Question-evasion is a time-honored tradition among White House press secretaries; the terms used to avoid commenting, however, vary by occupant of that job.
Robert Gibbs’s preference when it comes to evasive maneuvers? The term “get into”–as in, “I’m not going to get into that right now”–which Gibbs has used, Politico’s Patrick Gavin reports, over 120 times during the first six months of the Obama administration.
Megan Garber is an assistant editor at the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University. She was formerly a CJR staff writer.