Let Me Not Answer That Question!

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Patrick F. Cannon

Back in the days when I worked for a living, as manager of public relations and communications for Lions Clubs International, I would often have our outside public relations firm train our incoming officers in “media relations.”  The intent, of course, was to put the association in the best possible light when dealing with those pesky reporters.

            Part of the training involved the officer memorizing a list of positive things Lions were doing around the world, in hopes that the reporter would ask a related question. Often, they did, but sometimes might ask about something the officer had little or no knowledge of, or that might be embarrassing (prior to 1987, “why don’t you permit female members?”). They were taught techniques that made them seem to be answering that question, while segueing to a more positive subject.

            Politicians learn these techniques early in their careers. In fact, many have this talent in their genetic makeup. During this endless election season, how often have you heard a candidate answer a direct question? Rarely? Never? It doesn’t matter if the candidate is a Democrat or Republican – they all seem unwilling or unable to use the simple words “yes” or “no.”

            In a recent interview with the New York Times, Senator J.D. Vance was asked if he thought Donald Trump had lost the 2020 election. He could have said “no.” If he had, however, the reporter would certainly have followed up with “why?” If he said “yes,” he would have soon received a hearty “you’re fired” from the boss of bosses. Instead, he asked the reporter why she hadn’t asked so and so why he or she hadn’t done such and such. She persisted, asking the same question three more times. In the end, he managed to make it seem like she was the one evading the question. Brilliant. Also, dishonest.

            The problem: we’re so used to our politicians not answering questions directly that we’ve built up an immunity to lies. We expect all politicians to tell their own versions of the truth. Despite the fact he’s a pathological liar, it looks like about 50 percent of American voters will cast their ballots for Trump anyway. Many of them will say that all politicians lie, so why single out the King of Lies for special approbation?

            A good many of my conservative friends tell me that they are not voting for president. They’re “never Trump” Republicans, who also can’t bring themselves to vote for Kamals Harris. As it happens, there’s no law that requires you to vote, much less one that forces you to make a disagreeable choice. As for me, I haven’t made up my mind. Of course, you could always write me in. Modesty forbids me to write myself in. I’m not sure you can vote for a dead hero. I was thinking Groucho Marx  He was a great connoisseur of the absurd.

Copyright 2024, Patrick F. Cannon

7 thoughts on “Let Me Not Answer That Question!”

  1. Journalists are known to be a cynical sort. Trained to be relentless seekers of facts, they know from bitter experience how elusive facts can be.

    So elusive, in fact, that sometimes they have to make up their own.

    Journalists who cover politics are ever wary about the motives of politicians and the people who speak for them. Well they should be! They are a slippery bunch.

    But isn’t the ingenuousness a bit precious when it comes to getting straight answers from candidates running for office?

    Why do we assume there is some truth to be found in politics? Are we that naive?

    No politician gives straight answers. To do so would only bring them ridicule and shame. And if they did give straight answers, they’d probably be lying.

    As a publicist who worked — in a good cause — to make imperfect people look good, you know this.

    Imagine for a moment the outcome if Kamala Harris, on Fox News last night, honestly stated the truth:

    “My party and its policies have brought misery to America. We’ve intentionally flooded the country with millions of unvetted, undocumented aliens, some of whom are violent criminals.

    “Our reckless spending of taxpayers’ hard-earned money to pay off our donors and constituents has caused the worst inflation since Jimmy Carter’s 1970s, eroding the standard of living of middle class Americans. Because of our recklessness our national debt is now hopelessly out of control.

    “We’ve undermined the rule of law in the name of equity, and our cities are now overrun with violent crime and people aren’t safe.

    “And if that weren’t enough, we’ve allowed our sworn enemies, Iran and its clients Hamas and Hezbollah, to profit and pursue an unprovoked religious war against Israel and Jews, causing death and horror to millions of innocent people. Our whole purpose has been, not to help the American people, but to foment crises that feed our agenda of big government control.

    “I could go on and on, Bret, but I understand that our time is limited, so let me just say, for the benefit of your viewers, we’ve been terribly wrong on just about every issue, and I apologize. Viewers, for your own good and the good of the country, please, whatever you do, do not vote for me or any Democrat for that matter!” (Cackling laughter ensues.)

    Politicians are notorious for mendacity, but journalists for their part have hardly distinguished themselves as champions of truth.

    Forty percent of Americans have zero confidence in the news media; only 32 percent have at least some amount of confidence in it. Other surveys put that number as low as 29 percent. Those paragons of journalistic integrity, the NYT and WaPo, earn only 24 and 23 percent, respectively.

