http://bit.ly/6z1FZ - - - Democrats often complained about President George W. Bush's frequent use of a rhetorical device as old as rhetoric itself: creating the illusion of refuting an opponent's argument by mischaracterizing it and then knocking down that mischaracterization.
There was much outrage in 2006, for example, when Mr. Bush said that when it came to battling terrorists, "I need members of Congress who understand that you can't negotiate with these folks," implying that Democrats backed talks with Al Qaeda. That assertion was promptly, and angrily, disputed by Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. Now that there is a new team at the White House, guess who is knocking down straw men left and right? To listen to President Obama, a veritable army of naysayers has invaded Washington, urging him to sit on his hands at the White House and do nothing to address any of the economic or national security problems facing the country. "There are those who say these plans are too ambitious, that we should be trying to do less, not more," Mr. Obama told a town-hall-style meeting in Costa Mesa, Calif., on March 18. "Well, I say our challenges are too large to ignore." Mr. Obama did not specify who, exactly, was saying America should ignore its challenges. ... But that is still a ways from the tortuous construct which Mr. Obama ended up with, that turned Mr. Kyl's remark into one that somehow needed the "our challenges are too big to ignore" rebuttal, since it suggests that one of those challenges was apparently appearing on Leno. "Here's the trick: Take your opponent's argument to a ridiculous extreme, and then attack the extremists," said William Safire, the former presidential speechwriter who writes the "On Language" column for The New York Times Magazine. "That leaves the opponent to sputter defensively, 'But I never said that.' " The telltale indicators that a straw man trick is on the way are the introductory words "there are those who say" or "some say." - - - So much for rising above "childish things"... Feel that hope and change sinking in yet? Wait till you see the deficit in 4 years. Oh boy! - Bob _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
