Crying ‘Gotcha’

If there is one thing politicians agree on, it’s that there are no bad answers, only “gotcha” questions. Whenever reporters, being reporters, ask something unwelcome, or surprising, or even just dumb — any kind of query that requires a politician to say something a politician would prefer not to say — that’s a “gotcha.” The victims are not pleased. 

“Enough with the media’s gotcha game,” tweeted Scott Walker (or whoever tweets for Scott Walker) earlier this year after two Washington Post reporters asked him whether he believed President Obama was a Christian and the Wisconsin governor answered, “I don’t know.”