“...If he were a slick politician, he would have just said no I don’t think he handled it correctly, and forced the reporter to ask a followup question which would have given him time to think....”
Just like Jerry Brown would answer a reporter’s question with the question, “What do you mean by that?” Which caused the reporter to reword the question and give Jerry time to come up with something of an answer.
Yep. Slick politician. Moonbeam politician. Whatever.