Gotcha! Can't Politicians Handle Tough Questions?

Democrat, Republican, independent — it doesn't matter. They all love griping about the "gotcha" question.

Politicians of all stars and stripes say "gotcha" has got to go. And with the fervor of attacks against "gotcha" questions, you might think the term, or the accusation, was new. Not so fast.

Merriam-Webster defines "gotcha" as "an unexpected problem or usually unpleasant surprise." It's often paired with an exclamation mark for emphasis on its ambush-like nature.

The meaning of "gotcha" in a political context is hotly debated — and it usually depends whom you're asking.

"Gotcha" journalism is "what politicians frequently accuse reporters of when doing their jobs of trying to uncover information," Chuck McCutcheon and David Mark wrote in Dog Whistles, Walk-Backs and Washington Handshakes. The two journalists wrote the book in an effort to decode the political jargon tossed around in our nation's capital.

Politicians would probably fire back with a different definition, one that mentions catching them off guard with the goal of making them look bad.

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