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Kari Lake offers a master class in avoiding the media’s ‘gotcha’ questions
American Thinker ^ | 22 Sep, 2022 | Andrea Widburg

Posted on 09/22/2022 4:54:15 AM PDT by MtnClimber

The Arizona gubernatorial candidate and the Republican attorney general candidate were not going to accept the reporter’s premise.

A huge rhetorical error is to get entangled in your opponent’s fake premise. We all recognize that problem with the hypothetical “when did you stop beating your wife” question, but Republican politicians often find themselves playing defense against a fundamentally flawed question. Kari Lake, however, does not do that. Her response to a reporter’s loaded question about Blacks and police shows how to avoid this rhetorical trap.

Lake, who is running against Katie Dobbs to be governor of California. appeared at a press conference against an Arizona Police Association backdrop. An unseen reporter fired off a loaded question:

Kari, a lot of people of color feel like they are unfairly targeted by police. Are they wrong to feel that way? And regardless of if there’s any merit there, what can you as governor do to improve the perception of police?

Most Republican politicians when asked such a question would have begun a stumbling defense about how most police are good people, but it’s up to everyone to make sure to protect the minority community from bad police, and blah, blah, blah. In other words, they would have accepted the premise while, at the same time, trying to walk away from it. It’s a normal human response, but a bad one if you’re running for office.

Kari Lake doesn’t respond that way. She immediately questioned the reporter’s premise: “A lot of people of color? How many people of color have you talked to about that?”

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: arizona; conservatives; kari; karilake; lake
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To: Tupelo
If the Republicans here do not get behind her and she loses, I will never vote for another Republican as long as I live.

Better: support MAGA primary challengers against every squish.

21 posted on 09/22/2022 5:34:14 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so stupid people won’t be offended)
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To: MtnClimber
Establishment Republican live on a bubble, and talk mostly to their donor, schmoozing funds, and doing a few backroom deals. Their staff gives them some red meat to throw out once and a while, and they parrot it verbatim, often not even understanding what it is about

So, when a reporter gives them a gotcha question, they are caught flat-footed, and resort to politician mode, and seize an opportunity to virtue signal, because they think it is a safe thing to do.

A few politicians, like Kari, actually understand the issues, and can respond intelligently. Plus, they are used to thinking on their feet, and don't get trapped by the sleazy media

22 posted on 09/22/2022 5:34:16 AM PDT by Fido969 (45 is Superman! )
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To: MtnClimber; All

Very good candidate. She is definitely Trump inspired. She is what MAGA candidates should look like. Plain spoken, not dodgy and pretty much a citizen trying to help. Instantly better than the Careerist.


23 posted on 09/22/2022 5:35:43 AM PDT by wiseprince (Me,)
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To: MtnClimber
Establishment Republican live in a bubble, and talk mostly to their donors, schmoozing funds, and doing a few backroom deals. Maybe they latch onto a swamp grift or get some inside information, and line their own personal pockets. Their staff gives them some red meat to throw out once and a while, and they parrot it verbatim, often not even understanding what it is about

So, when a reporter gives them a gotcha question, they are caught flat-footed, and resort to politician mode, and seize an opportunity to virtue signal, because they think it is a safe thing to do.

A few politicians, like Kari, actually understand the issues, and can respond intelligently. Plus, they are used to thinking on their feet, and don't get trapped by the sleazy media

24 posted on 09/22/2022 5:36:15 AM PDT by Fido969 (45 is Superman! )
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To: MtnClimber

When I worked with my local Republican Party one of my jobs was talking to new candidates that had never run for office before.
My advice on the media was: They are not your friend and never have or will be your friend. Treat the media like they are your girlfriend’s 12 year old daughter. The kid can do nothing for you but with just a few words she can destroy you.


25 posted on 09/22/2022 5:37:52 AM PDT by jmaroneps37 (Freedom is never free. It must be won rewon and jealously guarded.)
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To: Fido969
Establishment Republican live on a bubble, and talk mostly to their donor, schmoozing funds, and doing a few backroom deals.

You hit upon the essence. Establishment Republicans are not working for us. They are working for their donors, whose interests may be very different from the objectives of the Republican base.

If you are a wealthy globalist wanting to influence Congress, you do not try backing a Democrat to run in a heavily Republican district. Instead you back a RINO squish to run as a "Republican", but who will never oppose the Democrats on anything important.

