Category Archives: Specious allegations of fallacy

Who loves the ad baculum?

Posted on 4/1/2013 by Scott Aikin

Mallard Fillmore, that’s who. Well, I should say, actually: Who loves to attribute the ad baculum?  This seems a very strange sort piece of communication, one that were it actually true or believed to be true, wouldn’t actually be performed … Continue reading →

Posted in Appeal to Fear/Threat, Narrativism, Specious allegations of fallacy | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Classic Krugman

Posted on 3/6/2013 by John Casey

Check out this video on Bloomberg. The story goes something like this.  In the remark shown on the screen, Paul Krugman cautioned that he is not calling someone a name (via a Monty Python reference lost on the speaker), but … Continue reading →

Posted in Paul Krugman, Specious allegations of fallacy | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Civility for jerks

Posted on 2/18/2013 by Scott Aikin

Mallard Fillmore’s got a nice way to capture the civility problem — with a straw man followed by a  tu quoque! If President Obama charged the Republicans with wanting to kill the elderly and starve the poor, I don’t remember … Continue reading →

Posted in Ad hominem tu quoque, hollow man, Specious allegations of fallacy, Straw Man | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

When ad populum identification itself is a fallacy

Posted on 1/30/2013 by Scott Aikin

Matt Purple has diagnosed the Republican Party with a case of Stockholm Syndrome.  They identify with their oppressors, now.  Specifically, liberal Democrats. Turn on MSNBC these days and you’ll see a non-stop metronome of post-Romney Republican flogging. You want this … Continue reading →

Posted in Appeal to the People, Specious allegations of fallacy, Weak Analogy | Tagged | Leave a comment

Fair share of security

Posted on 1/17/2013 by John Casey

My hypothesis is this: given any opponent O to your view p, your first reaction is to claim that O is inconsistent with regard to p.  So, take Obama, whose first initial happens to be O.  He’s against arming school teachers … Continue reading →

Posted in Specious allegations of fallacy | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Politics and bullshit

Posted on 7/13/2012 by Scott Aikin

Daniel Foster at National Review Online has a well-timed piece on political culture and bullshit.  For the most part, it's a quick essay glossing Harry Frankfurt's views in his classic "On Bullshit".  He's got a few examples that aren't quite … Continue reading →

Posted in Bad Explanations, category mistake, False equivalences, Specious allegations of fallacy | Tagged | 7 Comments

Odd inferences

Posted on 4/3/2012 by John Casey

I don't see the relation between "unarmed black teenager is shot under puzzling and racially charged circumstances" and "black people shoot each other all of the time," but apparently it's become quite a thing.  George Will has even jumped on … Continue reading →

Posted in Argument from Inconsistency, Specious allegations of fallacy | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

With a rebel yell, they cried “Moore, Moore, Moore”

Posted on 11/13/2011 by John Casey

I happened across two related items on the Atlantic Wire, a blog of the Atlantic Monthly.  One reports that liberal filmmaker Michael Moore has a very nice vacation home on the shores of Torch Lake, near Traverse City, MI.  The … Continue reading →

Posted in George Will, Specious allegations of fallacy, Things that are false | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Unpatriotic

Posted on 8/21/2011 by Scott Aikin

In what's good for the gander news, NRO's Jonah Goldberg thinks that President Obama's rhetoric has turned ugly.  He's using patriotism against Republicans.  According to his new stump speech, if you oppose his agenda, then you don’t care about America … Continue reading →

Posted in Appeal to the People, Jonah Goldberg, Specious allegations of fallacy, Things that are false | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

My leadership trackrecord is irrelevant to my leadership

Posted on 8/13/2011 by Scott Aikin

Newt Gingrich replied to Chris Wallace (Fox's only real news reporter), when Wallace asked about Gingrich's staff resigning, alleging that he lacked seriousness or the will to win, (or really the political judgment relevant to governing) as follows: Well, let … Continue reading →

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