Lately I've been thinking of making some modifications to my usual practice here. One thought is that I should wander into some of the darker corners of the internet (by which I mean the National Review or Ann Coulter's website–if she has one, but she probably does). One reason for this is that it's a … Continue reading 3/5ths
Lately I've been in a kind of why-bother mood. Has the world of political discourse been particularly foul lately? It's hard to say. It's certainly true that the imminent (maybe today!) health-care legislation has driven many around the bend. For too many people who ought to know better, this corporate-friendly legislation is basically communism. Pointing out that such people have constructed … Continue reading It’s not sporting
George Will should not use the phrase "non sequitur." He writes: Some liberals argue that the Constitution is unconstitutional. Their reasoning is a non sequitur: The Constitution empowers each chamber to "determine the rules of its proceedings." It requires five supermajorities (for ratifying treaties, endorsing constitutional amendments, overriding vetoes, expelling members and impeachment convictions). Therefore … Continue reading Their reasoning is a non sequitur
Now that a Democrat is President, some Republicans and other conservatives have rediscovered the fine art of logical analysis. I think that is something we ought to applaud. But their memories are short and their skills are rusty. Take for example the following pot-and-kettle peice from a former speechwriter to George W. Bush, Noam Neusner. … Continue reading Some say
Today's Washington Post features two articles about how bad Health Care reform is for us all from guest columnists, an article about awesome natural gas, and two of the regulars (Krauthammer and Gerson) gloating about the recent victories in the historically momentous off-off year governor elections in Virginia and New Jersey. For Krauthammer, these victories … Continue reading A time to gloat
Here is an extract from the Republican response to President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress: It's clear the American people want health care reform, but they want their elected leaders to get it right. Most Americans wanted to hear the President tell Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid and the rest of Congress … Continue reading You lie
The very idea of hate crimes laws drives some people deeply into the forest of confusion, where they forget that speech and belief is punished all of the time, and that doing so is not some kind of violation of one's constitutional rights. One's constitutional rights have some common sense limits: I cannot shout "fire" … Continue reading Slippery McCoy
I'm sure Stephen L. Carter is a smart guy, but his opinion piece in the Washington Post today is unquestionably silly. Here's how it begins: A specter is haunting America: the specter of profit. We have become fearful that somewhere, somehow, an evil corporation has found a way to make lots of money. Ok–who can … Continue reading Profits good
William Safire was one of the inspirations for this site. No, not for his semi-erudite columns on language, but rather for the consistent sloppiness of his arguments in his op-ed columns. He retired from op-ed writing shortly after we started this blog (almost five years ago!), so that was it for him, for us. But … Continue reading Safire on straw men
I was out of town for the weekend when Helene Cooper's abysmal analysis piece (On Obama's "straw men") appeared in the New York Times, so I'll pretty much just point everyone to discussions of it elsewhere. It seems to have been largely written by Fred Barnes, a conservative columnist who has long been griping about … Continue reading New York Times tries Critical Thinking 101 and then fails it