how to teach reading) and now i’ve lost my train of thought and i’m running out of steam, so before i throw in another bunch of idioms i’d better stop.
*whew*
(btw, best idiom-laced blog post ever is my friend alejna’s pregnancy announcement. but then, she’s a linguist, and has always had a way with words.)