Tempus Fugit

Howard Dean has been in some hot water over some comments he made about the Republican party.

They all behave the same. They all look the same. It’s pretty much a white Christian party.

Howard Dean

Most people objected to the last part (something Dean would know something about, considering the racial makeup of the state for which he was governor). I rather object to the first two parts. Saying that it is “pretty much” a “white Christian party” is true… depending on what your definition of “pretty much” is. If half the Republican party is comprised of white Christians, I think his statement is true. The first two statements are not qualified with “pretty much,” and are untrue.

At a recent press conference, Dean was asked a fairly sharp question that has Democrat panties all bunched up.

[The voice] belonged to Brian Wilson, a Fox News correspondent who was standing in the middle of the crowd. He asked Dean “if people are focused on the other things that you’ve said about hating Republicans, about Republicans being dishonest and then this latest comment about the Republican Party is full of white Christians. You say you hate Republicans — does that mean you also” hate white Christians?

Washington Post: Dean’s Appearance Has Media in a Sweat

The question, while amusing, is fallacious. The best I can figure, it is a fallacy of composition.

Here is Wilson’s flawed logic:

1. Dean said that he hates the Republicans
2. Dean said that all Republicans behave the same
3. Therefore, Dean must hate all Republicans
4. Dean said that the Republican party is “pretty much a white Christian party”
5. Therefore, Dean must hate white Christians

The logic is fine until number 5. There is a semantic issue to consider. “Do you hate white Christians?” is best interpreted as “do you hate all white Christians?” But this does not follow from 1-4. Even if number 4 had been that the Republican party is “completely comprised of white Christians,” it wouldn’t follow that Dean hates all white Christians. All that you can say in number 5 is that Dean hates “some” white Christians. If he hates all Republicans and there are white Christians in the Republican party, he must hate them. But that doesn’t mean that he hates all white Christians.

One other thing to note: “They all look the same” and “pretty much a white Christian party” appear to be contradictory statements at first glance. If all Republicans look the same, and are mostly white Christians, don’t they all have to be white, making the “pretty much” part false? Well no, because Dean grouped appearance and religion together. So while Dean is saying that all Republicans are white, not all have to be Christian, because all he said was that Republicans are “pretty much” a white Christian party, which just means not every Republican can be white and Christian. Since we already know that all Republicans are white, it follows that it cannot be true that all Republicans are Christian.

Here you go:

1. Dean said that he hates the Republicans
2. Dean said that all Republicans behave the same
3. Therefore, Dean must hate all Republicans
4. Dean said that Republicans all look the same
5. Dean said that the Republican party is “pretty much a white Christian party”
6. Therefore all Republicans are white
7. Therefore not all Republicans are Christian
8. Therefore the Republican party is comprised of white Christians and white non-Christians, all of whom Dean hates

And that, my friends, is called “analyzing something until it doesn’t exist anymore.” It’s a gift.