Here is a definition of a logical fallacy:
http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/straw-man.html
A straw argument is used to rebut a position that is not the position
stated by your opponent, but something else. The straw man argument is
constructed because one cannot rebut the position stated, but doesn't
want to admit that, so one re-states the position as something else,
and rebuts that new position. But the original proposition is not
rebutted.
Mark Lane committed that very LOGICAL FALLACY in attempting to rebut
claim one in his original defense of Oswald, published in the National
Guardian and reproduced here:
http://karws.gso.uri.edu/jfk/the_critics/lane/Natl-Guardian/Natl_Guardian.html
((((((( QUOTE ))))))))
...we now examine the "airtight case," the "absolute confirmation of
Oswald's guilt." Wade presented 15 assertions, some mere conclusions,
some with a source not revealed, some documented.
Here are the 15 assertions:
1-A number of witnesses saw Oswald at the window of the sixth floor of
the Texas School Book Depository.
2-Oswald's palm print appeared on the rifle.
3-Oswald's palm print appeared on a cardboard box found at the window.
4-Paraffin tests on both hands showed that Oswald had fired a gun
recently.
5-The rifle, an Italian carbine, had been purchased by Oswald, through
the mail, under an assumed name.
6-Oswald had in his possession an identification card with the name
Hidell.
7-Oswald was seen in the building by a police officer just after the
President had been shot.
8-Oswald's wife said that his rifle was missing Friday morning.
9-Oswald had a package under his arm Friday.
10-Oswald, while taking a bus from the scene, laughed loudly as he
told a woman passenger that the President had been shot.
11-A taxi driver, Darryl Click, took Oswald home, where he changed his
clothes.
12-Oswald shot and killed a police officer.
13-A witness saw Oswald enter the Texas theater.
14-Oswald drew a pistol and attempted to kill the arresting officer.
15-A map was found in Oswald's possession showing the scene of the
assassination and the bullet's proposed trajectory.
Perused lightly, the list seems impressive. But in capital cases evidence
is not perused lightly. It is subject to probing cross- examination, study
and analysis. The most effective tool available to any defendant,
cross-examination, is not available in this case. We rely instead upon
press reports of statements made, not by witnesses for the defense, not by
the defendant, but by the district attorney, police officers or FBI
agents. With this oppressive restriction in mind, we move on to an
analysis of the evidence. ((((((((( UNQUOTE )))))))
Here's the entire article:
http://karws.gso.uri.edu/jfk/the_critics/lane/Natl-Guardian/Natl_Guardian.html
With that in mind, let's examine how Lane handled point one by Henry
Wade:
Henry Wade stated, in his press conference (and as quoted by Lane):
"Wade was unequivocal, stating, 'First, there was a number of
witnesses that saw the person with the gun on the sixth floor of the
bookstore building, in the window-detailing the window-where he was
looking out.' "
Lane did not attack this position, as it is correct and truthful.
Instead, Lane rebuilt the statement into something else, creating a
straw argument, and attacked that. Lane claimed that Wade actually
said: "A number of witnesses saw Oswald at the window of the sixth
floor of the Texas School Book Depository."
That is a mis-statement of Wade's position, and it is done for no
other reason that to build an apparent rebuttal argument. Wade did not
mention Oswald at all in point one, and claimed merely that numerous
witnesses "saw the person with the gun on the sixth floor of the
bookstore building." Lane redefined it as mentioning Oswald, and
attacked a claim Wade did not make. "A number of witnesses saw Oswald
at the window of the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository."
That is the very definition of a straw argument.
In effect, one could say Wade's point one is still standing, because
Lane never laid a glove on it. Lane never even got in the ring with
point one. Instead, Lane went after point one's trainer, and tried to
take him out.
Hank
(originally posted below, and ducked by Ben Holmes ever since).
http://www.amazon.com/Kennedy-erratic-drifter-Harvey-Oswald-/forum/Fx1PW7HP0SZ0SAA/Tx3BQKN094W8XC2/12/ref=cm_cd_et_md_pl?_encoding=UTF8&asin=0805096663&cdMsgID=Mx3QSL0M6AELBJL&cdMsgNo=280&cdSort=oldest#Mx3QSL0M6AELBJL