    Among 46 countries, the US ranks dead last in the public’s trust in media. And I might add, American journalism has earned it.

    Americans trust journalists about as much as they do politicians. That may be because journalists themselves have become at best celebrity entertainers and at worst partisan activists, prone to the same bending, if not outright invention, of facts.

    So when you call Trump a pathological liar, you aren’t saying very much. Biden’s dishonesty might conveniently be attributed to dementia, but politicians and journalists routinely tell tales, make things up, and evade the truth. It’s what they do for a living, who they are.

    As J.D. Vance admonished Martha Raddatz, do they hear themselves?

    The trick for us poor spectators of this endless drama, is to sort out which fabrications are benign and which do harm, what is bullshit and what is rat poison.

    Big difference.

    Trump’s remarks may be fanciful, stupid or offensive. He seems to have a talent for shooting off his mouth. But when Harris says the border is secure or inflation is transitory and the fault of greedy businesses, it subverts reality. It deceives. It willfully plays us for fools.

    She has an agenda. He doesn’t. She acts as a mouthpiece for vested interests, as says as little as possible. He is who he is, and can’t shut up.

    Incidentally, I looked up — on CNN no less — Trump’s infamous lies. In fact, his “15 most notable lies.” The horror!

    They span such onerous topics as the weather (it didn’t rain on his inauguration), our trade deficit with China, and his dalliance with Stormy Daniels. Good god, the man is a fiend!

    He also made some idle boasts about himself and exaggerated claims of his accomplishments. The worst was his contention that the 2020 election was skewed. (CNN claims it even got people killed!) Well, tell us, how else do you explain millions of uncertified, mailed ballots? A sudden surge in anonymous grassroots support for the Great Joe Biden?

    So watch out for those expert “fact-checkers.” The news media pays their salaries, and nobody’s checking on them.

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    2. Looks like you’re not a never Trumper. As to his character, I’m more inclined to listen to those who actually worked with him in his administration. To paraphrase the old saying: “To know him is to know him.”

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      1. This election is a choice between a glib egomaniac and an inarticulate airhead fronting for another glib egomaniac (Thomas Sowell’s phrase) pulling the strings.

        The first glib egomaniac spent only so much time in college as he needed, ran several enterprises and made a ton of money before running for president. He is basically an independent capitalist (like Musk, for example, as opposed to a corporate one) who believes in the American system.

        The other glib maniac is an elitist Marxist who became a darling of academia, talked his way through Harvard Law and hung out with criminal radicals (Bill Ayers, et al.) before cleaning up his act for politics. He never worked at a job or ran a thing in his life but believes he is smart enough to decide how others should live. His glibness made him very wealthy and got a monument built for him on public land in Jackson Park. In many ways he’s the progeny of Woodrow Wilson, the progressive intellectuals of the 1930s and FDR. He doesn’t believe in America, individual initiative or personal freedom. He despises businesses. Fundamentally a Muslim, he hates Jews and Israel and supports a nuclear Iran. His rag doll is too stupid to know what she believes in.  She does as she’s instructed.

        Under the first glib egomaniac, despite withering opposition from the administrative state (CIA, FBI, Obama’s State Department), two bitter women Hilary and Nancy, and their corporate allies, the country prospered. He cut tax rates, supported American manufacturing and workers, cut unemployment, strengthened the military, reinforced the border and put this country’s interests first.

        This is the choice. We may quibble about personality but these are subjective views. Objectively, I think the outcomes take precedence.

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  2. The rabid press has lived off Trump bashing for more than eight years now, so long in fact that some people have come to think they might be on to something. They’re not.

    He’s not a Fascist, he’s not a racist, he’s not the reincarnation of Hitler nor a Putin clone. He is a former US president, duly elected, during whose term the country flourished with a vibrant economy, a renewed patriotism and peace through strength. Increasing numbers of Hispanics and Black men now support him. So enough already.

    I’m not a personality voter but an issues voter. Never-Trumpers of the Right are living in a dream world that no longer exists and may never have existed. They’ve forgotten how the same people now demonizing Trump vilified Reagan and Bush I and Bush II, and anyone who didn’t tow the Dem party line, Black or White, and they’ve forgotten how their candidates (Jeb! Mitt) got as much popular support as a hernia. To them I say Good Luck! Godspeed! May they get all the Joy and warm fuzzies they deserve!

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