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Wednesday, October 29, 2003

Perhaps the worst tactic I've seen so far in this young campaign season has got to be the over-use of the phrase "gave the impression". It's generally used to allow one person to read whatever he wants into the words of another, even if what is read in has nothing to do with the contents of the speech in question, or is indeed contradictory to the content of the speech.

This is a particularly insidious tactic, as it's not something that can be argued with. It's hard to tell someone to their face that there's no way they should have gotten the impression that they claim to have gotten. Very rarely are people willing to walk up to another and state that they are flat-out wrong or lying on what may be a matter of opinion.

Unfortunately, candidates seem to be tactically getting mistaken impressions, and that's just wrong.

- Tom | permalink | changelog | Last updated: 2003-10-29 18:45

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