Why don't politicians answer questions?

one of the things politicians are always accused of is not answering questions I did not overrule him I did not overrule Dara Thalia threatened to overrule I took advice on what I could or could not do you threatened I overruled him sir this kind of thing is really annoying and it makes politicians look untrustworthy it was slime suspended so why do they do it politicians all suffer from chronic job insecurity if they say anything stupid they could be unemployed within hours or days that's why if they're being interviewed on TV on the radio in a newspaper or in the street one of the dangerous things they could do is answer a question let me show you what could go wrong if you give a straight answer in an interview the answer is five thousand one hundred and thirty six pounds and forty five pence the interviewer might know more than you do yes but according to this piece of paper the figures are actually closer to ten million seven hundred and forty six thousand nine hundred and eighty six pounds and ninety two pence your words can later be used against you yes but in a previous interview you said a different figure which was four million nine hundred and eighty eight thousand seven hundred and two pounds in eleven pence you risk alienating voters so do you mean by that answer you just gave that you want to cut lots of jobs what well no I mean you mean you're in favor of waste that's why politicians are scared to commit to anything being rumbled will make them look hypocritical or worse incompetent so if you're a politician how do you get through an interview without putting your foot in it hi I'm pizza botting and I actually exist do you want to survive the next election are you positively petrified of a powerfully pummeled in a partisan political probing I can make you bulletproof one don't like the question change it to a different question well I think what we should be asking is to use vaguely and committal vocabulary look let me be clear interviewers name robust plan three imply that the interviewer is too stupid to understand the real answer well that's a really complicated question and we don't have all day so let me try and explain it simply for change the subject I talked about something dreadful your opponents have done let me just change the subject and talk about something dreadful our opponents have done and finally five give an answer that's so confusing nobody knows have you said anything at all well I'm glad you've raised that question interviewers name so let me be clear this is an issue that we're very concerned about and it's about time that we stop dithering got around the negotiating table got it sorted got this right stop getting it wrong and made sure that this issue doesn't get raised again at least not during the course of our government without asking permission first i'ma it's important we have a robust response and here's the thing the argument James I'm putting is this that's not kind of the issue the issue is if we sort of stand back and look at the big picture so stop making sense and save your skid call today it's a real pity that this man and several more like him exists slash exists but the reason that he and his clients are so successful is because these tricks keep them out of trouble demonstrably just look at this graph we have to face the fact that in a media increasingly driven by sound bites where everything you say lasts forever politicians are never going to give straight answers their job security matters more than their job being done effectively so what's the solution there isn't one it's naive to assume that we're older solution to this awful worsening inherently unsolvable problem that's it bye

Channel: Jay Foreman

Views: 1,616,859

Rating: 4.961205 out of 5

Keywords: Jeremy Paxman, Michael Howard, interview, Did you threaten to overrule him?, Newsnight, Peter Botting, politics, politicians, questions, Jay Foreman, Liam Butler, angryflatcap, documentary, Politics unboringed, unboringed, unboring

Id: T8QOE-IWo3I

Length: 3min 52sec (232 seconds)

Published: Fri May 01 2015

Reddit Comments

[u/puppet_life]

Well that's a very good question and I'm glad you've asked it because there's another point that needs to be addressed...

[u/Gellert]

Yup, politicians don't give straight answers because any time they do, its wrong.

[u/Heaney555]

Because the voters are stupid and to put it bluntly, can't handle the truth.

If a politician was completely honest, the public would jump on them for the tiniest sign of human flaws, while at the same time they'd shout "I WISH POLITICIANS WOULD BE MORE HUMAN!".

Everyone wants to live in a fantasy land where taxes are cut and no spending is cut, and somehow there'd also be no budget deficit. The voters want the impossible, so politicians can't let out the truth.

[u/Halk]

Because nobody watches the interviews except people with a strong interest who have already made their mind up.

The purpose of the interview is to deliver a single sound bite which can be put into headlines on the news.

If Milliband says "Well yes of course there will have to be some cuts" then that's what's taken, out of context and put in the news.

Political interviews have been that way for 20 years and politicians have adapted. They cannot answer the questions because they're all traps.

Edit : I'm not really disagreeing or replying to the video, my point is pretty much what the video is making.

[u/HashPram]

What makes you say they don't answer questions? /s

[u/Everons]

Questions are a burden to others, answers a prison to oneself.

[u/BestFriendWatermelon]

I can forgive interviewees for not wanting to answer a question in case they get it wrong, it's when their entire political party doesn't have that answer either and there's no official policy for the interviewee to accidentally get wrong that I get pissed off.

[u/[deleted]]

I'd recommend the documentary Spin which looks at American politicians doing the same thing. It's quite an eye opener along with Outfoxed which covers how Fox news twist language to fit an agenda. It makes key phrases such as "hard working families" and "making work pay" even more laughable and obvious.

On dodging questions it's simply because it works. People forget, most who actually pay attention have entrenched values so will overlook it and the politicians aren't disadvantaged if they do it because everyone is at it so disgruntled voters can't turn elsewhere.

For weeks we couldn't get an answer from any Tory MP, nor Cameron, nor Obsourne about where the £8bn for the NHS would be coming from. Who of the general populace even knows or cares? All we've had recently is a couple of half-baked questions on the Question Time show that Cameron dodged again regardless.