Sound Politics: Left Likes Arguing with Straw Men

February 26, 2009

Left Likes Arguing with Straw Men

Yesterday I chided lefty blogger Jon DeVore for the errant logic of his attack against Bobby Jindal, who had the temerity to question the economic "stimulus" value of volcano monitoring. DeVore wrongly concluded that objecting to it being included in the "stimulus" bill must mean Jindal opposes it all together.

Little did I know as I typed that post that Joel Connely had gone down the same lame path. Simply put, opposing the inclusion of an element of government spending in a specific piece of legislation does not logically mean the opponent rejects the justness of the project altogether. Similarly, opposition to one method of delivering a program in favor of another does not mean such opposition should be construed as rejecting the program outright. The creation of such straw men for political gain is a cute rhetorical trick, but intellectually weak.

As the update at the original post mentioned, Karl Rove called out Obama on this score in an op-ed worth reading.

Posted by Eric Earling at February 26, 2009 01:54 PM | Email This

Comments

1. Oh, by all means, do please continue to keep Jindal's dumb volcano line alive. Every time you raise it, even if to refute it, you reinforce the framing: Republicans opposed natural disaster preparedness.

And thanks for reminding everyone that Karl Rove is still around and playing for your team. We all know how popular he is. Were you planning on running TV ads with Michael D. Brown and Dick Cheney in the 2010 midterms or 2012 general? Golly, I hope so.

Signed,
A Happy Lib

Posted by: happy lib on February 26, 2009 02:10 PM

2. Joel & Jon--
A couple of real LEFTIST PINHEADED KLOWNS.
What's the old saying...
"KLOWNS of a feather flock together"??

Posted by: Mr. Cynical on February 26, 2009 02:49 PM

3. I wrote to a science reporter yesterday who also dismissed Jindal's complaint about the volcano monitoring provision as money well spent.

Apparently, the fact that an economic economic stimulus bill is supposed to be for efficient expenditures calculated at creating work/jobs was lost on her too.

If you want to monitor volcanoes, or that mole on your ass, put it in a different bill.

Posted by: David Del Buono on February 26, 2009 03:17 PM

4. I better dust up that resume for my new career as a volcano observer. It will be a huge promotion from my current position as assistant to the vp of paint drying.

You all have no idea how critical these infrastructure jobs are to building a new green economy. I'm glad Barrack was elected else where would I be?

Posted by: Andy on February 26, 2009 06:10 PM

5. Eric wrote:

Simply put, opposing the inclusion of an element of government spending in a specific piece of legislation does not logically mean the opponent rejects the justness of the project altogether.

Slavery Party hacks and logic? There's your problem, those two just don't go together!

Posted by: Shanghai Dan on February 26, 2009 07:36 PM