RoR: Forum

The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the GOP’s Soul
by Mike Flynn

...To Big Media, conservatism comes in only one flavor, social conservatism, namely anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage and a smattering of other issues that would fall flat over canapés and seltzer (liberals don’t seem to drink anymore). That Dede was pro-choice and pro-gay marriage fits the narrative perfectly for the media. End of story.

But, the media, and political leaders would be wise to dig a bit deeper into the story. Yes, Dede was pro-choice and pro-gay marriage, but she was also pro-government spending, pro-taxes and pro-Big Labor, to name just a few other issues. When a Republican candidate regularly seeks out the endorsement of ACORN and wins the endorsement of DailyKos, it isn’t much of a stretch to imagine that large segments of the party might have some misgivings about supporting the candidate. (And they would be right, since she has now endorsed the Democrat in the race.)...

Post 21

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - 12:11am

Latest FOX poll shows Hoffman with a 15 point lead.

The fact that the actual vote showed Hoffman losing by about 4 points (link here: http://www.politico.com) would indicate that FOX news ought to change their slogan to "Fair, balanced, but not particularly accurate."

Well, more like "More fair and balanced than MSNBC, which isn't saying bloody much, and not particularly accurate, either."

But that lacks brevity. ;)

Post 22

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - 5:47am

Oh, that's brilliant. As if Fox were the only organization to poll differently from the results, or as if Fox news was inaccurate in all its polls, or as if the fact that many who switched to supporting Hoffman hadn't already voted absentee for Scozzafava.

Anarchists and Libertarians claim to be principled. Well, if Schadenfreude is a principle, your integrity, Jim, is unbroached.

Post 23

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - 11:56am

Jim, nice argument by selective observation

Post 24

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - 3:32pm

John A., I suggest caution about linking to that webpage. :-) Scroll down a bit to Inconsistency. The example is an example of argument by selective observation. For example, the countries with the lowest infant mortality rates aren't communist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_infant_mortality_rate

(Edited by Merlin Jetton on 11/05, 5:58am)

Post 25

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - 5:54pm

That is a great resource!

Post 26

Thursday, November 5, 2009 - 8:44am

Hi Merlin, the link I gave is a list of logical fallacies, to make the most of that site it should only be viewed as such, and not as a source for empirical knowledge.

The point of the inconsistency fallacy in that example is suggesting a causal link to a correlation when contradictory evidence suggests no credible causal link (not consistently looking at the correlations for early deaths). To give an example where this is true with accurate data, I'll try to employ a different inconsistent argument.

Canada has a higher life expectancy than the United States because of Canada's system of socialized medicine, but Canada's higher rate of early deaths from cancer than the United States is not a failure of socialized medicine.

Post 27

Thursday, November 5, 2009 - 9:09am

Re #21: that Fox poll was taken a day or two after Scozzafava dropped out and before she endorsed the Democrat. It may have been accurate at the time, wherever the voters went in the ensuing week.

Post 28

Thursday, November 5, 2009 - 4:59pm

John, thanks for the list of fallacious arguments. Bookmarked it, and sanctioned your post.

I look forward to using this list against some of your arguments in the future. ;)

Post 29

Thursday, November 5, 2009 - 6:25pm