A Humourous and Self Depricating Reductio ad Absurdum.

"At the Republican caucus, they held up -- they said, we've got a plan; it's going to provide everybody coverage at no cost. And I said, well, if that were true, why wouldn't I take it? My wife Michelle thinks I'm stubborn sometimes, but I'm not that stubborn. Okay, let me think. I could have everybody get health care coverage that's high quality. And it's free, which I'll bet is really popular. But I'm not going to do that. I'm going to go through the pain of really working through this hard process in Congress, getting yelled at and called a socialist, because I just -- that's how I roll. I'm a glutton for punishment." (Laughter.)

Barack Obama, yesterday.

So that's how you highlight an absurdity - you perform a humorous and self deprecating reductio ad absurdum.

Sort of like "where are those weapons of mass destruction, anyway? I thought I put them under the desk? Oh well, I'll find them later."

Wait a minute, that president wasn't offering a reductio ad absurdum . He was instead the living absurdum result of the proposition that "our political process is fabulous." Moreover, that president wasn't mocking a false assertion and its deceitful proponents. He was dismissing legitimate criticism of himself and his decision to inflate the available intelligence so as to convince the country to support an ill conceived war.

My Bad. Never mind.

Anyway, let's try doing a simple reductio boys and girls - no need for self deprecation at this point in our training. Let's just respond in reduction to Focus on the Family and the Family Research Center, both of whom insist that "being gay is a lifestyle choice."

Joe