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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (281378)	3/23/2006 6:46:01 AM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574005

re: Bush Using Straw-Man Arguments in Speeches Somebody noticed!

To: tejek who wrote (281378)	3/24/2006 3:58:18 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1574005

Of course, hardly anyone in mainstream political debate has made such assertions. In reference to - "Some say that if you're Muslim you can't be free." - You may have a point. Few argue that. OTOH some do say that the Arab's in general or the Iraqi's in particular are not ready for freedom and democracy, but you still have something of a point because its not exactly the same thing. Whether you would call Bush's statement a straw man argument or whether you would just call it imprecise is a matter of interpretation, but either its not positive for Bush. He is either being at slightly dishonest by using a straw man argument or he is being sloppy with his words. In reference to - "Some look at the challenges in Iraq and conclude that the war is lost and not worth another dime or another day." I think Bush is right. Some do indeed argue that. In reference to - "who believe that the federal government ought to be the decider of health care ... for all people." Again Bush is right, some do argue for either a strict single payer system, or true nationalized health care. Both of which would amount to the federal government making many health care decisions "for all people". All of which doesn't mean that he doesn't use the straw man tactic. I think I could find examples where he does if I looked for them. I think he, like many politicians, uses the tactic. I just think two of Loven's examples are inaccurate. Bush has caricatured the other side for years, trying to tilt legislative debates in his favor or score election-season points with voters. True, but so has just about everyone else in Washington. Not much of a defense of Bush, as much as it is saying "a pox on all their houses", on this issue. Last fall, the rhetorical tool became popular with Bush when the debate heated up over when troops would return from Iraq. "Some say perhaps we ought to just pull out of Iraq," he told GOP supporters in October, echoing similar lines from other speeches. "That is foolhardy policy." Yet even the speediest plan, as advocated by only a few Democrats, suggested not an immediate drawdown, but one over six months. Six months is pretty much just "pulling out of Iraq". It is an orderly pullout rather than a headlong retreat, but I don't think Bush argued that people where calling for a frantic headlong immediate retreat. Bush has suggested they are big-spenders who want to raise taxes, because most oppose extending some of his earlier tax cuts, and protectionists who do not want to open global markets to American goods, when most oppose free-trade deals that lack protections for labor and the environment. Rolling back a tax cut is a tax increase. Requiring extensive protections for labor and the environment in trade talks is fairly protectionist. OTOH Bush has little business calling other people "big spenders". At best its the pot calling the kettle black. Tim