Republican (Tom Cotton) who floated virus conspiracy says 'common sense has been my guide'

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Republican who floated virus conspiracy says 'common sense has been my guide'

Tom Cotton told Fox News he did not believe virus originated in Wuhan market and said bioweapons link should not be ruled out

Martin Pengelly
@MartinPengelly
Sat 11 Apr 2020 21.51 BST
Last modified on Sun 12 Apr 2020 00.05 BST

A Republican senator who floated a conspiracy theory which said the Chinese government created Covid-19 in a weapons lab claimed on Saturday that since he first learned of the outbreak, in mid-January, “common sense has been my guide”.

The Covid-19 outbreak began in the Chinese city of Wuhan, but has spread globally and by Saturday evening had killed more people in America, nearly 20,000, than in any other country. White House public health experts have said they currently expect a death toll of around 60,000 in the United States.

On Saturday, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a foreign policy hardliner, wrote on Twitter: “Since I first learned of the Wuhan coronavirus in mid-January, common sense has been my guide.

“Not Chinese communist lies. Not ‘the models’. Not so-called ‘public-health experts’. Just common sense. Many elected leaders have also been guided by common sense. Others haven’t.”

The virus is believed to have originated in a market in Wuhan in which wild animals were sold. But in an appearance on Fox News in February, Cotton floated a conspiracy theory which suggests the virus was manufactured in a Chinese bioweapons facility.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/11/republican-tom-cotton-coronavirus-china

[DFW]

1. Cotton needs to take the cotton out of his ears. He must not be hearing too well.

His guide RHYMES with common sense, but is really the opposite: Mike Pence.

Not the greatest of guides, if you ask me...........

[struggle4progress]

2. Well, I heard the epidemic can be traced back to Tom Cotton and

his hatred of America -- and that sounds to me like good common sense

[Sherman A1]

3. A quality in which The "Esteemed" Senator

Is sorely lacking.

[neeksgeek]

4. I'm not sure which part of Logic 101 taught...

That adding the phrase “common sense” to your argument automatically makes it a valid argument.

digs out the old logic textbook...

Oh here it is, right in there with all the other fallacies.

https://scienceornot.net/2014/02/06/the-appeal-to-common-sense-garbage-in-the-guise-of-gumption/