A reminder to read over your writing before posting

Here is the lead from a story in this morning's New York Times:

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, lashed out at Democrats on Friday in her first comments after the House voted to strip her of her committee assignments.

“I woke up early this morning literally laughing thinking about what a bunch of morons the Democrats (+11) are for giving some one like me free time,” she wrote on her personal Twitter account, referring to the slim margin by which Democrats control the House.

 “In this Democrat tyrannical government, Conservative Republicans have no say on committees anyway,” she said, adding, “Oh this is going to be fun!”

This representative may have some valid arguments, but when her first thought is name-calling, a reader is unlikely to be persuaded.

In terms of the logic of this lead to a longer story, note that the phrase in red does NOT refer to the quotation in that graf. It actually refers to the quotation that follows, in the next graf. Move the phrase in red after her quote about Republicans having no say on committees anyway, and NOW the reporting makes sense.

As I like to point out: everyone needs an editor (even reporters for the NYT).

That "throw away" line "Oh this is going to be fun!" might be termed a non sequitur. This is a rhetorical fallacy that basically boils down to a statement that does not follow the thread of the argument.

The fact that it "does not follow" does not make it untrue in and of itself. But it is irrelevant to her basic argument.