Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Be Careful with Blanket Statements (Though I Sometimes Use them Myself)

So, I saw this story over at Huffington Post regarding an op-ed that former Congressman (and current TV pundit) Joe Scarborough wrote over at Politico.  Scarborough's op-ed hammered the "American Left" for hypocrisy over President Obama's actions in Libya.  That's fine.  Hypocrisy stories are always the rage, when they are proven correct. 

Now the Huffington Post story I read, written by Jason Linkins, analyzed Scarborough's claim, and found some problems (even down to the names of people and organizations Scarborough specifically cited).  The central problem appeared to be that Scarborough opted to use his broad brush for the charge of hypocrisy, when a comb might have been more beneficial to his overall argument.  I've fallen into that trap myself, and have been called on it (as I should have been).

I've linked to both articles.  Check them out.  I think Linkins is on the money here.

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