Politicians?

[cee-dee]

What's your take on them (of any persuasion)?

Asked a straightforward question which to most people would have a "yes" or "no" answer and a politicion will launch in to a two minute (or longer!) ramble which is absolutely non-committal. At the end of which, not only are you bored to death but you'll have forgotten what the original question was!

Is "yes" or "no" missing from their vocabulary?

[margaret*e]

Judging by all the politicians I've seen from every party who never use one word where 20 will do I think they must be missing.

[cee-dee]

Took the words right out of my mouth, that was going to be my next point.

[dark_castle1]

Only 20 ! I would have put the figure much higher and not only that within minutes of each other two politicians from the same party can come up with answers that contradict each other and expect the public to believe them.

[upthecreekyetagain]

It always strikes me that those in the work place who succeed the most have many of the attributes of politicians.

Employees however who are upfront and answer questions with a yes/no are at some point bound to fall foul of the system.

[thursdayschild06]

Simple solution for TV interviewers - ask a qu, as soon as the politician strays from the point mute their microphone, ask the qu again, repeat, 3 strikes and the interview is terminated.   You might not get the answer, but you would rob them of a platform to spout at endless length on topics of their choice.

[upthecreekyetagain]

Problem with that though is that the interviewers need the politicians just as much as the politicians need the interviewer.

Terminate an interview like that and you'd not be able to interview that individual again.  Taken to the extreme you'd never get to hear from politicians - some may say that would be no bad thing, I beg to differ, I want to hear from those who have been elected to represent me.

In any case, some of the questions asked of politicians really aren't worthy of a reply.