A remarkable standard-issue AP report:

Not billed as opinion, but merely by an Associated Press Writer, is this: Bush Using Straw-Man Arguments in Speeches

It neatly summarizes the many instances where Bush attributes an outlandish opinion to "some people", which Bush 'sensibly' opposes. One excerpt:

When the president starts a sentence with "some say" or offers up what "some in Washington" believe, as he is doing more often these days, a rhetorical retort almost assuredly follows.

The device usually is code for Democrats or other White House opponents. In describing what they advocate, Bush often omits an important nuance or substitutes an extreme stance that bears little resemblance to their actual position.

He typically then says he "strongly disagrees" — conveniently knocking down a straw man of his own making.

Bush routinely is criticized for dressing up events with a too-rosy glow. But experts in political speech say the straw man device, in which the president makes himself appear entirely reasonable by contrast to supposed "critics," is just as problematic.

Because the "some" often go unnamed, Bush can argue that his statements are true in an era of blogs and talk radio. Even so, "'some' suggests a number much larger than is actually out there," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

A specialist in presidential rhetoric, Wayne Fields of Washington University in St. Louis, views it as "a bizarre kind of double talk" that abuses the rules of legitimate discussion.

"It's such a phenomenal hole in the national debate that you can have arguments with nonexistent people," Fields said. "All politicians try to get away with this to a certain extent. What's striking here is how much this administration rests on a foundation of this kind of stuff."

Of course, another term for "using a straw-man" in speeches is to call it "lying".

UPDATE: Best post in the associated Yahoo message board:

Some Say - Sex With KIds Is OK...

...but I say vote the Republicans out this November!

posted by Quiddity at 3/19/2006 05:15:00 PM