Bill Maher on Christine O'Donnell

On the eve of the Republican primaries on September 19 2010, Larry King had Bill Maher on his show to celebrate him receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In this show Bill Maher discusses the Delaware Tea Party candidate, Christine O’Donnell’s, chances of winning the general election if she wins the Republican primary. The transcript of the argument is as follows:

MAHER: Democrats should be very happy that people like Christine O'Donnell are
winning elections because in the general election, I think -- now, of course,
the Democrats are going to lose some seats, probably a lot.

But not as many as they would have if the tea baggers weren't winning the primaries because I think voters are generally conservative. And when I mean -- when I say
conservative I mean they're not comfortable with people who are out there, on
the left or the right.

And these tea baggers are out there. I've said it before probably on your show. When people get in a voting booth, it's like when they go on an airplane. They get scared. They tend to do things that are conservative in nature, even if they're liberal.

And I don't think even conservative voters will look at people like Sharron Angle or maybe Joe Miller in Alaska, although Alaska is a separate case because they're very conservative there. But certainly Christine O'Donnell could not win in a state like Delaware because she's just crazy. Even people who knows --

KING: How out there -- when you say crazy, give me an example.

MAHER: Well, I just think that people -- they understand our country is in a lot of trouble. Even people who are angry understand that crazy people are not going to make it better.

Christine O'Donnell like all these tea baggers has no plan, no agenda. No policy points. They have one advantage. They're running against Democrats. That's their big advantage.

One can paraphrase the argument as:

1. Christine O’ Donnell is crazy.
2. People get scared in the voting booth just like they get scared in an airplane. That causes them to act against natural beliefs and vote for someone who is safe.
3. Christine O’ Donnell has no platform to run against the Democratic Party; her only advantage is that she is running against the Democratic Party.

Conclusion: If Christine O’Donnell wins the Republican primary, she will lose the general election in November.

Bill Maher’s argument can be classified as Dead on Arrival. His argument commits two serious fallacies. In the first premise, Bill Maher attacks Christine O’Donnell by calling her crazy. This is an ad hominem abusive fallacy; instead of attacking her position or platform, he attacks her by attacking her sanity. His premise is impossible to prove and the usage of crazy is vague. Furthermore, her being crazy does not guarantee that she will lose the election. In Bill Maher’s second premise he says people’s feelings of being scared on airplanes causes them to be conservative. Fear dictates their behavior, behaviors like not bringing weapons to the airport and submitting to searches. He relates this to the fear people feel in the voting booth and subsequently voting for someone who is safe. This is however a weak analogy because people wanting to be safe in the voting booth does not dictate their vote. Some might say that it is safer to vote for “A”; while, others could say that it is safer to vote for “B”. There is no problem with the third premise it could be true or false.