Brad DeLong gets snippy:
Bill Bennett is a hypocrite, a loathsome fungus on the tree of American politics, a man who has worked unceasingly to make America a worse place--when he's not publishing the work of others under his own name, or rolling the dice at Las Vegas while claiming that America's poor would be rich if only they had the righteousness and moral fiber than he does. But Bill Bennett is not afflicted with genocidal fantasies about ethnically cleansing African-Americans. The claim that he is is completely, totally wrong.You loathesome tree fungus, you! I think that deserves a t-shirt. Professor DeLong tells the interesting tale of why someone thought Bennett has genocidal fantasies, and how they misunderstood what Bennett was actually saying. Then DeLong has some good advice about radio:
Bennett is attempting a reductio ad absurdum argument. Never attempt a reductio ad absurdum argument on talk radio. You can't keep exact control over your phrasing in real time, and so somebody is bound to think you are endorsing the horrible absurdity that you are rejecting.Wow, what non-obvious, but obviously good, advice. That reminds me that this neat dictionary of rhetorical terms--Silva Rhetoricae--might come in handy. Found via Scratchings.
