The United States of America is faced with a number of serious challenges; including wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, inflation, an obscene national debt, serious balance of trade deficits, opposition from China and the Russian Federation, a nuclear North Korea, the possibility of a nuclear Iran, porous borders with Canada and Mexico, violent crime, infiltration by drug cartels and terrorist organizations, deaths from fentanyl overdose, and many others. Many of these challenges threaten our national security and the peace and safety of our people.
American voters need to be informed concerning where the presidential primary candidates stand on these important issues, and what they intend to do about them if elected. That is why I am offended when candidates are asked to answer “gotcha” questions. Serious discussion is needed in which candidates are given the opportunity to explain their views in detail.
A gotcha question is a trick question that is designed to cause someone to offer an answer they can - and will - be criticized for. They are a verbal ambush. Often there is no good answer available that will not generate controversy and cause the person being questioned to lose credibility. In fact, the motivation for asking the question is to harm the one who is being asked to respond.
During the 2008 presidential election, Katie Couric had a series of interviews with then Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. During one of these she asked Gov. Palin about her reading habits – what publications she had recently read. Ms. Couric was obviously informed in advance that candidate Palin was not well read. The question temporarily left the flummoxed candidate fumbling for an answer. The object was clearly to give the audience the impression that Gov. Palin’s views were ill-informed or even ignorant.
Ms. Couric has spent her entire working life as a journalist. To my knowledge she has no training or experience in management, supervision, or public administration. Perhaps that is why she didn’t understand that the Vice Presidency is not a game of Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit. True, the Vice President must be well informed, but their most reliable information will not come from the print and broadcast news media.
Katie Couric got accolades from the liberal media for the series of interviews, including the Walter Cronkite Award for Journalism Excellence. What she actually did was to stop Palin’s rising popularity in its tracks and cast question on John McCain’s judgement. McCain’s senior campaign strategist, Steve Schmidt, said, “… it was the most consequential interview from a negative perspective that a candidate for national office has gone through.” [1] Immagine that. Katie got an award for making a good candidate look bad.
Recently, Republican primary candidate Nikki Haley was asked about the reason for the Civil War by a man in a New Hampshire town hall meeting. Her response included comments about government and individual freedom. The man took issue with her for not mentioning slavery in her answer. * (It is not clear whether the man was a reporter.) She later tried to clarify her views by stating that “Of course the Civil War was about slavery.” [2]
The press has jumped on the opportunity to speculate that this could be the end of her candidacy. We have probably not heard the last of it.
It is not my purpose here to debate whether the Civil War was about slavery, or not. The point is that no matter how Nikki Haley answered the question, it would provoke controversy, and the press has taken full advantage of it.
Nikki Haley was the Governor of South Carolina, which is a very conservative Southern state that was part of the Confederacy. She served as Ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump Administration, and President Trump has often been characterized, unfairly, as a racist by the liberal establishment. Thus, it is easy to deceitfully portray her as being on the wrong side of the race issue.
I am not diminishing the importance of race relations. We need to know a candidate’s stance. That is why it should not be the subject of shallow discussion prompted by trick questions that can be misconstrued by a biased media in 30 second sound bites.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, it appears that, (due to his popularity among Republican voters), Donald Trump will be their candidate for President of the United States. Nikki Haley would make a good candidate for Vice President. She polls well against Joe Biden, which could help Trump win. Since she resigned as his UN Ambassador, however, Donald Trump may be reluctant to have her as his running mate. Nonetheless, her run for the Republican presidential nomination now may serve as a foot in the door for 2028. Who knows? The point here is she should not be removed from consideration over a gotcha question.
Have a Happy New Year! May it be safe and prosperous. Please don’t drink and drive.
* For an example of the argument for slavery as the cause of the Civil War see: Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause, by Ty Seidule. Griffin. (2022). This should not be understood as an endorsement of Seidule's views.
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