One of my pet peeves is when public officials and those that surround them refuse to give a straight answer to a direct question. For example – this blog from Jake Tapper of ABC News describes a classic case of this tactic:
Yesterday, despite repeated questioning, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs refused to answer whether the Obama administration will free Ahmed Ghailani if he’s found not guilty in court. The Obama administration flew the accused terrorist from Guantanamo to New York yesterday to try him for his alleged role in the 1998 embassy bombings.
“I’m not going to get into hypotheticals about how certain cases may or may not play out,†Gibbs said.
The least we should expect from a high level official like Mr. Gibbs is intellectual honesty.
