Monday, September 18, 2006
Pundit RhetIraq: Froomkin on Bush's Straw Man Arguments
Who: Dan Froomkin, Washington Post Columnist
Source: The Washington Post
Quotes: From article titled, "Torture Is All in the Subtext"
Here's an astonishing exchange from the Rose Garden on Friday:
"Q Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, former Secretary of State Colin Powell says the world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism. If a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former Secretary of State feels this way, don't you think that Americans and the rest of the world are beginning to wonder whether you're following a flawed strategy?"
Bush's response was a straw-man argument.
"THE PRESIDENT: If there's any comparison between the compassion and decency of the American people and the terrorist tactics of extremists, it's flawed logic. I simply can't accept that. It's unacceptable to think that there's any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective."
It would have been worthwhile if someone at the news conference had followed up with something like this:
"In your response to the question about Colin Powell's statement that 'the world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism' you made it sound like Powell was saying we were as bad as the terrorists, and you got very angry. But that's not even remotely what Powell was saying. He's simply saying that by pretty universal moral standards, your actions are questionable. Could you please respond to that critique, rather than to a made-up one?"
No one did.
Here's what Bush had to say about all the attempts he's made in the past to link Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda: "I never said there was an operational relationship."
And he put forth yet another straw man, in response to a question about those statements: "I would hope people aren't trying to rewrite the history of Saddam Hussein -- all of a sudden, he becomes kind of a benevolent fellow."
Source: The Washington Post
Quotes: From article titled, "Torture Is All in the Subtext"
Here's an astonishing exchange from the Rose Garden on Friday:
"Q Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, former Secretary of State Colin Powell says the world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism. If a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former Secretary of State feels this way, don't you think that Americans and the rest of the world are beginning to wonder whether you're following a flawed strategy?"
Bush's response was a straw-man argument.
"THE PRESIDENT: If there's any comparison between the compassion and decency of the American people and the terrorist tactics of extremists, it's flawed logic. I simply can't accept that. It's unacceptable to think that there's any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective."
It would have been worthwhile if someone at the news conference had followed up with something like this:
"In your response to the question about Colin Powell's statement that 'the world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism' you made it sound like Powell was saying we were as bad as the terrorists, and you got very angry. But that's not even remotely what Powell was saying. He's simply saying that by pretty universal moral standards, your actions are questionable. Could you please respond to that critique, rather than to a made-up one?"
No one did.
Here's what Bush had to say about all the attempts he's made in the past to link Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda: "I never said there was an operational relationship."
And he put forth yet another straw man, in response to a question about those statements: "I would hope people aren't trying to rewrite the history of Saddam Hussein -- all of a sudden, he becomes kind of a benevolent fellow."
