Mailer Quote

“Unless one knows him well, or has done a sizable work of preparation, it is next to useless to interview a politician. He has a mind which is accustomed to political questions. By the time he decides to run for President, he may have answered a million. [. . .] To surprise a skillful politician with a question is then approximately equal in difficulty to hitting a professional boxer with a barroom hook. One cannot therefore tell a great deal from interviews with a candidate. His teeth are bound to be white, his manner mild and pleasant, his presence attractive, and his ability to slide off the question and return with an answer is as implicit in the work of his jaws as the ability to bite a piece of meat. [. . .] Therefore it is sometimes easier to pick up the truth of his campaign by studying the outriggers of his activity” (Mailer 16-17).

In a time when Americans gather almost all of their political information from televised media, Mailer reminds us that an interview with a candidate may not give an accurate depiction of him or her. He does suggest that a well-versed politician will succeed in interviews because politicians are trained to do so and that their actions and demeanor in the interview are not indicative of their actual character. Although recently, it seems that supposedly “skillful politicians” have been repeatedly hit with a barroom hook and that perhaps the meticulous grooming that generally occurred prior to interviews has been relaxed. While it is tempting to judge a candidate based on interviews and sound clips from biased news networks, it is worth it to take the extra time to gather information from more objective sources. As Mailer points out, it is often times more valuable to look at the actions of a candidate’s supporters as well as the indirect effects of their actions.