It Slices, It Dices, It Makes Budget Hash

Quote:  "What we do today protects jobs, protects the incomes of our people, strengthens America’s economy and protects our future."  Rep. Nancy Johnson of Connecticut, in the AP.

Figure of Speech:  diazeugma (die-ah-ZOOG-ma), the play-by-play figure.

The House of Representatives is about to vote to extend tax cuts to wealthy investors.  Cost to the U.S. Treasury: $70 billion.  Nancy Johnson portrays it reassuringly in a diazeugma ("multiple yoking"), a figure that marries one subject to many verbs.  Sportscasters use it a lot.  So do gadget salesmen.  And so does a politician who wants to foist a pricey budgetary flim-flam on the American people.

Snappy Answer:  "By ‘our people,’ do you mean your people?"