Northern Valley Beacon

During the 2004 campaign, we grew tiresome to many people with our constant refrain that Democrats need to rely on fact-checking and exposing rhetorical fallacies of the other side, and make damned sure Democrats do not commit the same propagandic sins. But the campaign advisers kept looking at what was winning elections and followed the Republican tactics that nearly unseated Tim Johnson and did unseat Max Cleland in Georgia. Well, some groups still are following that bad advice.

Jason Spitalnick, a second year law student at Harvard, has this post at TPM Cafe. Hey, Democrats, this kind of rhetorical shysterism is what we so soundly condemn in the other party. We vote for Factcheck.org.


NARAL Pro-choice America is running an anti-Roberts ad that accuses John Roberts of filing a brief in support of abortion clinic bombers. Factcheck.org, a non-partisan project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, claims “the ad is false.”

The key passage:

The ad uses the classic tactic of guilt by association, linking Roberts with "violent fringe groups" and a "convicted . . . bomber" because he made the same legal arguments as they did in the case. But, contrary to the ad's message, Roberts didn't argue in favor of them or their actions.”