Only Words?

On tonight's edition of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, outgoing United States Administration for International Development director Andrew Natsios tried - successfully, I'm afraid - to parse words and put a positive spin on areas where his agency came up short. He inadvertently got a little help from interviewer Gwen Ifill, a brilliant former print journalist from the New York Times who has left a bit to be desired as a broadcast journalist for her imperfect speech patterns. Asking Natsios a question regarding statistics showing his agency in a light that was less than flattering, she stumbled over her words and said, "I'm not speaking English, but you know what I mean."

Those of you who miss Tom Brokaw for his inability to pronounce every letter in the alphabet can now relax.