Answering a question other than the one that was asked is a common avoidance technique used by politicians. It allows then to simulate a conversation and fill the air without actually saying anything.
Paying a modicum of attention to the actual content of what a politician says and rating how relevant what they say is to the matter being discussed is a very effective way to quickly determine whether you’re watching a guy with real convictions you want to vote for or a con artist.
I don’t find Poilievre’s performance wild so much as depressingly common.
The canned answer is standard-fare in politics because the media has been so happy to play clips of any mis-spoken comment on a loop starting in maybe the 90s?
The problem here is that he should have a goddamned canned response ready for such a soft-ball question. “We don’t tolerate that, I’ve told them if they are not for Canada, they are out!” (crowd cheers, he wins the election, yada yada). He can’t even manage that low bar.
But I think Trump set the stage for normalizing this, and it’s maddening to think that someone can hear what PP just said, and believe that he did a great job with that answer.
Answering a question other than the one that was asked is a common avoidance technique used by politicians. It allows then to simulate a conversation and fill the air without actually saying anything.
Paying a modicum of attention to the actual content of what a politician says and rating how relevant what they say is to the matter being discussed is a very effective way to quickly determine whether you’re watching a guy with real convictions you want to vote for or a con artist.
I don’t find Poilievre’s performance wild so much as depressingly common.
The canned answer is standard-fare in politics because the media has been so happy to play clips of any mis-spoken comment on a loop starting in maybe the 90s?
The problem here is that he should have a goddamned canned response ready for such a soft-ball question. “We don’t tolerate that, I’ve told them if they are not for Canada, they are out!” (crowd cheers, he wins the election, yada yada). He can’t even manage that low bar.
When it’s done once in a while, sure.
But I think Trump set the stage for normalizing this, and it’s maddening to think that someone can hear what PP just said, and believe that he did a great job with that answer.
Oh hell no. I’ve heard politicians use that trick literally for decades.