Republicans LOVE The False Equivalency Game

[ChoppinBroccoli]

I made a sarcastic post on my Facebook page about how Michelle Bachmann didn't know the difference between John Wayne and John Wayne Gacy, and I got a smart-ass response from some half-wit acquaintance from high school who always chimes in on my posts (for what reason, I have yet to figure out, because I didn't even really know her all that well in high school). Her response was, "Yeah, just like Obama didn't realize there are only 50 states!! I think the dems can match the republicans gaff for gaff...no one's political platforms should be measured by misspoken trivia." (Printed verbatim in order to illustrate the level of intelligence I'm dealing with here)

Well, I've had about all I want to take of this person, so I decided to return fire. Here was my response to her: "As long as Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Failin continue to speak, Republicans will always win the Gaffe-Off by about a 10-to-1 margin. False equivalencies CAN be fun, until you analyze them. Funny how you had to reach back 4 years to find yours, but I've got about a dozen of them just from the last week. Let's see, if we're going to do the list, should I start with Paul Revere or John Quincy Adams? Just so many choices."

And after I posted it, I started to realize that this is such a common tactic from right-wingers. The false equivalency. Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann are exactly the same. MSNBC is exactly the same as Faux News. All politicians make mistakes, do or say stupid things, are corrupt or dishonest. What have you. It's getting to the point of becoming absolutely sickening.

Sometimes I really do feel like Sisyphus. It's like, you work and work and work all day long, just pushing your boulder of truth up that mountain, only to have the right-wing noise machine fire up and knock it all the way back down to the bottom again. It really does feel like a constant battle that we're doomed to lose sometimes.

[JHB]

1. I've called it "lazy cynicism"...

...that "meh, they all do it" attitude, which justifies going with the one that appeals to their feelings/prejudices//fears/annoyances, and overlooking corruption on their side because there's no difference. If nothing else, that's an easier view than sweating the details.

But 75-25 is not equal.

[Ohio Joe]

2. The False Equivalency lies in belief

President Obama never tried to convince anyone there are really 57 states (or whatever number was in his mis-statement). Palin and Bachmann double down on their mis-statements and stick by them. Palin stood pat and tried to convince people of her Revere fantasies. Bachmann tried to stick with John Quincy Adams being a founding father.

It is true that everyone makes gaffs but these two in particular always stand by theirs and try to make them reality.

[Scuba]

3. Good response. Thanks.