Media Interviews: Sometimes a Simple Question Deserves a Simple Answer

Question: Yes or No, most politicians are unable to answer simple questions with yes or no?

During the recent Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas, Barack Obama and John Edwards proved incapable of simple yes or no answers. Click here for their answers to "Do you support driver's licenses for illegal immigrants, yes or no?" (BTW, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden did limit their answers to "no.")

Tonight the Republicans debate in St. Petersburg, Florida. Will their front runners do any better?

But the all-time record for not answering the same question with a simple "yes or no" goes to Michael Howard, former Conservative party leader in the UK, in this BBC2 Newsnight interview.

 

I like this music-added version. If you are a purist, however, and would like to watch the full interview sans editorial comment, click here.

Howard's answer should have been, "No," or "Absolutely not." Had he done so, the issue would have lost steam quickly, and he could have spent time talking about the issues he wanted to talk about.

Sometimes the best answer to a yes or no question is yes or no.