Pronoun Confusion, Politico, and Sen. Chuck Hagel

Some wording on Politico, the celebrated blog, led to confusion on “Morning Joe,” MSNBC’s popular  a.m.news talk show. According to Politico, when Senator Hagel retired, Sen. Mitch McConnell delivered an encomium. According to Politico, Senator McConnell “praised Hagel’s heroism in Vietnam, noting how Hagel saved his brother—with whom he also served—by dragging him out of an armored personnel carrier that exploded after hitting a landmine.”

Did Senator Hagel save his own brother or Sen. McConnell’s brother? The answer is the former. However, the panel on Morning Joe—and apparently the White House-- thought he saved Sen. McConnell’s brother. We’ve to be careful with those referent pronouns.

You can read Professor Ben Yagoda’s commentary here.

(ljs)