TJ Walker (host) analyzes Governor Scott Walker's response to a question about evolution asked during a trade mission in London. Walker critiques the politician's decision to 'punt' on the question, praises an alternative segue using the reporter's wording about the 'evolution' of trade, and offers lessons on how politicians should handle sensitive reporter questions.
Chapters
Governor Scott Walker gets tripped up on a tricky question on evolution while over in London this week. Look, folks, politicians in both parties have certain subjects that are just tricky for them to answer because if they answer truthfully, they're going to either really offend their base or offend everyone else in the political media establishment. So there are no easy answers. Governor Scott Walker was asked his opinion of evolution earlier this week in London while on a trade mission. And I want to parse his answer because it's getting a lot of attention. So here's what he said and he's received a lot of criticism. I'm going to give him mixed reviews because there's some things he did well and some things he bungled. When asked, are you comfortable with the idea of evolution? Do you accept it? He said, I'm going to punt on that one. That's a question a politician shouldn't be involved in one way or the other, so I'm going to leave that up to you. He then goes on to say that he would love for people to talk about the evolution of expanded trade in Wisconsin. So a nice sort of segue there. Here's the problem with his answer. Anytime you say I'm going to punt on that one, you're basically telling the reporter, you got me, you win, I lose. It's quotable punt. It's an analogy, it's action oriented, it's visual, it's a cliche. So it's a sound bite, meaning it's quotable. And he's going to be quoted on that. That's not what he wants to be quoted on. So that is a first response. I'm going to punt on that as a horrible, horrible response for any politician anytime. Not being partisan here, I'm not even talking about the issue of evolution. To then say that's a question a politician shouldn't be involved with is problematic as an answer to any question reporter asks too, because you can't tell reporters what questions are out of bounds. And furthermore, a lot of voters would contend it is relevant because if you do believe in evolution, it can have all sorts of implications on science advisors, climate change policy, other policies you have. If you don't believe in it, it has all sorts of other implications and perceived biases and positions for those you might select for high positions in an administration. So it's not even accurate to say that no politician should answer that. So he seems like he's just squirmy. It's like, oh, you've got me. No matter what I say, I'M going to look like a fool, so let me do a little dance. That's not the way to answer that question. Now, his instinct, and forgive me, I don't see, I can't find the whole transcript in order. So I don't know what he said in what order. But I actually give him a lot of credit for using the language of the reporter in part of his answer, saying, I'd love for people to focus on the evolution of increased trade in Wisconsin. That's actually a great answer. If he had just said that, all the other quotes wouldn't have gotten attention. He wouldn't have gotten more much negative attempt. Now, there's still a chance he could have received some criticism for dodging the question, but a lot of the commentary would have been on how skillful he handled a tough question rather than his sort of amateurish attempts to block the question or dodge the question. That's the real lesson here, is that you can't be seen as overtly telling a reporter that's a bad question, or I don't want to, to answer the question. Anytime you're seen as being perceived that way, you look bad. It's just not good. Of course, another option he could have just said is yes or no, but that could have ignited a whole nother storm for him. So I actually believe the second part of his answer was the perfect answer from a political standpoint. He just needed to drop the punting and all the other nonsense. I'm T.J. walker.
