The Untrained Ear

Maybe it’s just me, but some of this stuff sounds jarring…

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How A Politician Tries To Dodge A Bullet

March 26th, 2008 · 341 Comments

When Hillary Clinton was caught in an obvious and blatant lie, she resorted to a standard politician tactic — “Bait Throwing.”

Let’s look at this elegant example of Bait Throwing (from, of all places, an NPR report):

Clinton told reporters in Pennsylvania on Tuesday that she erred in describing the scene, which she now realizes after talking with aides and others.

“So I made a mistake,” she said. “That happens. It proves I’m human, which you know, for some people, is a revelation.”

Another example appears here (from an interview with KDKA radio):

“The military took great care of us. They were worried about taking a first lady to a war zone and took some extra precautions. Last week for the first time in 12 years or so, I misspoke.”

There are several flavors of Bait in each of these quotes. All are intended to move the listener or reader away from the core issue (that Clinton clearly lied about her experience), mostly by distraction.

In the first quotation, the intent is to distract people from her characterization of her misstatement as a “mistake,” rather than a deliberate falsehood, by throwing out some sympathy Bait: “It proves I’m human, which you know, for some people, is a revelation.” So we’ve transitioned quickly from lie to “mistake” to “I’m human” (subtext: everybody makes mistakes) to “Please feel sorry for me because my enemies are unfairly portraying me as inhuman.” The hope, in other words, is that someone will take the Bait to initiate another, more potentially sympathetic, line of questioning, about Clinton’s unfair, mean critics, rather than Clinton’s own misstatement of reality.

The second statement is an example of Multiple Bait Throwing (perhaps we should simply call it “Chumming”), where the core reframing (”I misspoke” rather than “Okay, I lied and got caught”) follows a rapid sequence of Bait Throwing, which can be characterized as “The military’s great; we were in a war zone (so I really was in danger); and this is the only time I’ve misspoken/lied in twelve years ‘or so’.”

The listener is offered several potential distractions — “Yeah, the military sure is great (and how nice of her to compliment them!).” “Wow, was it really a war zone?” “What kind of precautions did they have to take?” coupled with the crucial distraction of “Oh, come on, this is the first time you’ve misspoken in twelve years?”

When people take that Bait and follow up on that clear over-the-top exaggeration (”I can’t believe she said this is the first time she’s misspoken in twelve years!”), Clinton then gets to laughingly back down and say something on the order of “oh, come on, I was only joking. If you want to be all super-serious about it, fine, sure, I’ve probably misspoken on other occasions, so let’s move on.” So the listener gets to feel good that she’s made some concession — “Victory! She’s admitted an error!” — while being unconsciously moved past the blatant reframing Clinton engaged in — “I misspoke,” instead of “I lied.”

The final move Mrs. Clinton gets to make occurs when someone tries to follow up with her on the original point — her predictable reply will be “Hey, come on, I’ve already addressed that. Let’s not beat a dead horse here, okay? Do you have anything new?”

You’ll see Bait Throwing a lot in political speeches and spin. This is just a neatly-packaged example. But once you become consciously aware of it, it starts really sticking out.

Tags: Bait · Caught in the Act · Clinton · Lies · Reframing

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