“Meeting of the Birmingham Political Union.” Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
It’s hard to find a more “target rich environment” for clichés, meaningless or misleading statements, glittering generalities, or downright fibs, than the campaign trail. We urge you, regardless of your political leanings, never to take a politician’s statement at face value. Research the candidates and issues. Be an informed voter. That’s your duty as a citizen.
Answer the question! Many politicians are notorious for dodging reporters’ questions. One time, Eliot asked a top state leader the same question three times in a row. Each time the politician gave a non-responsive answer. Politicians will say they feared the reporter would twist their answer. But you should take meaning from their refusal to answer.
Glittering generalities: People who can’t provide specifics will speak in vague terms, and as a reporter, Eliot’s primary job was to call them on it. One candidate said his opponent, an incumbent who was on tap for the top leadership of the state legislature, “cares more about Tallahassee” than his district. Eliot said, “Can you give an example?” It wasn’t an unfair question. In fact, Eliot figured it was a “softball” — slang for a ridiculously easy question — if the guy had all sorts of examples of the incumbent voting with colleagues instead of looking out for constituents. But he didn’t. He was defeated easily.
“News conference:” If a politician says she/he will hold a news conference/press conference, and reporters show up, and the politician, surrounded by supporters, gives what amounts to a speech, and leaves without taking questions, that is NOT a news/press conference, and don’t let the politician get away with it. Call it a speech. Or a rally.
Opposition ads vs. attack ads: Going after a person’s track record and exposing lies and hypocrisy are fair game. Some ads cross the line. Usually, you’ll know it.
Hall of Fame:
“We’re going to fight for families. We’re going to fight for working people. We’re going to fight for hard-working people. We’re going to fight for working families.”
This suggests the politician is not going to fight for single, lazy, or unemployed people. Don’t they count?“I will fight for people like you.”
Besides being grammatically incorrect (“people such as you,”) this raises the question of whether the politician won’t fight for people who are not like you. And since he’s talking to everyone….“I believe in family values.”
Today, the definitions of both “family” and “values” have expanded. Use such terms with care.“The radical left.”
“The radical right.”
You would think that, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, people would be careful to use such inflammatory terms as “radical.” You would think.“In my campaign, and as a legislator, I vow to go the extra mile, to do the hard work, and to step out of my comfort zone to challenge the problems others write off as too difficult to solve.”
This was an actual campaign ad. If you can glean from it any specific reasons to vote for this candidate over another, then, well, you get the government you deserve.
Watch this on video: https://youtu.be/XW10tVM79K0
Next time: Put that in your bonnet.
Readers: "Something Went Horribly Wrong," features samples of bad writing we see nearly every day. You can participate! Be our duly deputized “grammar police:” Your motto: “To protect and correct.” Send in your photos of store signs, street signs, newspaper headlines, tweets, and so on. It doesn’t have to be a grammatical error. It can be just what we call “cowardly writing.” Include your name and home town so we properly can credit you. You're free to add a comment, although we reserve the right to edit or omit. Now get out there! Send to Eliot@eliotkleinberg.com
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NOTE: Eliot and Lou Ann are available for speaking engagements, and can travel. Reach us through the comments section. Just think of all of your employees getting back to work on a Monday, their heads filled with all the ways we’ve shown them to be better communicators!