I watch these videos of hearings and as soon as I hear them say Thank you for the question, I know bullshit is about to spew.
They literally thank people for every question. Who actually thinks this is a good idea??
And who started this nonsense?

One of many examples
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I also love the absolute hypocrisy in this video. Cotton points out how Kroger does not want their employees to use the terms Sir or Ma’am and the CEO who acknowledges he knows about the policy and tries to explain the policy of not using sir or ma’am and he refers to Cotton as Sir!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
Who actually thinks this is a good idea??
And who started this nonsense?

I’m not sure but I just wanted to thank you for the questions sir

They're trying to burn time.

The same dummies who want gun control?

Yep, gives them time to think of an answer.

Not to be argumentative but I don't think it is to give them time to think of an answer. They are going to give a nonsensical answer regardless. It is to eat the congressman's time. They are allotted a certain amount of time apiece and by bloviating unnecessarily they are running the clock on the time they can actually be questioned by the other side.

Not sure when or from whom it started, but it does annoy the ever-loving crap outta me, too. IMHO, it makes the respondent look/sound like a blithering dolt. Doesn’t matter if I agree with them or not. I guess they THINK it makes them sound intelligent, educated, and/or polite…on the contrary.

And yes…I believe it’s a time-wasting mechanism to aid in formulating a response. It’s like a guy repeating an accusatory question from the Mrs. several times when the next sounds uttered from his cake hole are going to be fabrications of the truth. Same strategery……

I don’t ever remember Kavenaugh or Barrett thanking anyone for roasting their nuts on an open fire during their Spanish Inquisitions. Please correct me if I’m wrong…

I did team debate in high school and for a bit at University. During cross examination, when you are asked a question, your brain starts putting together information and forming what is supposed to be an intelligent response. As para said earlier, yes, you are trying to burn time. You are trying to burn time with a low resource reflex response to give your brain time to put together your real response. It's the same thing as people saying um, you know, and well.
In high school, our debate coach had a long stick and when you were speaking, if you used a filler like um or you know, she would tap you on the shoulder with the stick which caused the rest of the class to giggle. After about a week, you didn't use fillers anymore.

Should tell them they will be held in contempt if they use that phrase.

With the exception of Jim Jordan turning Candace Owens loose once upon a time, I doubt they are thankful for being questioned by a congressional committee.

"That's a great question" folks looking for diversity in their lead in.

quote:

I’m not sure but I just wanted to thank you for the questions sir

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Besides burning time as Para said, it sounds like a real suck up. It would irritate me. I might ask them why they thought they needed to thank me.

First usage probably dates earlier, but I think I first heard that phrase during Supreme Court confirmation hearings, back in the '80s.

Buying time to think, with obsequious, overly-respectful-at-least-on-the-surface verbiage that means nothing. Quite useful tactic in the right spots, if annoying to the listener.

Get asked thirty questions, take an extra three seconds answering each question = 90 seconds

It irks the shit out of me too.

Tired of yelling at the TV saying STFU and answer the effing question.

I'd like to someday see someone do the exact opposite and tell the Senator or whatever other govt type posing the question that they think their question was the stupidest they've ever heard and shame on them for asking it.

quote:

First usage probably dates earlier, but I think I first heard that phrase during Supreme Court confirmation hearings, back in the '80s.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
JFK would never use such stupid verbiage, but he had a number of pat phrases he used in press conferences. He would rotate them as needed. Sometimes he would tell a joke first, as would Reagan. The current group is not that verbally facile.

Uh, thank you for the question. I can't say because that is still under investigation.

Two answers I'd love to hear instead:

"That was a stupid question."

or

"I'm sorry, was there a question somewhere in that dissertation you just gave?"

I don’t recall…

I'd be tempted to do a 'Mark Twain' and tell a shaggy dog story.... but I'm sure a lot of the time their responses are pretty much the same....