The University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs calculates that given her $3 million, three-year contract at Fox News, where she spoke 189,221 words, Sarah Palin earned $15.85 for every one for them.
She said, for instance, "heck," 28 times. Boom. $443.80, right in Sarah's pocket. "Ronald Reagan"? Forty-one times. Bingo. $1299.70. "President Obama"? Ca-Ching! $24,916.20, perhaps the single largest transfer payment to a member of the poorly working class in American history.
Now you might think "You betcha" was a real moneymaker for Palinesque eloquence, but alas she said it only twice. $63.40.
Roger Ailes would have saved a bundle had he only paid me that $47.55 I asked for in personnel-consulting fees, three years ago: "You'll be sorry."
What kind of return did she get on her fondness for the oddly-placed "also" and "too"? That was always my favorite Palin tick.
Posted by: Turgidson | January 28, 2013 at 02:41 PM
I pity the poli-sci grad student schlump who counted the words...
Posted by: shsavage | January 28, 2013 at 02:49 PM
I'd have to assume Shsavage that they used a modified speech recognition software, something able to process randomly generated word salads. Ethical considerations must have forbidden such long term intense exposure to any one human being. I wonder if the EPA got around to setting a TLV for Palin?
Posted by: Peter G | January 28, 2013 at 06:12 PM
When it comes to Sarah Palin I can never make up my mind: Should we just relegate her to the dustbin of history never to be heard from or spoken of again? Or do we let that Alaskan Shrieking Loon fly south to the lower 48 every couple of years to feed us her own special brand of word salads so that we never forget, and never make the mistake of letting someone so proudly ignorant so close to the highest office in the land again?
Posted by: AnneJ | January 28, 2013 at 07:19 PM
Ann, I vote for more Palin. Always an hathetic thrill. But $15.85 is too dear, unless it's on Ailes.
Posted by: Jim Milstein | January 28, 2013 at 08:48 PM
Peter, we can only hope. But never underestimate the pain that a tenure-track assistant professor armed with a small research grant can inflict on their indentured RA.
Unfortunately, AnneJ, that Alaskan Shrieking Loon has already flown south, and purchased a manse in Scottsdale, AZ. We get all the loons here.
Posted by: shsavage | January 29, 2013 at 07:31 AM
PM, you've stiffed yourself. "You (wi)ll be sorry" is four words, not three.
Posted by: NickT | January 29, 2013 at 06:56 PM