We've all seen the "straw man" argument over and over. You know, when someone says "Ice cream tastes good," and somebody else comes along and says: "So you're telling me that a crap souffle doesn't taste good?!? I've had crap souffles, and you're being highly insulting to the crap industry." Usually, for good measure, there's the addition of something like, "It's no more than I'd expect from an anti-crap Dairy man like you."
Everybody gets all mad and dust flies, and when all is said and done, you end up with some ice cream, a crap souffle and a black eye. Deep, deep stuff.
But I'm fascinated by this find from TPMTV, in which Sen. Thune (R-S.D.) practices a related form. I'd call it the "let's change the subject to something totally irrelevant but mildly amusing for no good reason" gambit, although there's a much snappier name for it in classical argument. Some of the debate about the stimulus bill is mighty healthy and, of course, entirely necessary. But Sen. Thune is here to show us exactly how to… well, it just turns out, for this portion of the debate, that a trillion dollars is a lot of money. No, like, a lot of money. I just hope he goes on to say we shouldn't spend it willy-nilly and moves to the next salient point…
