The Ixthus is a Red Herring

On today’s show, Bob took issue with Sen. Barbara Boxer and her aggressive questioning of Condoleezza Rice before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Boxer wanted to know exactly what sacrifices Rice has made in support of the Iraqi occupation. In defending military families, Boxer asked, "Who pays the price? I'm not going to pay a personal price…my kids are too old, and my grandchild is too young." In speaking directly to Secretary of State Rice, Boxer added, "You're not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, with an immediate family."

This really rankled Bob.

However, when average Americans are asked to sacrifice their lives, demanding our leaders tell us exactly what they’ve sacrificed is a perfectly legitimate question.

Instead of dealing with our leaders and their non-existent sacrifices, Bob attacked Senator Boxer. He attacked her for being disrespectful to the Secretary of State. Furthermore, he stated that real feminists should laud Condoleezza Rice. Condi should be celebrated her because she is the feminist ideal: A single woman without children who has succeeded in the world of men.

So Bob concludes that Senator Boxer, and all feminists, should congratulate Rice, and celebrate her accomplishments instead of being intellectually dishonest.

Step back and notice what Bob did here: Instead of dealing with the legitimate issue, he launched a tu quoque attack. For those of you who don’t know, the tu quoque attack is a fallacy in which the "attacker attempts to defend oneself or another from criticism by turning the critique back against the accuser. This is a classic Red Herring…”

Because Bob didn't want to deal with the issue that Senator Boxer raised, Bob diverted attention by attacking the Senator and all feminists.

Bob uses this attack because he’s attempting to prevent actual criticism of himself and ideas he supports. By attacking feminists and claiming they are using a double standard, Bob gets to cluck his tongue and accuses everyone else of being intellectually dishonest.

And Bob does this a lot.

When examining the issue Congressional spending for embryonic stem cell research, Bob attacks by claiming embryonic stem cell research isn’t illegal, it’s just not funded by the Government. And instead of changing the law, the Hollywood millionaires should donate money for the research and not spend Bob’s precious tax dollars on “killing babies.” Bob doesn't need to invite actual discussion about Congressional spending because those damn liberals in Hollywood are the being dishonest.

When dealing with Congressional corruption, Bob attacks the Democrats for not letting Republicans participate in the first 100 legislative hours, instead of dealing with the most corrupt Congress in American history.

So my advice is this: If you listen to Bob, go fishing. I guarantee you can feed a crowd of 5000 with all the red herrings that Bob spawns.