Politicians And Double Speak

[sirhenry 0]

This is so funny, I couldn't help but post it!___We all know that politicians can't answer direct questions but what if the tables were reveresed?July 28, 2004IMAGINE if ordinary punters dealt with questions in the same way as our politicians.Scenario one � the random breath test. Police officer: "Had anything to drink tonight, madam?"Driver: "That's a complex question, but I would like to say that I've been driving for over a decade now and am comfortable that my offence-to-kilometre ratio is well below the national average."Scenario two � The intimate exchange.Partner one: "What the hell are you doing in bed with my best friend?"Partner two: "Go into any ordinary Australia home or small business and I'm sure you'll discover that most people regard both beds and best friends as positive occurrences. Must you put such a negative spin on everything?"Scenario three � Year 12 mathematics exam. Exam paper: "Differentiate 3x + tan x with respect to x."Student: "Quite frankly I think I've answered enough questions on x and tan over the past six years to make my position on this matter absolutely clear."Clearly civilians are unlikely to get away with such blatant obfuscation. So why are we so tolerant of this infuriating practice in our leaders?During a 2002 Four Corners broadcast on the children overboard beat-up, the following exchange took place between journalist Liz Jackson and Prime Obscurantist John Howard.Jackson: "Does it worry you that polls indicate that a lot of Australians don't believe you on this issue?"Howard: "Well Liz, um, given the media and other focus on this issue, it's not surprising that some polls would indicate people didn't agree with me and, ah, and you know they, they are falling fairly evenly but look I am, eh, I know what I knew and I know that I had never been given, um, advice that contradicted the original advice. I know that I used that original advice in good faith and I also know that this was not the issue that swung the election as most of the media campaign is implying."Wow. Informative. Especially that "I know what I knew and I know" bit.Mark Latham is also turning into a repeat offender, despite his attempt to project a straight talkin' "yeah, I inhaled" image. In April, Catherine McGrath from ABC radio's AM program asked him about the Labor Party's pledge to bring Australian troops home from Iraq by Christmas.McGrath: "Now, through the briefings you have had, what do you think the consequences would be if the troops were to come home early? What are the consequences on the ground?"Latham: "Well, I'm more worried about the consequences of what the Prime Minister had to say yesterday, that's the immediate concern we've got because it was a very reckless piece of politics by John Howard in publicly outing the role of one of our spy agencies in relation to Iraq. And that can only increase the level of risk for Australians in Iraq, both military and civilian, and that's a major concern. This is a reckless piece of politics that ultimately is at the expense of our capacity to successfully engage in the war against terror."Which part of "we're discussing your policy" did Latham not understand?Given the lack of forthrightness offered by our elected officials, we should hardly be expected to answer such a straightforward ballot paper on election day. When asked "who do we want to run the nation?", I propose a range of options such as:Your question is an interesting one, but before addressing it I'd like to talk at length about something that has absolutely nothing to do with it.I'm not saying I refuse to nominate who I want to run the country, but by the same token I'm not ruling out completely ruling it out either.You're not authorised to ask that question which I don't recall for security reasons.Sure, there'd be chaos the next day when the powers that be tried to work out who'd won, but at least it'd demonstrate the benefits of a straight answer. In the meantime, they'd just have to be content with knowing that we know what we knew.

[Arbin Gurung 0]

Sorry dude i wouldn't help myself ignoring ur article though i tried reading few lines

[tripletriangle 0]

Lol, funny article...And its true, we should be answering like that if they answer like that! I read up until after the scenarios... Don't wanna read the whole thing, lol!

[dontmaimyourself 0]

Well nice one mate its both funny and true (what I read of it anyway) it is kind of long but still great especially the "I know what I know" bloke and tbh I think most people just dont listen whan their spouting this crap, and I myself find this insulting I mean they dont really think were stupid enough to fall for this, just mumbling or worse blatently avoiding the question and then expect us to think they've aswered it.