So you probably heard that former U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell walked of the Piers Morgan show on CNN after she found questions about same-sex marriage and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to be “rude” and not part of the allegedly agreed-upon topics. Here’s the clip
[youtube=http://youtu.be/_OOgvKfg7Gg]
On Sunday, we saw presidential candidate Michele Bachman stay rigidly on-message when questioned about her position on LGBT issues, including adoption and whether she would appoint LGBT people to her cabinet. Here’s video (and a transcript) of being questioned by David Gregory on NBC’s Meet the Press.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/iexoUIwrtgU]
So here’s the NLGJA question: What do you think about these kinds of questions? Are they helpful for viewers or are they just “gotcha” questions? Now that LGBT issues are now “litmus test” questions for politicians, are there questions journalists should be asking that they aren’t? For someone like Bachmann, who stays rigidly on message, are there ways to get her to be more candid? Is it “rude” to ask O’Donnell questions about LGBT issues now that she’s not running for office?
Personally, I’m not a big fan of asking politicians “do you think being gay or lesbian is a choice.” Maybe it’s because I don’t really care or maybe it’s because it is too complex an issue to be answered in a sound-bite, I’m just not sure what we are supposed to learn from that question and how it really relates to politics. Are there questions you don’t like or should we be glad that they asking any questions at all?