Froomkin takes the bait

Dan Froomkin at Washington Post.com praises Jennifer Loven for writing “a whole story on Saturday about Bush’s extensive and generally unchallenged use of straw-man arguments.” Froomkin calls this a “bold departure for the AP.” Loven’s piece is, of course, the one John demolished yesterday. As John demonstrated, the story is bold (though not really a departure) only in its illogic and lack of factual support.

Froomkin’s logic is just as bad. He infers from the fact that Bush uses phrases like “some say,” instead of identifying particular speakers, that Bush is attacking arguments no one made. But as John showed, in the examples selected by Loven (presumably the best ones available) the statements Bush took on had been made by leading Democrats. Thus, the use of the “some say” locution appears to be nothing more than a reflection of Bush’s commendable reluctance to single out particular individuals for presidential criticism.

Via reader Julie Meehan.

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