Sometimes media training tactics can backfire.

That certainly was the case with Florida Governor Rick Scott, who kept repeating and repeating the same talking points without answering reporters’ questions. It is a media training tactic that can often work successfully, but as CNN’s Anderson Cooper pointed out on his show, in this case it came across as ridiculous.

“Cooper called it a true “masterclass” in “saying a whole bunch of stuff without ever, ever answering the question, no matter how many times the question is asked,” in a story on the Huffington Post (LINK).

The media training tactic of simply repeating your talking points on an issue is a common one. It is done every day by virtually every political figure in the world.

In the real world changing your response to a question with different reporters can get you in trouble as lying or flip-flopping on issues.

As an example, no matter how many times the media will be asking Hillary Clinton if she is running for president she will give a standard “I am exploring all opportunities and will make an announcement in the future…” canned answer. The media will asks the question, she will give her standard answer, and then they will move on to other issues.

Whereas the news media might allow Clinton to give her canned answer once and then move on to other questions, with Scott, a Republican, they simply kept the cameras rolling while asking him the same question over and over. When they did that it was guaranteed to make him look foolish.

What should Scott have done?

He should have answered part of the reporters’ questions on the issue and then move to his talking points. Something along the lines of “I assume the officers here to support me are doing it within the rules, and let me say I am very proud of their support…”

Canned talking points often work successfully, but in some circumstances they don’t. This was one of them…