If Frank Cioffi were doing another edition of his fun _One Day in the Life of the English Language_ (
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10443.html), I can picture him doing something with this bit from last night's debate. I didn't see the debate, but Frank Bruni in today's NYTimes online draws attention to Ted Cruz deliberately altering a parrallel construction:
<quote>
And
then there was Cruz’s finale, when he nodded to the paternity of, in
order, Rubio, Kasich, himself and Trump. “What an incredible nation we
have,” he said, “that the son of a bartender and the son of a mailman
and the son of a dishwasher and a successful businessman can all stand
on this stage, competing and asking for your support.”