Democrats and the False Dichotomy (a.k.a. the False Dilemma) via Matt Yglesias (I saw this yesterday but did not think about it until he framed it the way he did)
One of the most annoying things about Democrats is that they are never called to the carpet over their lies and half-truths. The media never requires them to back up their assertions with evidence, and for some reason Republicans sit idly by and let the Democrats spout off at the mouth without ever challenging them. I still think this is because the media is so unfriendly to Republicans, and also because of the Newt effect- Democrats so successfully portrayed all Republicans as mean and angry that they are terrified to appear that way. Whatever the reason, Democrats are literally getting away with murder every time they open their mouths.
One of the most annoying perceptions is the false dilemma they have currently created regarding Republicans and the business community. A false dilemma is a logical fallacy that limits the number of options in an argument to two, while in reality, there may be any number of options. For example, the statement “You are either with us, or against us,” is a perfect example of a logical fallacy.
The Democrats have skillfully employed their lazy friends in the media as puppets to help put into place in the mindset two wonderful false dilemmas. Somehow or another, the Democrats have managed to convince people that being pro-business means that you are anti-consumer or anti-worker. It is a ludicrous assertion, but it is what the Democrats are banking on.
The other false dilemma they have created is that of choice in parties- The false dilemma is that if Republicans are pro-business, then Democrats must be pro-worker or pro-consumer. However, results of a new poll show that half of the public thinks that Democrats are too much in bed with big business.
Once you realize these fallacies are in place, two things become crystal clear:
1.) The manner with which mainstream media aids and abets the Democrats in their lies is appalling. The fact that this poll info is buried at almost the end of the NY Times and not headline news (like, for example, when the smug Joe Lieberman comes on Hardball and starts lying about Republicans, why did Matthews not bring this up?) is maddening- in fact, on MSNBC, they merely reported the perceptions of Republicans and did not even mention Democrats.
2.) The Democrat strategy for 2002 becomes crystal clear. The President is simply too popular to run against, so rather than attempt to refute his positions, it is necessary to attempt to knock him down a little. Hence the zeal with which everything must become Enron related (remember how they tried to attach everything to this administration), why it is important that we re-open a 12 year old investigation into Harken, why we start this Halliburton nonsense (how many shareholders in Halliburton have the Democrats really screwed in the last couple of weeks with their rhetoric- Since June 1st the stock has dropped from nineteen to 12.85 at its close yesterday- how about those employee’s retirement portfolios- is your political smear more important than their retirement? I guess they do have your precious social security with its generous $500.00 a month benefits).