We have all heard it. A politician is asked a question, maybe in a debate by another politician, maybe a question from a constituent, maybe one from a reporter - then he or she goes off on a tangent an gives an answer that covers everything but the question that was asked. I am sick of it, I hate it when they do it, it is a product of bureaucracy and society and I suppose we have to live with it. So it is nice, at least for me, to see politicians, who repeatedly resort to both doubletalk and doublespeak, wind up with egg on their faces when they do it. This goes across all political lines for me. For instance, I have been rather gleeful watching the latest mouthpiece as he struggles to overcome the mistake he made when he decided to go off on a bit of a tangent and not give a direct answer to a question asked of him on the subject of abortion. I am, of course, referring to Missouri Republican Senatorial candidate Todd Akin.
He was being interviewed by a news show host, about his stand on abortion. Apparently, he opposes it, and he was asked a pretty simple and straightforward question, in essence what did he think about using abortion to end pregnancies caused by rape. Instead of having integrity and courage relative to his convictions, instead of giving a direct and truthful answer and saying something like: 'I don't believe that abortion should be used to terminate any pregnancy because I believe that life is sacred and believe that a fetus is a life', he starts blabbing about what he says doctors say. That was something along the lines that a woman's body can sort of shut down to prevent a pregnancy during cases of "legitimate rape". Not only did he not answer the question directly - by not immediately giving his stance outright but instead he told us what doctors supposedly say. In his answer, he also wound up using a totally inappropriate word to describe a rape when he said the words "legitimate rape". Tell me, when in Hades did rape ever become legitimized? I am pretty sure he meant in real cases of rape, as opposed to a woman falsely claiming rape but why bring any of that up when it had absolutely nothing to do with giving a direct answer to the question that was asked.
All the had to do to stay out of trouble was to actually stand up for and express what he truly believed about abortion being wrong (I think that is his belief but it is kind of hard to tell listening to him explain it). Had he done so, he probably would have remained in the lead in his election race. Now, other politicians in his own party are asking him to step down and get out of the race. I think the only person who wants him to remain in the race is his opponent. Who can blame her, she is running against a dimwit and is bound to win if he opens his mouth again about how he feels on the issues.
Guys like this loose lipped linguist (you saw/heard that first here) could easily stay out of trouble by answering the question asked instead of trying to sidestep it with doubletalk and doublespeak and I really wish they would just start using straight talk and give direct clear and concise answers to the questions asked of them. Then again, politics would be nowhere nearly as entertaining if not for twits like him.
All the best,
Glenn B
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