Why can’t politicians answer a straight forward question?
They talk. And they talk. And they talk. But a lot of the time, they never really seem to say anything.
In this article we’ll discover: 1. How politicians avoid answering questions. 2. Why politicians avoid answering questions.
1. How Politicians Avoid Answering Questions
The thing about interviews on mainstream news channels is that there is always a limited amount of time.
The interviewer is on the clock. They need to get a good interview completed in a certain period of time, be it 2 minutes, 5 minutes or 10 minutes.
This means that if a politician can avoid answering a question for long enough, they can run out the clock and get away with never actually answering it.
After all, is the interviewer going to continually repeat the question, over and over, each time the politician dodges the question? Remember, the interviewer is on the clock. They don’t have time to ask the same question more than twice.
Politicians know this, and they use it to their advantage.
Here are some typical techniques politicians use to dodge questions and run out the clock (For an extensive list of 35 question-dodging techniques, check out this article).
Acknowledging the question without answering it
Q: Did you try steal the cookies from the cookie jar?
A: That’s an excellent question and I’m very glad you’ve asked it. This is the kind of topic that…
Attacking legitimacy of the question
Q: Did you try to steal the cookies from the cookie jar?
A: Do you really think your audience cares about a trivial question such as that? Honestly, what I think is that…
Refusing to answer
Q: Did you try to steal the cookies from the cookie jar?
A: Now I can’t speak on who tried to steal the cookies or why they did this, but I what I can say with 100% certainty is that…
Providing an incomplete answer
Q: Did you try to steal the cookies from the cookie jar?
A: I did not steal any cookies from the cookie jar. I think I’ve made it clear that…
Starting an answer but not finishing it (interrupting yourself)
Q: Did you try to steal the cookies from the cookie jar?
A: No I did not try to — look there were a number of people passing through the kitchen on that day and I think what’s important to remember is that…
Repeating the answer to the previous question
Q: Did you try to steal the cookies from the cookie jar?
A: As I said before, there were a number of people near the cookie jar on that day, and I think it’s important that we conduct a thorough investigation into exactly what happened in the kitchen yesterday.
Attacking an external group
Q: Did you try to steal the cookies from the cookie jar?
A: Now if I may just quickly point out that it was Steve who was reported finishing off all of the milk in the fridge on multiple occasions and I think that really shows his poor character and poor judgement.
The question is “speculative”
Q: Did you try to steal the cookies from the cookie jar?
A: Now I don’t think this is the right time to start speculating on the culprit of this act. I think what we need to focus on is…
The question is based on a faulty premise
Q: Did you try to steal the cookies from the cookie jar?
A: I don’t think that we necessarily know if the cookies were stolen or not. There are a number of other possible causes of the cookie’s disappearance so we shouldn’t speculate on…
And this is just a handful of the tricks that politician’s have up their sleeves to avoid questions. Some of the more experienced politicians have decades of practise will do pull off these techniques effortlessly.
Another important part of the interview strategy for politicians is the idea of talking points.
Talking Points
For every interview that a politician does, they have a select set of talking points that they want to get across to the audience.
Their political party already had a meeting and decided on exactly which talking points they want everyone to focus on. They chose these particular talking points, in many cases, after conducting market research on the public to decide what would give them the best approval rating.
They will do their best to direct the interview in a way where they can get their talking points across.
Here are is hypothetical example of talking points in action:
Interview Topic: Cuts to the healthcare system
Talking points: 1. We are committed to improving the healthcare system 2. We hired 400 new nurses in London last week.
Q: Is it true that you’re going to cut spending to the healthcare system?
A: Well, first of all let me acknowledge the incredible work being done every single day by our nurses and doctors up and down the country. The fact is they are the backbone of this country, and that’s why we are absolutely focused and committed to improving the healthcare system and making it a system that is admired worldwide. That’s why just last week we hired 400 new nurses to 8 different hospitals across London that will help alleviate some of the staff shortages London was seeing previously.
Here is another hypothetical example of how talking points work.
Interview Topic: A Tax Cut for the top 10% of earners.
Talking points: 1. We are committed to creating a tax system that’s fair for everybody and good for the country 2. We’ve spent the last 3 months reforming the tax code to make it as clear and simple for people to understand.
Q: Are you going to make yet another tax cut to the top 10% of earners?
A: We are, absolutely, 100% committed to creating a tax system that’s fair for everybody and that will help our country to grow. I don’t want to speculate about any future tax cuts but I can tell you that we’ve spent the last 3 months reforming the tax code to make it as clear and simple as possible for people to understand to make the whole system stress-free for everybody.
You see, in an interview with any politician, both parities have their own goals for the interview. The politician wants to get his talking points across, while the interview (often) wants to get the politician to say something that will make the headlines and create a story.
Which brings us on to the second half of this article.
2. Why Do Politicians Avoid Questions?
- To avoid slipping up. Interviewers often try to get politicians to say something that will make them look bad. Many so-called “journalists” working for the mainstream media are actually slimy little snakes dressed in nice clothes who craft questions designed to manipulate the person answering them into saying something that makes them look bad. Politicians often can’t answer a simple straightforward questions because media companies are filled with sociopathic piranhas who will do anything to make a politician say something they can later purposefully take out of context and use it to get clicks.
- Their words can later be used against them. We live in the age of social media where everything you ever say is recorded and remembered, and forgiveness for saying something offensive isn’t something we do in our culture. It’s often better to just avoid the question than risk saying something that can damage them later on.
- The interviewer may know more than they do. In some cases, politicians risk embarrassing themselves if the interviewer knows more about a particular subject than they do. If they’re unsure, it’s often better to avoid the question than to admit that they don’t really know.
- Strategic Considerations. Politicians may strategically avoid questions to maintain their political advantage or to undermine their opponents. This could involve deflecting attention from their own weaknesses or highlighting their opponents’ shortcomings.
There are a host of other potential reasons why a politician might avoid a question. But what is for sure is that interviews with politicians on mainstream media are filled with dishonesty, manipulative tactics and falsehood.
Mainstream politicians today are so dishonest and manipulative, that there is a giant gap in the market for an honest politician who answers questions honestly and straightforwardly to gain enormous popularity.
The public are sick of these silly tactics.
