Photo-illustration: Everett Bogue; Photos: Getty Images

The New York Times brings us the story today of a little problem Senator Gillibrand is having. Apparently, she has this tendency to answer questions at lengths inappropriate for a United States Senator — as in, longer than a sound bite. During a meeting with some Brooklyn students a couple of weeks ago, Gillibrand's aides twice passed notes to the school's principal, asking her to interrupt Gillibrand and move on.

The Observer has reported on a similar incident before. On January 30, in an off-the-record meeting with "influential liberal columnists and consultants," Gillibrand was handed a note by one of her aides during an especially long answer regarding the economy. Oddly enough, she "stopped in the middle of the answer and read the note, which instructed her to move on, out loud. She moved on." One of Gillibrand's former staffers has taken to calling these her "soliloquies." Clearly her staff doesn't like them, but shouldn't we appreciate it when our politicians are capable of expounding on a subject intelligently for more than twenty seconds, instead of trying to shut them up?

Gillibrand Prefers Soliloquy to Sound Bite [NYT]