Logical Fallacies in the Debate
Question
Where do you stand on the
Federal Recovery Act?
Are there fundamental
differences Sen. John
McCain and Barack Obama
on how to solve the
financial crisis?
As President, what are you
going to have to sacrifice in
order to pay for the
financial reform plan?
What do you see as the
lessons of Iraq?
John McCain
Example:
1. Red Herring – Instead of
answering the question
about whether he supported
the act, Sen. McCain talked
about how Republicans and
Democrats were working
together.
2. Circular Logic - He
repeatedly talks about his
hopes for the American
worker, making a difference
to change the country.
1.Red Herring- instead of
attacking financial crisis
issue and how to solve it he
talks about the magnitude
of the crisis
2.Red herring- “This isn’t
the beginning of the end of
this crisis, this is the end of
the beginning.” He ignores
the main topic.
1.Red Herring- Have
offshore drilling, climate
change, foreign oil he is not
talking about sacrificing
anything
2.Red herring- “Spending
freeze on everything but
defense” He just wants to
use veterans as scapegoat. I
don’t see any kind if
sacrificing to aid financial
reform plan.
1.Red herring- talks about
strategies for Iraq instead of
1
Barack Obama
Example:
1. Red Herring-Instead of
answering the question,
Obama talked about what the
current administration could
have done to prevent the
crisis and pointed a finger of
blame at them.
2. Hasty Generalizations -
When talking about the
“economic philosophy that
says that regulation is always
bad”, he said it as if everyone
believed it.
1. Red Herring- Instead of
talking about financial crisis
he put forward some series of
proposals to protect
taxpayers.
2. Red herring- he focuses on
accountability and doesn’t
mention how to resolve
financial crisis.
1. Red herring- talks about
getting independent from
middle eastern oil.
2. Red herring- “We have to
fix our healthcare system”
how’s that related to the topic
of sacrificing something? He
wants to compete with other
countries
1. Red herring- He just
questions if they should have
gone into the war with Iraq in
 Question John McCain
lessons.
2. Red Herring- Attack
Obama opinions on Iraq
issues and doesn’t mention
issues of Iraq
What needs to be done in 1.Red herring- Talks about
Afghanistan? not being prepared to cut
off aid to Pakistan. Pakistan
is not even in the
discussion, Afghanistan is.
2.Red herring- “you work
with the Pakistani
government.” The question
what needs to be done in
Afghanistan and here he is
talking about Pakistan
What is your read of the 1.Red Herring- “We cannot
threat from Iran regarding allow a second holocaust”
the security of the US? 2. Non Sequitur- The
Iranian government is lousy
so that means their
economy is also lousy. How
is government being lousy
have to do with economy
being lousy they have oil
revenues which produce oil
for a lot of countries.
How do you see America’s 1.Red herring- Talks about
relationship with Russia? aggression/relation of
Russia with Georgia
2. Red herring- Talks about
pipeline that runs from
Caspian through Georgia
through Turkey and how
Russia controls other
sources of energy into
Europe which has nothing
to do with relationship with
America
2
Barack Obama
first place forget about
lessons.
2.Red Herring- he talks about
issues from Afghanistan and
that they haven’t caught
Osama Bin Laden
1. Red herring- He talks about
fatalities in Afghanistan
rather than what needs to be
done there.
2.Red Herring- “We have got
to deal with Pakistan” what
does that have to do anything
with what needs to be done in
Afghanistan
1. Red Herring- “in North
Korea we cut of talks” the
discussion is about Iranian
threat regarding the security
of the US not North Korea.
2.Red herring- Can’t meet
with Spain/our NATO ally
what does Spain have to do
with Iranian threats on US
security.
1.Red herring- instead of
comparing US relationship
with Russia he is comparing it
with Russia’s neighboring
countries.
2.Red herring- Other
countries (Ukraine and
Georgia) are free to join
NATO he wants to focus on
smaller countries to make a
strong bond with them.
Neglecting the topic
America’s relationship with
Russia.
 Question
What do you think is the
likelihood that we will have
yet another 9/11?
John McCain
1.Circular Logic- he
believes the nation is much
safer right after the day it
happened and believes it
will never happen again.
2.Red herring- talks about
reforms and investigating
9/11 instead of answering
will it ever happen again.
Barack Obama
1. Red herring- Talks about
airport security, make sure we
are hardening our medical
sights which is nothing
related to 9/11.
2.Red Herring- Talks about
nuclear proliferation
spending, Al
Qaeda/Afghanistan/Pakistan,
and how America is now the
least respect country in world
all this has nothing to do with
future 9/11 attack