In an article in Scientific American about media bias, Yvonne Raley and Robert Talisse write:

One common method of spinning information is the so-called straw man argument. In this tactic, a person summarizes the opposition’s position inaccurately so as to weaken it and then refutes that inaccurate rendition. In a November 2005 speech, for example, President George W. Bush responded to questions about pulling troops out of Iraq by saying, “We’ve heard some people say, pull them out right now. That’s a huge mistake. It’d be a terrible mistake. It sends a bad message to our troops, and it sends a bad message to our enemy, and it sends a bad message to the Iraqis.” The statement that unnamed “people” are advocating a troop withdrawal from Iraq “right now” is a straw man, because it exaggerates the opposing viewpoint. Not even the most stalwart Bush adversaries backed an immediate troop withdrawal.

Funny, I remember hearing this from John Edwards on Sept. 11 2007: ” For over a year, I have called for an immediate withdrawal of 40-50,000 troops—not by next summer, but today.”

Hillary Rodham Clinton has called for immediate troop withdrawals. Dennis Kucinich has called for immediate troop withdrawals. Barack Obama told the Washington Post he wants all combat brigades out of Iraq by next March, which means that the retreat would have to start immediately. Thousands of people have marched under the banner “U.S. Out of Iraq Now” and dozens of Democratic worthies have addressed those crowds and endorsed that sentiment. Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has called for an immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq (and pretty much everywhere else, too). So how can one write: ”Not even the most stalwart Bush adversaries backed an immediate troop withdrawal”? Now, I’ve always suspected that John Edwards is made of straw, but Hillary and Ron Paul and Denny Kucinich are not straw men. Neither is Rep. Jack Murtha, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the entire nation of France, or a wavering but substantial plurality of the American electorate. Lots of people back an immediate troop withdrawal. Google “immediate troop withdrawal” and find out.

Has Scientific American given up on the idea of evidence? Will they rename their journal Evidence-Free Assertion American?

UPDATE: A reader points out that I’m quoting a 2007 Edwards speech as evidence for something Bush said in 2005. Point taken, of course, but it’s not as though there weren’t people calling for an immediate withdrawal of troops in 2005, too. Murtha was among them, as were many others.

UPDATE 2: Among those calling for an immediate pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq before Bush gave the speech in question were the 16 members of Congress who signed the “Bring the Troops Home Now” letter to Bush on 12 January 2005. They included Alcee Hastings, Jesse Jackson Jr., Dennis Kucinich, Barbara Lee, Pete Stark–the usual suspects. Not to mention the “Bring Them Home Now Tour” of 2005. All straw men?