In The Netherlands: “A Labour MP has got egg on his face after pretending to know all about the early release of a “street terrorist” after being confronted by a journalist on the make-believe matter concerning a certain ‘Jael Jablabla’ . Parliamentarian John Leerdam said “The party’s deputy chairman had definitely discussed the case and will keep an eye on developments”. However, he declined to give further details when pushed for more information, but did claim he knew more about the case than the journalist.”
“It might not have been so bad if the same MP hadn’t forgotten just a day earlier that former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has been in a coma for six years. When asked what he thought about Sharon’ s offer of asylum to President Assad of Syria, he said it was a matter for the United Nations and that the Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal should follow developments. The MP is replacing a colleague while she is on maternity leave. De Volkskrant comments, “He’s probably not the first MP to pretend to know about something he doesn’t.””
They all do that. How many gaffes just like that has Joe Biden or Hussein Obama been caught at? Maxine Waters is a classic for running her mouth without a clue. People in politics everywhere don’t want to be caught not knowing what’s going on, and they’d rather lie than admit a lack of knowledge on a subject.
The other tactic, which is much the same thing, is to respond by talking about something else. When pressed to address the question, the response is to talk about something else again. After the third time of this, the questioner usually gives up and the politician has escaped without admitting ignorance.
Considering how truly stupid many of the people who get elected are, and how lacking in knowledge most of the bright ones are, and how venal they all are, I guess this shouldn’t be a surprise. After all, most career politicians are lawyers.