Straw Man Revisited

As a the proud owner of a B.A. in Philosophy, I can't leave the post about Straw Man arguments alone. I agree wholeheartedly with Casper's analysis, but the Philosophy student in me has to throw out my two cents, for good measure.

Here's my explanation: A straw man fallacy is one in which a person does not address the real issue, but begins by misrepresenting the position of the opposition and then attacking a similar but weaker argument as though s/he were really attacking the original argument. When s/he takes down the weaker one, s/he acts as though the original argument has gone down. But, in reality, the original argument was never debated, just the 'straw man'.

Example:

Argument: Abortion is wrong because it doesn't respect the rights of the fetus.

Straw Man: You say abortion is wrong because you clearly have no respect for the rights of women!

Word.

If I had a nickel for every time I heard a liberal utilize the straw man argument, I'd be retired by now.