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How hardball can you really get? The man asked her the same question three times. If she can't answer it in a coherent way with three at-bats it is unlikely she'll be able to come up with anything more coherent if you ask her this question ten more times, and it's evidence enough of whatever qualities an interview is supposed to show. He who has ears, let him listen.
"Did you threaten to overrule Derrick Lewis?"
Infamous as the most hardball interview in British political history (and the British are already tougher on politicians than the Americans). The question was asked 12 times, and Michael Howard gave 12 non-responsive answers. Both side remain unflappably polite throughout.
Later it turned out that he was supposed to have been let off the hook, but a technical problem with the next item on the schedule meant that the interview was extended by about a minute without either Paxman or Howard being told in advance.
On a slightly amusing side note, when I hear Derrick Lewis, I can only picture Hot Balls, Black Beast, Popeyes Derrick Lewis. Woe to the man who threatens to overrule him.
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I just don't see how asking the same question twelve times is better than asking it three times. Has anyone ever answered a question on the fourth time after dodging thrice?
If you like seeing politicians humiliated (and who doesn't?) it makes better TV.
I agree that if Paxman had known how much time he had left, he would have done better to call out the non-responsive answer and move on to the next topic of conversation. But that would have been much more obviously rude - in practice interviewers who move on normally do so without calling out the non-responsive answer.
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What if we take the hardball metaphor seriously, and the interviewer tells the interviewee straight-up, after each non-answer, "Okay, so you just struck out. Want to try again?" And as the interview progresses, the interviewer brings up the scorecard and reminds the interviewee of their performance so far and perhaps their need to hit a grand slam now if they want to win?
More realistically, when a politician non-answers a question like in some of these clips, I'd like it if the interviewer explicitly called it out and refused to move on until it was answered in a way that a reasonable layman would understand as "answered." There's probably too many incentives against any interviewer in a position to interview anyone that matters actually doing this sort of thing, though.
I don't think anyone would benefit from this guy asking Kamala Harris the same question for an hour.
Au contraire, I think if this guy was placed in a position by Harris to ask the exact same question at her for a full hour, this would be of great benefit to all American voters.
It would be of great benefit to any American voters who can't recognize a dodged question unless they have their noses rubbed in it. So, maybe most of them, but surely not all of them, unless you're counting the indirect benefits that accrue to non-voters too.
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Start asking closed questions, for example.
What is a closed question?
A question that has a finite set of possible answers. Yes/no questions are the most common form, but asking for a name or a number is a closed question as well.
What is the point? This isn't a CIA black site, ve don't have vays of making you talk. It's already obvious she's dodging the question.
Also I hate to be pedantic but a question with a number for an answer doesn't have a finite set of answers.
I lied, I don't hate to be pedantic.
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