The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Joe Biden Versus an Army of Straw Men

Posted on | February 8, 2023 | Comments Off on Joe Biden Versus an Army of Straw Men

As previously explained, I did not watch Joe Biden’s State of the Union address because I cannot stand to listen to him for more than a few seconds at a time, and then only as necessary — from a professional perspective — in order to describe and analyze the preposterous bullshit that he habitually spews. My friend Stephen Green, a/k/a Vodkapundit, may be able to consume enough alcohol to enable him to withstand a full hour of Biden’s bullshit, but my liver simply can’t handle that much liquor anymore. So I stayed sober and went to bed early, trusting that this morning Fox News would play plenty enough clips of Biden’s speech to make my blood boil. The part that most enraged me was this, and here I’ll quote the text of Biden’s prepared remarks:

Some of my Republican friends want to take the economy hostage unless I agree to their economic plans. All of you at home should know what their plans are.
Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset every five years.
That means if Congress doesn’t vote to keep them, those programs will go away.
Other Republicans say if we don’t cut Social Security and Medicare, they’ll let America default on its debt for the first time in our history.
I won’t let that happen.
Social Security and Medicare are a lifeline for millions of seniors.
Americans have been paying into them with every single paycheck since they started working.
So tonight, let’s all agree to stand up for seniors. Stand up and show them we will not cut Social Security. We will not cut Medicare.
Those benefits belong to the American people. They earned them.
If anyone tries to cut Social Security, I will stop them. And if anyone tries to cut Medicare, I will stop them.
I will not allow them to be taken away.

Is anyone actually proposing to “take away” these benefits? No, and it certainly is not part of the Republican congressional agenda, which is why they began booing and heckling him during this part of the speech, so that what Biden actually said was transcribed this way:

So my — many of — some of my Republican friends want to take the economy hostage — I get it — unless I agree to their economic plans. All of you at home should know what those plans are.
Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans — some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset. I’m not saying it’s a majority —
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE PRESIDENT: Let me give you —
AUDIENCE: No!
THE PRESIDENT: Anybody who doubts it, contact my office. I’ll give you a copy. I’ll give you a copy of the proposal.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Liar!
THE PRESIDENT: That means Congress doesn’t vote —
Well, I’m glad to see — no, I tell you, I enjoy conversion. (Laughter.)
You know, it means if Congress doesn’t keep the programs the way they are, they’d go away.
Other Republicans say — I’m not saying it’s a majority of you. I don’t even think it’s a significant —
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: — but it’s being proposed by individuals.
I’m not — politely not naming them, but it’s being proposed by some of you.
(Cross-talk in the audience.)
THE PRESIDENT: Look, folks, the idea is that we’re not going to be — we’re not going to be moved into being threatened to default on the debt if we don’t respond. (Applause.)
Folks — (applause) — so, folks, as we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare is off the — off the books now, right? (Applause.) They’re not to be touched? (Applause.)
All right. All right. We got unanimity! (Applause.)
Social Security and Medicare are a lifeline for millions of seniors. Americans have to pay into them from the very first paycheck they’ve started.
So, tonight, let’s all agree — and we apparently are — let’s stand up for seniors. (Applause.) Stand up and show them we will not cut Social Security. We will not cut Medicare.
Those benefits belong to the American people. They earned it. And if anyone tries to cut Social Security — which apparently no one is going to do — (laughter and applause) — and if anyone tries to cut Medicare, I’ll stop them. I’ll veto it. (Applause.)
And, look, I’m not going to allow them to take away — be taken away. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever.
But apparently, it’s not going to be a problem. (Laughter and applause.)

Now, this back-and-forth between Biden and the GOP hecklers — it was apparently Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene who shouted “liar!” — makes for entertaining TV, which is why this clip was replayed endlessly on the cable news channels today, but the real point is the dishonesty of Biden’s rhetoric. Notice how he frames the alternatives: “Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share” — i.e., Biden’s proposal — what he accuses Republicans of doing is a scheme to “take the economy hostage” and “default on the debt” unless Medicare and Social Security are eliminated.

NO REPUBLICAN IS PROPOSING ANY SUCH THING!

Furthermore, and this is important, Biden’s demand that “the wealthy pay their fair share” will do nothing to stabilize Medicare and Social Security, both of which programs are headed toward bankruptcy. As more and more Baby Boomers retire, there simply will not be enough workers still paying taxes to maintain benefits for the elderly at their current levels. Something must be done to fix this problem, and making “the wealthy pay their fair share” ain’t gonna cut it. Even if the government were to seize every penny of the wealth of every billionaire in America, it would’t be enough to fix the multi-trillion-dollar actuarial gap at the heart of the Medicare/Social Security budget problem.

Students of rhetoric would, first of all, notice how Biden is setting up a false dilemma, as if the only possible choices are either (a) to do exactly as Biden wishes, in terms of “making the wealthy pay their fair share,” or (b) having Republicans “take the economy hostage” with dire consequences. This ignores entirely the possibility of (c) finding a compromise in negotiations over the debt ceiling, which is what Biden’s melodramatic language is ultimately about. Biden’s actual position is that no federal program should ever be denied a cent of what Democrats propose to spend on it, so that the size of the federal budget must continue to grow infinitely, without any reference to the ability of taxpayers to keep up the ever-increasing cost. When this Democratic Party agenda of perpetually expanding the federal government encounters any pushback at all from Republicans, Biden automatically resorts to accusing them of wanting to starve Grandma to death.

Notice that Biden’s use of this false dilemma rhetoric wasn’t just something he ad-libbed, but rather that it was written in the prepared text of his speech, so that this logical fallacy would seem to be the official policy stance of the White House. Sic semper hoc.

Democrats have been playing this rhetorical trick forever, certainly as far back as LBJ’s slanderous campaign against Goldwater, and the reason they keep doing it is because (a) Democratic voters are stupid enough to believe it and (b) the media will never call them out for it.

“A straw man fallacy . . . is a form of argument and an informal fallacy of having the impression of refuting an argument, whereas the real subject of the argument was not addressed or refuted, but instead replaced with a false one.”

Obama was the all-time King of Straw Man Arguments, forever accusing Republicans of supporting things they did not support in order to dismiss their opposition to his own policy agenda or their criticism of his actions. Scott Johnson pointed this out in 2016:

Obama is impassioned as he responds to his critics. Message: he cares. He cares to reiterate that he has it right and isn’t going to let events make him rethink his ways. . . . He is sarcastic and angry. He is condescending. He wags his finger as he lectures his critics. The straw man is the essential tool of his oratory.

Ted Cruz noted the same tendency in 2015:

“[Obama] has exacerbated racial misunderstandings, racial tensions . . . And, part of the problem is the way he advocates for any given plan, is to build a straw man of the opposition and then to vilify their position. So that, in the president’s telling, anyone who opposes Obamacare wants people to be denied healthcare and to get sick and pass away. That’s the only reason someone could oppose Obamacare, is because you malevolently want people to suffer. When you come to the Iran deal, anyone that opposes this terrible Iran deal, must be because they want war.”

This is why policy debate has become impossible, because Democrats simply won’t engage in honest debate about real alternatives, but instead resort to slandering their opponents, falsely accusing them of malign motives and mischaracterizing their policy proposals, in order to promote a narrative of heroic Democrats battling against evil Republicans.

So, no, I didn’t watch the State of the Union Address, because listening to Biden only makes me angry and, having expended 1,500 words venting my spleen about this one small segment of his speech, I’ll go back to my habitual policy of ignoring that dishonest son of a bitch.



 

 

Category: Joe Biden

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