All right...anyone else irked by this....?

[PCIntern]

Have you noticed recently that in all the cable shows, NPR, Network News shows and the like, the moderator will ask a question and the guest prefaces his or her answer with the statement: “That is a really good question...” or “I’m glad you asked that particularly insightful question...”

That’s a version of what we used to call logrolling: Norman Mailer would review Philip Roth’s book in the New York Review of Books and two months later Philip Roth would review Norman Mailer’s book. Both VERY positive reviews.

Yes I know.... but I have to obsess about something.

[onecaliberal]

1. Leading the witness.

[11 Bravo]

2. Porn sets have fluffers. Cable news networks have ... that.

[dutch777]

8. LOL! I think at least the coveted guests get this kidd glove treatment....

...lest they not come on anymore. And there is something of an ongoing relationship it seems when the interviewer and interviewee are clearly on the same side of an issue. I watched Rachel M. last night w Chuck Schumer and it was almost a schmarmy love fest. Direct hard hitting journalism is real hard, at least for getting interviews, as there is nothing to make Trump sit with Rachel or even Bryan Williams if he doesn't want to. And even when they do, most virtually ignore the question and twist answers to their talking points and it is almost like the folks happen to be in the same room but not talking about the same subjects.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. Because viewers react poorly when people pause to think about their answers, respondents use

phrases to fill the silence as they retrieve the information to provide the answer.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

4. I would prefer ...

"Well, now, if I had a day or two to think about it, I might be able to come up with a question that petty, simple, and just plain dumb."

[Taraman]

5. Obsessing further... I'm tired of every interviewee thanking the interviewer for having them.

Is that new? Seems weird to me.

[Nitram]

11. Good manners.

[abqtommy]

6. As I recall, I first saw the statements you put into quotation marks in your opening paragraph

as being part of the Assertiveness Training program that was around back in the 1970s. My
second ex-wife followed that program and her favorite saying was "You may be right". 'Nuff said.

[gratuitous]

7. It is irksome, but let me make it worse

What do you want to bet that the subject fed the interviewer that really good question?

[lunatica]

9. Language can be quite maddening

We’ve been living with political double and triple speak for decades. It makes me crazy too.

[Nitram]

10. "Logrolling?" Or just plain good manners? Or even a sincere statement that draws attention to the

answer because it is an important point. I'd have to know the context - who they are and what they are discussing - to decide which of the above was true. In a good interview, an answer that starts that way suggests that the information is important.

[Ferrets are Cool]

12. It's been going on for years. Without knowing for sure, I think it is the mind buying time

to formulate a good answer.

[Wounded Bear]

13. This. They probably think it is better to say something like that than to be silent...

for several seconds while they formulate their answer.

Pretty low on my list of offenses, TBH.

[Ferrets are Cool]

15. While it is irritating, yeah, pretty low in the scheme of things.

[TruckFump]

14. IMO, give the person answering the question time to think. EOM

[Patterson]

16. A lot of times, it really is a good question.