Revelations of argument consistency

James Taranto authors Best of the Web at the Wall Street Journal. Among his talents is a sharp eye for failures of logic when making an argument as well as evidentiary inconsistencies within an article.

It is easy to read down an article's paragraphs and fail to catch contradictions. I am impressed by his catching this one in today's Best of the Web, relating to an article in Fox News, Supreme Court justices appear divided in historic gay marriage arguments. Taranto notes:

Two Articles in One!

“Now, same-sex couples can marry in 36 states and Washington, D.C., a sign of the dramatic change in public opinion.”—FoxNews.com, April 28

“Only 11 states have granted marriage rights to same-sex couples through the ballot or the legislature. Court rulings are responsible for all the others.”—same article

And it is an interesting point. If only 11 states' legislative representatives have passed laws or citizens have voted through the ballot process to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples, your claim to a sea-change in public opinion is weak. I do believe there has been a major change in public attitudes but perhaps not as significantly as I had been assuming.