26 posted on 09/22/2022 5:38:22 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so stupid people won’t be offended)
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To: MtnClimber
Lake, who is running against Katie Dobbs to be governor of California.

Where did that come from? It says Arizona in the article

27 posted on 09/22/2022 5:38:56 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Don't walk thru the watermelon patch)
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To: super7man

They corrected it.


28 posted on 09/22/2022 5:42:32 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: Tupelo

GOPe types are not your friend. The represent the anti worker plutocrats that like the way things are.


29 posted on 09/22/2022 5:44:32 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: PapaBear3625

I want to see a PPV clothing optional mud wrestling cage match between Lake and Whitmer.


30 posted on 09/22/2022 5:45:54 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: Tupelo
So far the GOPe seem to be distancing themselves from her.

She is not GOPe, she is MAGA so the leaders in the GOP hate and fear her.

31 posted on 09/22/2022 5:46:28 AM PDT by jpsb
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To: jpsb

She is Ultra Super Duper MAGA!


32 posted on 09/22/2022 5:47:00 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: MtnClimber

If only the GOP had a spine like Kari


33 posted on 09/22/2022 5:47:21 AM PDT by personalaccts (Is George W going to protect the border?)
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To: MtnClimber

Yes, a conservative person needs to understand what RUSH taught the incoming Congress in the 90’s; the press is not your friend and don’t think you can become friendly with them. In fact they are the enemy of conservatives, they are Leftist activists and need to be treated as such.


34 posted on 09/22/2022 5:51:42 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: chajin

“Adolf was actually a very good debater and public speaker, but it was his brown shirts that got him into power, the Gestapo that kept him there, and Goebbels’ propaganda machine that molded the public mind.”

All very true, and the BLM/antifa arm of the democrat machine is a blatant ripoff of the Nazi’s. But people are too ignorant to see it.

Hitler was paid by the German government to spy on the small Nazi party because the various parties had actually been having street battles, even using machine guns.
One day Hitler gave an off the cuff speech at a meeting and quickly took over the party. Even Germans who hated him said he was a speaker who could have an audience hanging on every word. Even as he broke every supposed rule about public speaking.

I have found it odd that over the decades people have forgotten that NAZI stands for National Socialist German Workers party. Somewhere along the way the Socialist was dropped and I’ve seen and heard people, who should know better, refer to it as the German Workers Party. Of course the people dropping the National Socialist part have been democrats and other flavors of socialists.


35 posted on 09/22/2022 5:54:29 AM PDT by oldvirginian
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To: dfwgator
I’ve been very impressed with her. She will be DeSantis-like.

Camera was rolling when CNN reporter attempt to conduct brief Q&A w/ KL walking to an event in AZ. KL said no, but offered to do a full interview w/ CNN reporter, but only if it aired on CNN+. Then KL asked, “CNN+ is still on the air isn’t it? Oh that’s right, it went off the air in less than a month. That’s because people don’t want propaganda fake news.” She then said thank you and walked away. Was glorious.

36 posted on 09/22/2022 5:55:12 AM PDT by Ahithophel (Communication is an art form susceptible to sudden technical failure)
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To: oldvirginian

Communists, like Woody Guthrie, always referred to the Nazis as “Fascists”, although, the only real “Fascist” was Mussolini. There were some similarities between Nazism and Fascism, but far more differences.

Now ask, why was that? Could it be because Nazi was short for “National SOCIALIST”?


37 posted on 09/22/2022 5:57:08 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: super7man
The correct name is Katie Hobbs, not Dobbs.

and the good news is Lake has criminal from behind and is now leading in the polls.

38 posted on 09/22/2022 6:01:16 AM PDT by Michael.SF. ( The problem today: people are more concerned about feelings than responsibility)
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To: dfwgator

“Now ask, why was that? Could it be because Nazi was short for “National SOCIALIST”?”

Yeppers, can’t have people seeing socialism for what it really is. Must obfuscate so no one can see the truth.


39 posted on 09/22/2022 6:04:37 AM PDT by oldvirginian
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To: KingLudd

I completely agree with you. However, I don’t consider Lake a republican, she’s something much better than that, something much more American than what we’ve come to know as a republican.


great description


40 posted on 09/22/2022 6:06:01 AM PDT by patriotspride (Third generation Vet. Never forget the true cost of freedom)
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