Mueller - Can you repeat that question?

Mueller – Can you repeat that question?

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Can you repeat the question?

The closing gavel was barely struck at the Mueller hearings today when Fox News is characterizing Mueller as bumbling, not able to answer basic questions.

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“Mueller was frequently tripped up and forced to ask lawmakers to repeat their questions during his rapid-fire questioning on Capitol Hill, though he reportedly prepared at length for the hearings.”

And indeed, (though I haven’t worked all the way through the transcript yet), Mueller did ask his interrogators to repeat their questions quite a bit.

So what’s up?

Bumbling, unprepared former war hero and esteemed public servant?

I say no way. During the hearing my linguistics posse was texting back and forth about how many questioners ( Republican and Democratic), seemed to have not read “How To Avoid Asking Stupid, Unanswerable Questions”.

To look at the linguistic acrobatics that defined many impossibly tortured questions today – let’s start with the question that just throws a bunch of numbers at the wall and expects the answerer to follow along:

From hearing transcript today

COLLINS: Is it also true that you issued over 2,800 subpoenas, executed nearly 500 search warrants, obtained more than 230 orders for communication records and 50 pin registers?

MUELLER: That went a little fast for me.

COLLINS: Your report states that your investigative team included 19 lawyers and approximately 40 FBI agents and analysts and accountants. Are those numbers accurate?

MUELLER: Could you repeat that, please.

Problem 1

Rattling off a series of numbers, and asking the respondent to keep in short term memory the exact numbers you just rattled off and retrieve numbers from the distant past is a simply wonderful example of a notoriously failed question.

Problem 2

It’s one thing if you’re reading a question – it’s visible in print in front of you for you to refer to.
It’s a horse of a very different color when you’re getting the questions through the air, in fleeting, ephemeral spoken language. In this case I marvel that on hearing the question repeated Robert Mueller answered clearly.

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