Kennedy Rejects Criticism, Data and Decorum in Contentious Hearing
Apoorva MandavilliDani BlumChristina Jewett and Reed Abelson
The New York Times
September 4, 2025
Viewpoint Detected:
Moderate
Fallacies Detected:
Ad Hominem, Internal Contradiction, Appeal to Emotion, False Cause, Biased Language, Straw Man
credAIble Evaluation:
This account of the Senate hearing reveals adversarial rhetoric overshadowing policy discussion. Kennedy engages in personal dismissals, calling senators’ critiques “gibberish” or “making stuff up,” which veers into ad hominem. His claim that both denying vaccines’ safety and not being anti-vax are simultaneously true is an internal contradiction. Both sides employ appeals to emotion, particularly through cancer patients’ anecdotes and references to vaccine-related deaths. Kennedy’s suggestion that the CDC caused chronic disease illustrates a false cause fallacy. Bias and straw man distortions further erode the quality of reasoning. The hearing reflects conflict-driven discourse rather than evidence-based debate.