“No matter how competent an arguer may be, the time will inevitably come when he makes a mistake … Back away, quickly and completely. Do it unostentatiously if possible, but above all do it. No matter how disagreeable the immediate effect of such a retreat may be, it is infinitely preferable to trying to defend a position that one knows, deep down, is indefensible against an adversary who usually knows it as well as you do.”
Source: How to Win Arguments (1981)
Keywords: debate,public-discourse
Special Counsel (1968) “… a steady diet of political infighting tends to coarsen, and ultimately to cheapen, most participants. They approach politics as reasonably honorable citizens, and by imperceptible degrees it sucks them into its vortex. The plainly right...
(June 23, 2023—revised December 21, 2023) William Rusher, a dynamic force on the American right who passed away in 2011 after decades as comrade and mentor to many conservatives, was born a full century ago on July 19, 1923. His centenary comes at a hard time for...
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William Rusher was an influential political strategist, commentator, and debater at the heart of the conservative movement in the second half of the twentieth century, a movement whose ascent he documented in his 1984 book The Rise of the Right -- one of many examples...