December 13, 2007
Back Talk Posted by John Steele Gordon at 10:05 AM EST At the apparently rather bizarre Republican presidential candidate debate in Johnston, Iowa, yesterday, Fred Thompson scored points when he wouldn’t give a yes-or-no answer to a non-yes-or-no question. The moderator wanted a show of hands from those who “believe global climate change is a serious threat and caused by human activity.” Thompson asked for a minute to explain his position and when the moderator refused to give it to him, he flatly refused to answer the question. In focus groups where the participants had meters recording their positive and negative reactions, the meters went off-the-chart positive for Thompson. The American electorate obviously like displays of backbone from candidates. Ronald Reagan’s candidacy surged in 1980 after he made his famous “I am paying for this microphone!” remark when a moderator tried to cut him off. In 1988, George Bush took on Dan Rather (link—scroll down) in an interview where Rather kept trying to ask have-you-stopped-beating-your-wife-yet questions about Iran-Contra, and he also saw a surge in support. Since talking back to journalists seems to work so well, I wonder why candidates so seldom do it. Journalists, after all, have public approval ratings on a par with congressmen and people who talk on cell phones at the movies.
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