To hear numerous GOP and GOP-friendly (“conservative”) commentators tell it, both Christine Ford and Brett Kavanaugh are highly “credible.”
Of course, none of these pundits claim to believe that Ford was telling the truth when she claimed that she was sexually assaulted by Judge Kavanaugh. What they claim to believe is that she was indeed sexually abused—but by someone else.
Aristotle, the Father of Western logic, identified numerous fallacies. One of these is the fallacy of equivocation.
This is the fallacy of which those of Kavanaugh’s defenders who simultaneously find Ford “credible” stand convicted.
Equivocation occurs when an arguer slides from one meaning of a term to another in order to draw the conclusion that he desires. A blatantly obvious example of the fallacy of equivocation is something like this: “Joe is a damn good athlete. Therefore, he must be a damn good human being.”
Clearly, “good” means two different things, depending upon whether it is used to describe an athlete or a person.
Similarly, when Kavanaugh’s Ford-sympathizing defenders assure us that both Ford and Kavanaugh are “credible,” they are guilty of equivocating upon the word credible.
Against the State: An …
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Judge Kavanaugh is credible in that he has articulated a preponderance of exculpatory evidence, i.e. good, coherent reasons vindicating him of the allegation leveled by Ford. Not only have several dozen people, and several dozen women, including ex-girlfriends from the years during which Ford claims he assaulted her, publically attested to his character. Kavanaugh has presented calendars that he kept at the time…