gish-galloper

The Gish Gallop is a a debating/rhetorical technique that involves barraging an opponent with a haze of falsified statements, outright lies, and straw-man arguments. The unsuspecting opponent typically feels defenseless and frustrated against the attack and is unable to deflect it on the spot. It is named after creationism activist and professional debater Duane Gish.

Newt Gingrich is a notorious gish-galloper. In an exchange with Howard Dean he grossly distorted the facts concerning the number of Americans who would be forced into a government health insurance plan by making up the random number of 131 million:

"The way the bill in the House -- and we're talking about a specific bill -- the way the bill in the House would work, if your company didn't offer any insurance, they would pay an 8 percent tax on their personnel cost.

For most companies, that would be a net savings of 3 percent, 4 percent or 5 percent. One estimate by Lewin Associates (sic) is 131 million Americans will lose their private insurance and be pushed into a government plan."

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Gish Gallop

Infamous debate tactic used by amateurs, grifters who are paid by shills, and people who only care about winning alike, the Gish Gallop is a tactic in which one person purposefully gives as many incorrect or falsely-quoted statistics as possible in a very short time frame. This forces the opponent to waste speaking time taking down endless strawmen and lies created by their opponent, and is usually a sign that the utilizer is arguing in bad faith. People with scientifically/factually incorrect positions such as TERFs, Neo-Nazis, and infamously, Young Earth Creationists, often use this tactic as simply quoting reputable sources and studies is not an option.

The Gish Gallop is a tactic commonly used when you have no shame or care for fact and just want to win.

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