If anyone deserves an apology from the media right now, it’s GOP Sen. Tom Cotton. Because the same smarter-than-you media firefighters who raked him over the coals for floating the COVID19 lab-leak hypothesis last year are currently attempting to whitewash the fact that they raked him over the coals for floating the COVID19 lab-leak hypothesis, which actually seems to have quite a bit of merit after all.
Last year, Tom Nichols — one of firefighters’ go-to experts on being an Expert™ — was among those crapping all over Tom Cotton for maybe being onto something:
Or, here's another idea: Maybe Tom Cotton will take the lesson that sounding like an conspiracy crank undermines a valid possibility and a reasonable point that he could have made by sounding more like a senator and less like a caller to the Alex Jones show. https://t.co/odPc9IubFI
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) April 3, 2020
An increasingly desperate Nichols was forced to resort to blatantly gaslighting about what Tom Cotton had actually said, because that’s what Experts™ do.
An issue that might have gotten more traction as "concerns about a lab" instead of Senator Cloud William thundering about "Chinese bioweapon and the Kohms must pay." https://t.co/bbnQK6WRJ8
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) April 14, 2020
We're supposed to apologize to Cotton for stepping on this story by going bat-crap crazy (SWIDT) over "Chinese bioweapon" and "China must pay."
This is called "Motte and bailey" argumentation:
-Extreme charge
-One part is scientifically possible
-I'll take that apology now https://t.co/jdAe8AvsIs— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) April 14, 2020
Cotton never called COVID19 a “Chinese bioweapon.” But saying he did made Nichols feel smart and superior, and that’s what matters.
Anyway, fast-forward to the present day, when the lab-leak hypothesis is looking quite plausible. Nichols has a golden opportunity to apologize to Cotton for smearing him.
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So, naturally, Nichols is squandering the opportunity and digging his grave even deeper:
I'm tired of Tom Cotton getting away with the motte-and-bailey maneuver he pulled.
People citing his Fox interview are ignoring Bartiromo, who said "bioweapon," and then Cotton carefully said "well, no one knows."
This was a "you think might that, I couldn't comment" moment. /1— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 26, 2021
Then, Cotton went on Twitter to list "possibilities," including a bioweapon. He put it out there, let others run with it, then said "well, it's not *likely*" – because Cotton knows exactly how the Fox and right-wing info swamp works. /2https://t.co/BQigSLw8Oi
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 26, 2021
Again, Cotton was only laying out all the possible causes of the pandemic. That’s actually a very scientific approach to problem-solving.
This is a recurring tactic on the right. Imply it, let the echo chamber run with it, then deny it, then say you were right all along. Because the goal, as always, is to plant the idea in the heads of stupid people who will not bother with later nuance or explanations. /3
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 26, 2021
But enough about you, Tom.
It's *true*, however, that a lot of the media instantly rejected the "lab leak" because it came from Trump and Cotton, and taking the MSM to task for this is legit. But let's cut the crap about how Cotton "never really said" the thing he was clearly trying to put out there. /4
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 26, 2021
Good Lord.
If you want to know where I was on this back in 2020, I said: Yes, it could in fact be a lab leak, which is why it was destructive for guys like Cotton to set everyone's hair on fire with "the lying Chinese could have intentionally released it." /5xhttps://t.co/1ifVomgU5j
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 26, 2021
“Ackshually, I, Tom Nichols, the Expert™, was touting the lab-leak hypothesis a year ago.” Talk about trying to rewrite history.
These people can admit to being wrong or that people they don't like were right so instead they dig deeper and have embarrassing double downs like this.
Tom Cotton asked the right questions. Tom attacked him for it & now is desperately spinning to justify being wrong. https://t.co/yb4ysE0f5O
— AG (@AGHamilton29) May 27, 2021
Tom accused Cotton of being a "conspiracy theorist" for merely asking the same questions that now everyone agrees are legitimate.
Then when called out for it back then, he kept falsely accusing Cotton of suggesting it was a bioweapon. pic.twitter.com/gURhWIenwd
— AG (@AGHamilton29) May 27, 2021
Just remembering how during Kavanaugh he said that the allegations are probably false but Kavanaugh should be disqualified for getting angry at falsely being accused of gang rape.
It’s always the fault of ppl he doesn’t like that he constantly falls for false claims.
— AG (@AGHamilton29) May 27, 2021
The problem wasn’t false allegations, but Kavanaugh’s tone disputing those allegations. The problem wasn’t people falsely labeling legitimate questions as debunked conspiracies, but Cotton’s framing of those legitimating questions.
Etc. etc.
— AG (@AGHamilton29) May 27, 2021
Tom Nichols definitely has a brand.
Definitely a motte-and-bailey here, but I think it's the argument that 'The point isn't that Cotton suggested the lab leak, it's that he also *let someone else* suggest something else *all while deviously knowing* that other person would do other things.' https://t.co/3hXDaoCcGU
— Foster (@foster_type) May 27, 2021
For a guy who talks a lot about expertise, he's shockingly, consistently way out of its depth. all the time, every day, all day.
— tsar becket adams (@BecketAdams) May 27, 2021
You were wrong. It’s so odd that you’re not used to it by now.
— Stop scolding me, I'm vaccinated (@jtLOL) May 27, 2021
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