I'm used to elliptical thinking. I'm used to non sequiturs. I'm used to logic that isn't quite... well... logic at all. All of this comes from hanging around with college-aged people who are learning to be rigorous thinkers. So, it's hard to surprise me in the "unfortunate reasoning" department. But the Bush administration has outdone itself this week -and with nothing like the excuses that young people have for such logical lapses.
Example 1: "...part of Harriet Miers's life is her religion." Well, yeah. But THIS is the culmination of a 10-day spin operation trying to calm religious conservatives, so the implication is that she can be trusted because she is an evangelical Christian. But, when the suggestion was made (from the other side of the aisle) that possibly John Roberts's decisions would be influenced by his Catholicism, that suggestion was vigorously denied. "Personal beliefs have no role whatsoever in decisions that judges make," said White House spokesperson Scot McClellan. So which is it? Or is it that Catholics are expected to put aside their faith when making judicial decisions, but evangelicals are not?
Example 2: Mrs. Bush wants us to consider the possibility that people who are against the appointment of Harriet Miers are motivated by sexism. Ahhh.. No one ELSE is affected by sexism, but Harriet Miers is. Weird. So, undermining the Violence Against Women Act, overriding Title IX equal education provisions, the widening gap in pay betwen men and women, and the continued attacks on reproductive rights.... that's all because Bush is such a feminist? I see.
Example 3: Oh, and PLEASE tell me that he did not claim that Islamic radicalism is led by an elitist, self-appointed vanguard that presumes to speak for the masses. Apparently, says Mr. Bush, Osama bin Laden, raised in privilege and comfort, presumes to tell the masses that his is the path to paradise. And of course he doesn't go along for the dangerous missions. Ummm.... Pot? Kettle? Black? (I suppose technically this isn't a logical lapse -just impolitic in the extreme.)
My brain is starting to hurt. Should we all just find red pens, grade these illogical claims, and send the corrected papers back to the White House?
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