On GMA this morning, they ran a portion of a taped interview of John Kerry by Peter Jennings. Jennings asked the following question: “Mr. Kerry, can you name three mistakes you’ve made in the course of the campaign? Things that you wish you hadn’t done or had done differently?” Kerry, of course and at some length, declined to answer.
Good on Jennings for asking this. This makes the point that it’s wrong and demeaning to ask a candidate a question whose only real purpose is to humiliate the candidate and give the candidate’s political opponents ammunition. And, best of all, Jennings made the point as a newsman should—by asking a question rather than by pontificating.
