Wow. He did all three! A small reply of my prediction:
Step 1 is nearly always "list opinions of people who agree with you," no matter whether that has any bearing on one's argument. I suppose it's "argument by democracy" or something. :)

Yep, he whipped out Yet Another Laundry List of people who agree with him, without explaining why any of the quotes were pertinent.

Step 2 is a tougher call; he tends to go either/or on "construct narrow and torturous definition that favors my side only," or "change the subject via tu quoque."

Ok, I must backtrack a little; he skipped the items in Step 2, but only because he jumped ahead to:

When all else fails, he enjoys argument by conclusion.

"If Rumsfeld is implicated, we'll know soon enough. Again, that's beside the point: Rumsfeld should be asked to leave because his entire record of planning and implementation of the Iraq war has led us to the brink of defeat."

Classic Ara. First he pulls at bait & switch by implying that Rumsfeld will be implicated, and then jumping over to an argument by conclusion where he claims that Rummy should leave because we've already (nearly) lost, even though that hasn't been established yet.

But then, Ara's always been good at jumping to unproven conclusions, then running wild with them. Heh.

The people of holland like to thank mr Rumsfeld and Bush for fucking up the world economy by starting a war that nobody needed just because papa Bush did.nt beat Saddam. The people of holland learned from previous wars like korea and vietnam that you can't win a war if you are the occupying force. Do people in the states have brains when they are born? In europe we have!

Opa,

Your opening line is in direct conflict with your closing.

Queen Rosemary, I am impressed so far with your agility in debate. I would hope that at some point I could meet you on the field of intellectual honor, but I'm afraid there aren't many ways I would disagree with an Iron Blogger Republican. Is it possible to name an issue on the Iron Blogger site? I suspect, for instance, that you are in favor of the death penalty, which is one of the few areas in which I differ from party line Republicans. I am against the death penalty and would (one day, of course, when you're done swatting aside current pretenders) be interested in discussing the topic with someone capable, for a change.

Queen of all evil , please do not believe samples like Opa Buiswater speak for the Dutch people.
We very much support the efford our goverment and your goverment and people are making in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

People like Opa Buiswater and others are bitter,anti-American,proxy communists. They represent just a small minority of my fellow countrymen.

them Why are the Dutch thinking about bailing?

"So far I see nothing to your arguments except this: "Iraq has not been handled perfectly. Also something bad happened to the prisoners. It's all Rumsfeld's fault, because... because things are going bad, and bad things happened to prisoners."

(Mortal Kombat Voice)

QUEEN OF ALL EVIL WINS.

FATALITY.

(/Mortal Kombat Voice)

Interesting so far - though I think the debate topic is too 'developing'; I'd prefer if they were more battles of conservativism vs liberalism as opposed this staid 'incompetancy' argument...

That said, GO ARA!!!

I'm all for "GO ARA!!!", but you didn't tell him where to go :)

Casey:

I know my stuff ran long, but you really ought to read it all the way through before you breathlessly analyze what it is that I wrote.

In my original piece I quote Clint Taylor and David Frum pieces that do NOT agree with my point. It's all part of the process of anticipating a line of argument and shutting it down before it starts.

Check it out.

I also quote numerous conservative pundits whom I almost always DISagree with who, this time, are in accordance with my point -- Kagan, Kristol, Zakaria, Sully, Will.

Next time read the whole goddam piece, OK?

Um, isn't it bad for our Rosemary that Ara has that cute little picture and we can actually HEAR him reading in a voice that sounds all reasonable and charming? Do they lose points for presentation style?

Yeah, it was very sneaky of Ara to do that. But I'm willing to forgive him. His argument falls so short that he needs the presentation points - to make up the ones he's losing for lack of substance.

Rosemary is holding her grounds well.

HAIL TO THE QUEEN OF ALL EVIL!!!! HAIL TO THE QUEEN OF ALL GOOD!!!! HAIL TO THE QUEEN OF ALL!!!!

Yeah, it was very sneaky of Ara to do that.

Heh. "Psyops."

I'm just saying.

Opa,

You're welcome. Call again in 40 years, and let us know if you have a nation left.

Excellent rebuttal. I found the food analogies entertaining & fitting...in the Iron Blog.