How to Debate Leftists and Destroy Them: 11 Rules for Winning the Argument

by Ben Shapiro

Barack Obama is not a very good President. He said Barack Obama doesn’t do a very good job on the economy; he said that Obama’s foreign policy has a lot of holes in it; he said Obama has done a pretty poor job across the board of working in bipartisan fashion. But, Romney added, Obama’s a good guy. He’s a good family man, a good husband, a man who believes in the basic principles espoused by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He is not someone you should be afraid of in any way. Essentially, Romney’s campaign slogan was this: “Obama: Good Guy, Bad President.”

Mitt Romney is the worst guy since Mussolini. Mitt Romney is the guy who straps dogs to the top of cars. Mitt Romney is the kind of guy who wants to “put y’all back in chains.” Mitt Romney is leading a “war on women” and, in fact, has compiled a binder full of women that he can then use to prosecute his war. Mitt Romney is the type of guy who would specifically fire an employee so that five years later his wife would die of cancer thanks to lack of health insurance. Mitt Romney would take his money and put it in an overseas bank account specifically to deprive the American people of money. The Obama campaign slogan: “Romney: Rich, Sexist, Racist Jackass.”

moral superiority

racist and sexist, a bigot and a homophobe,

Laffer curve

Keynesian

pol...

Pauline Kael syndrome.

George McGovern/Richard Nixon landslide election,

ideological discrimination.

those perspectives are wrong,

and the people who advocate for them are bad.

blue books,

Spartacus Club.

For the media, all arguments are character arguments. If you disagree with the members of the media about

something, you are a fundamentally bad human being.

create a set of characters that you believe in, like and want to hang out with; you want to come back and hang out with those characters week after week after week. Then Hollywood twists your newfound friends into exemplars of absolutely irresponsible behavior, representatives of behavior you find personally unpalatable. But you like the character – and so, the Hollywood emotional appeal goes, you’re supposed to like what he or she does. This is the Hollywood argument same-sex marriage: you like certain characters, so if you don’t like their behavior, it’s because you’re mean and nasty. This is what Hollywood does best.

Murphy Brown

Dan Quayle

first question to ask is why debate a leftist in the first place.

Not every fight is worth having.

First,

Second,

Third,

Rule #1: Walk Toward the Fire.

Andrew Breitbart.

quasi-consensus

detente.

John McCain

Senator Chuck Schumer

McCain was called a radical right-winger and was painted as a crazy, old kook to the vast majo...

intimidation and cruelty.

You have to take the punch, you have to brush it off. You have to be willing to take the punch.

Rule #2: Hit...

Mike ...

“Everybody has a plan ‘til they get punched...

know your opponent.

know what he’s going to say,

his favorite ...

default po...

learn your opposition i...

out.

There is no substitute for preparation.

Know your opponents’ tendencies

Rule #3: Frame Your Opponent.

characterizing the opposition.

make it toxic for your opponent to slur you.

move the debate to more substantive

terri...

blacks and Hispanics have been told for generations that conservatives hate them.