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Quizzed by students, Meadows talks politics and spin

Sally Gross and U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows take a selfie at North Henderson High School.

By Bill Moss, Published: June 1, 2015

Political ‘pivot’ … explained

NHHS principal John Shepard and student body president Kye Laughter present Meadows with a 'Knight Nation' shirt.Politicians are not usually open about the mechanics of the craft, the way they’re wired to speak in ways that maximize their own standing. But something about the AP students — how smart and earnest they are and how they’ve asked such good questions — liberates him from the strict boundaries of political-speak. He wants to warn them about spin.
“How many of you have ever noticed on TV where somebody will ask a question and they don’t answer the question?” he says. “You know what they call that? They call that a pivot.”
“Kye,” he says, speaking to student body president Kye Laughter. “Ask me a question.”
“How do you feel about gun control?” Kye says.
There’s some oohs and laughter. Even high school students know that gun control is the third rail for politicians in the South.
Meadows doesn’t flinch, and he wants the kids to know how come he doesn’t flinch.
“If I want to talk about gun control, I’ll say, ‘Well, gun control is using two hands on a pistol,’” he says. Using a common gesture of a pro-Second Amendment politician, he makes like he is steadily aiming a Glock. The kids laugh.
“But really a pivot is taking that particular issue and redefining it to answer the question that I want to answer,” he says.
Then he demonstrates how this verbal sleight of hand works.
“You’re asking today about gun control but really the thing we ought to be talking about is not gun control. We need to be talking about violence in schools, it’s really about bullying. …
“You see how I just shifted,” he says with a triumphant grin. “The ones who are best at that are the ones who get re-elected.”