Tornado Alley (PROG)

[blackhawks]

Nice tour of the logical fallacies more often committed by the right, because intellectual laziness.

For 'blame shift' the author lapses into an inaccuracy and trots out a bothsidesism.

On the right, this fallacy has been committed when Republicans blame Democrats entirely for government shutdowns which in fact are often committed by both sides.

Really? Name one example from the Dems over the past 20 years. Here are the 3 forced by the GOP over that time span.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_shutdowns_in_the_United_States

Some of the most significant shutdowns in U.S. history have included the 21-day shutdown of 1995–1996 during the Bill Clinton administration over opposition to major spending cuts; the 16-day shutdown in 2013 during the Barack Obama administration caused by a dispute over implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA);[3] and the 35-day shutdown of 2018–2019 during the Donald Trump administration, the longest shutdown in US history,[4] caused by a dispute over the funding amount for an expansion of the U.S.–Mexico border barrier.[5][6]

Gingrich shutdown....

Both shutdowns had a contrasting impact on the major political players in the deadlock. Gingrich's political career was negatively impacted by the shutdowns, in part due to a comment he made during the deadlock that made it sound like his reasons for it were petty.[53][54] Clinton's presidential term was positively improved by the shutdown and cited as part of the reason behind his successful re-election to the White House in 1996.[55]

Boehner shutdown....

In political circles, the shutdown had a negative impact on Republicans, as over half of Americans held Republicans accountable for the deadlock, in comparison to public opinion on the accountability of both the Democrats and Obama during this period.[76]

Trump had two...

The 35-day shutdown, the longest in US history after surpassing the 21-day shutdown of 1995–1996,[101] led to 380,000 federal workers being furloughed, and an additional 420,000 workers were required to work without any known payment dates during this period, forcing many to find other paid work or protest against the extended period of the deadlock.[102][103] The extent of the funding gap had further major impacts - sharp reductions had to be made on SNAP payments,[104][105] and the Internal Revenue Service faced extensive delays on processing tax refunds worth around $140 billion;[106] a lack of resources due to the funding gap impacted the work of several agencies, with the FBI facing major disruptions that risked compromising a number of investigations being conducted at the time;[106][107] staff shortages in the Transportation Security Administration caused a number of airports to be closed down as a result; and economic growth was severely reduced by billions of dollars.[108][109][110][111]

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the shutdown cost the government $3 billion in back pay for furloughed workers, plus $2 billion in lost tax revenues due to reduced tax evasion compliance activities by the Internal Revenue Service, and a smaller amount of lost fees such as for visits to national parks, for a total of about $5 billion.[37]