Ad Hominem
“How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the OWS Protests”, by Matt Taibbi http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/11/11-7 accessed November 11, 2011
Matt Taibbi commits a blatant ad hominem attack against right wing author Ann Coulter in his op-ed article featured in Rolling Stone. He addresses her as, “Supreme Reichskank” alluding to her politically and socially conservative perspective. As this is neither a recognized title by any known organization nor an accepted nick-name it is apparent that this is an attack on the messenger and not the message.
There are numerous quotations from Coulter herself that can portray her ultra-conservative, and perhaps borderline fascist, personality without resorting to name calling. For example, in a column written for townhall.com on December 21, 2005 she states, “I think the government should be spying on all Arabs, engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport, dropping daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East and sending liberals to Guantanamo.” With a career made from hate speech and intolerance, it is understandable for someone to use an ad hominem slur just to mention her name. However, attacking Coulter in such a way does diminish his credibility as it was an unnecessary attack on someone not relevant to the article.
To remedy this fallacy, the introduction to her quote should reference her career or position on the OWS protests to provide a reason for its inclusion in the article, such as, “ renowned conservative pundit, Ann Coulter...”