Chris Koster’s radio interview with Mark Reardon on KMOX yesterday was a disaster from the get-go as he gave one incoherent answer after another
October 4, 2016
DEBACLE: Chris Koster Avoids Straight Answers In Testy Interview
During his campaign for Governor, Chris Koster hasn’t answered too many questions from the press and yesterday’s radio interview with Mark Reardon on KMOX may indicate why. The interview was a disaster for Koster from the get-go as he gave one incoherent answer after another.
When the candidate was asked about his support for Hillary Clinton, Koster hemmed and hawed until Reardon called him out, asking “what kind of answer is that?”
REARDON: “Are you enthusiastically supporting your Democratic nominee for president Hillary Clinton?”
KOSTER: “You know, there’s stuff that I agree with her on and there’s stuff I disagree with her on.”
REARDON: “Come on. What kind of answer is that? She’s the nominee of your party.”
KOSTER: “Mark, there’s stuff that I agree with her on and there’s stuff that I disagree with her on.”
Missourians want straight answers, not the double-talk they’ve come to expect from career politicians, but that’s something Chris Koster doesn’t seem capable of doing. Koster was also questioned by Reardon about a claim he made regarding Medicaid that was fact-checked by PolitiFact. Instead of acknowledging his incorrect statement, Koster claimed he hadn’t seen the fact check and tried to dodge the question:
REARDON: “Now, you’ve been fact checked on this claim that every 8 months a rural hospital closes in Missouri. PolitiFact and Columbia Missourian did a piece on this saying that’s not true.”
KOSTER: “Oh, I haven’t seen the PolitiFact. We lost the hospital in Osceola, we’ve lost the hospital at Mount Vernon, we lost a hospital in Springfield…”
REARDON: “But there’s other reasons for hospitals closing outside of just taking Medicaid money.”
KOSTER: “I’ve talked to the Missouri Hospital Association. These are–”
REARDON: “Well, yeah they’re a lobbying group for hospitals. They want more hospitals. They want more hospital beds filled.”
KOSTER: “We are—we’re in a period of time where there are hospitals closing. I didn’t even get finished with the list.”
Reardon also pushed Koster about his opposition on Right-To-Work and Koster gave a bizarre answer where he admitted that both sides (including his own) are “cherry picking” data and refused to acknowledge the truth that Right-To-Work states are creating jobs at a faster rate than non-Right-To-Work states:
REARDON: “Isn’t there some evidence that shows the states that have right-to-work laws have benefitted economically with more jobs overall?”
KOSTER: “There’s a lot of cherry picking that goes on. And perhaps both sides cherry pick. But, the reality is that I think the data is unclear.”
This disaster of an interview should reinforce the truth that Chris Koster is nothing more than a calculating politician who will say or do anything in order to get elected.