Be calm in arguing, for fierceness makes error a fault and truth discourtesy. —George Herbert
Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.–Mark Twain
I’ll sing like a bird.–John Dean
I’m all in favor of serious discussion that’s based on facts from reliable sources. Allusions, anecdotes, and sound bites? Not so much.–constituent comment on Tom Reed’s facebook page 12/11/18
Silly arguments in favor of a Southern border wall seen or heard on facebook:
- A country without a border is not a country!
- A wall will keep drugs out.
- A wall is the “proper tool for the job.”
- Opposition is “political.”
- Most Americans want it.
- GOP added seats in the Senate.
- A wall is like a front door.
- Obama did what he did, so Trump can have his wall.
- It needn’t be a concrete wall; it could be a steel wall.–Tom Reed
- No one really wants a long wall, so a short wall is a reasonable compromise.–Tom Reed
Silly arguments heard on TV news:
- Trump is a good President, so his crimes don’t matter. –Senator Hatch
- Cohen’s conviction has nothing to do with Russia, so it doesn’t matter.
- It’s all Cohen’s fault–as a lawyer he should have known better than to do as asked.
- Campaign finance violations, if any, are no big deal.
- The Logan Act has seldom if ever been enforced, so violations don’t matter.
- Campaign officials’ communications with the Russian government, if there were any, were all proper.
- If Congress should move to impeach, it would only reflect dirty politics rather than “dirty deeds.”
- What about Hillary Clinton?
Tom Reed’s view, that there is little substance to current political debates, which are no more than “political theater,” is fishy. Will we agree to spend billions based on political theater? If we do, it won’t be the first time.
Theater, along with other arts and sciences, might help guide us if is honest theater, more than allusions, anecdotes, and sound bites.
New NY 23rd 
One of the ideas floated by “pundits” on Fox and MSNBC is that the GOP “won” the Senate. Hardly. Only 34 seats were up for election in the Senate. Of those, the GOP won 10, the Dems won 24. How is that a “victory”?
Of course, the funniest claim is that there is no evidence of a crime by Trump. Well, since the investigation is not complete no one knows whether or not Trump committed crimes. Cohen seems to claim he did. So did the federal judge in NYC. But until Mueller issues his report we just don’t know.
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That the GOP will retain control of the Senate is a fact; “adding seats is a victory” is a talking point; “adding seats implies we should build a wall” is a “non sequitur.”
The Democrats’ talking point, “if Mexico will pay for a wall, no appropriation is needed” is obfuscation–Dems know full well that the premise is false. The idea that a bad idea becomes good if someone else will pay is just silly.
Tom Reed made these silly arguments on MSNBC.
Tom was once outspoken against “wasteful spending” (a talking point), but not so much anymore.
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“What the President advocated before the election must be done after the election, however foolish or dangerous” is perhaps the silliest of all.
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