Straw Man Meet The Weak Man

A straw-man argument intentionally misrepresents a position opposed to your own so you "can beat up on it easily," as brainy blogger Julian Sanchez puts it. Now, courtesy of awesome academic Steve Maloney, Sanchez introduces to the masses a name for a much in-fashion weapon in what passes for political discourse these days: The weak-man argument:

"The Internet makes it somewhat harder to do [the straw man] credibly because people expect that you actually link to an instance of the argument you’re attributing to your opponents. With a "weak man," you don't actually fabricate a position, but rather pick the weakest of the arguments actually offered up by people on the other side and treat it as the best or only one they have."

You have been warned.