straw man

straw man

Some argument or position set up as an easy object of criticism, derision, or refutation. He spent the whole debate setting up and knocking down straw men about his opponent's supposed support of the terrorist groups in the Middle East. Come on—that's just a ridiculous straw man, and you know it! If you want to argue with me, then argue with what I'm actually saying.
See also: man, straw
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

straw man

a weak proposition posited only to be demolished by a simple countering argument. So you can knock down your own straw man! Big deal. The question is how can you deal with real problems.
See also: man, straw
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • Aunt Sally
  • sally
  • called to straw
  • donkey’s breakfast
  • donkey's breakfast
  • knock the spots off, to
  • touch wood
  • knock on wood
  • man of straw
  • a man of straw
References in periodicals archive
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) launched a national campaign in July to prevent and discourage illegal "straw man" purchases of firearms.
Such strong reductionism is simply a straw man, not an encroaching scientific agenda.
Develop specific functional goals for a storage network based data-mover and build a straw man architecture into which functional components can be layered.
A classic straw man is established at the end of Peterson's introduction, when he states that the "implicit question" fueling the passionate voucher debate is whether private schools are better than public education.
A new draft of the Real-Time Java Ad Hoc Group's so-called 'straw man' specification got an airing at a meeting of the National Committee for Information Technology Standardization's (NCITS) R1 committee last week.
Initially, Mitsubishi sought to sell its four-wheel-drive utility wagon as the Pajero until they learned it meant "straw man" in Spanish; it was renamed the Montero, "Mountain Man." One firm tried to sell a de-icer in the U.S.
Among his best works of these years are Le Hussard sur le toit (1952; The Horseman on the Roof) and Le Bonheur fou (1957; The Straw Man).
He also noted that not all of the patrol members will be working full time.The text only comments on the "straw man" argument that he created by twisting the ministry report, and the article contains racial bias and unfounded statements.
Frankly, I think we forget the advantages technology gives us and use it as a straw man argument against our industry-wide failure to adapt and make good business decisions.
* SIR - Nigel Baker sets up the usual straw man: that opponents of wind power object only to the look of wind turbines (Letters, Feb 13).
Q WHERE does the phrase straw man in arguments come from?
The claim that there are scientific recommendations stating that exercise alone can do the trick is a straw man. Yes, regular exercise does offer an assist for weight loss but, contrary to Taubes' claims, no responsible authorities will tell you that exercise alone will do the trick.
This also gave him a political straw man to hide behind.
A group of gardeners from Walsall Road Allotments, in Great Barr, have joined forces to keep the straw man's memory alive.
AU responded that Minnery was attacking a straw man. Civil liberties advocates have no problem with Academy cadets practicing their religious faith or sharing it with others.