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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (74590)	3/19/2006 12:17:18 AM
From: Cogito	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

Bush Using Straw-Man Arguments in Speeches Link to full article: apnews.excite.com Excerpt: Mar 18, 12:52 PM (ET) By JENNIFER LOVEN WASHINGTON (AP) - "Some look at the challenges in Iraq and conclude that the war is lost and not worth another dime or another day," President Bush said recently. Another time he said, "Some say that if you're Muslim you can't be free." "There are some really decent people," the president said earlier this year, "who believe that the federal government ought to be the decider of health care ... for all people." Of course, hardly anyone in mainstream political debate has made such assertions. When the president starts a sentence with "some say" or offers up what "some in Washington" believe, as he is doing more often these days, a rhetorical retort almost assuredly follows. The device usually is code for Democrats or other White House opponents. In describing what they advocate, Bush often omits an important nuance or substitutes an extreme stance that bears little resemblance to their actual position. He typically then says he "strongly disagrees" - conveniently knocking down a straw man of his own making. --------------- This is something that has bothered me about Bush's rhetoric since the 2000 campaign. A good example was when he said, referring to Saddam Hussein during a State of the Union address, something along the lines of "trusting in the self-restraint of a madman is not a plan, and it is not an option." Of course, nobody had ever suggested that we just "trust" Saddam Hussein. Bush's people acted as though there were only two options; all-out war or complete inaction. This article has a number of recent examples of Bush's use of this particular propaganda technique. Another example is Paret's so-called NY Times logo, which implies that liberals believe Communism just wasn't given a good enough chance in the 20th century. There are a few people on the far-left fringes who may believe Communism was a good idea, but that has nothing to do with the mainstream of liberal thought. It's always easier to argue with a straw-man than with a real person. - Allen