Variations of the phrase "I am not questioning his patriotism, I'm questioning his judgment" have been used as a rhetorical attack in American politics since it was first spoken in 1970 by then Vice President Spiro T. Agnew.

The phrase deflects criticism of attacks on patriotism by setting up a false choice. Critics who decry usage of such phrases maintain that the speakers are questioning both the patriotism and the judgment of the phrase's target. The initial attack comes of the form "(the subject of criticism) will do what our enemies want, and America will suffer."

Variations of the line were used repeatedly by Republican leaders to criticize Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry. Equally, variations of the line were used by Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry against George W. Bush. Further examples can be found in Kerry's arguments against the Iraq War and the Vietnam War. In September 2004 alone, Zell Miller used the line in his 2004 Republican National Convention speech to criticize the leaders of the Democratic Party, Dick Cheney used it repeatedly to criticize John Kerry, and Henry Hyde used it to criticize Rep. Gary Ackerman. Other conservative Republicans to use the line include Tom DeLay, Marc Racicot, Steve Schmidt , Sen. George Allen, Michael Crowley , and Hugh Hewitt.

It would be false to state that this mode of argumentation is exclusive to Republicans or to Democrats; that would be an example of false dilemma as well as a genetic fallacy. As such, whether used by Democrats or Republicans, it is an example of a false correlation. Making a good or bad judgment is not necessarily linked to 'being a patriot'.

The line was used to good effect by Ronald Reagan against Walter Mondale in 1984 and by George H.W. Bush in the Bush-Dukakis debate, but it came off poorly when Bush used it again against in one of his debates with Bill Clinton in '92. Gerald Ford also used it to criticize Clinton in a USA Today op-ed.

It didn't resurface until the 2002 Senatorial races, when several Republican candidates used identical attack ads against incumbent Democrats Paul Wellstone, Max Cleland, Jean Carnahan, and Tim Johnson, and challenger Alex Sanders. People quoted using variants of the phrase included Merle Black , Saxby Chambliss, Jim Talent, John Thune, Norm Coleman, Lindsey Graham, and Ginny Wolfe .

Its use began with Spiro Agnew in 1970, as he campaigned around the country for GOP candidates including George H.W. Bush, who was running against Lloyd Bentsen for Senate. Agnew attacked the anti-Vietnam War stance of George McGovern and Hatfield, adding the line to soften his fiery stump speeches.

No media publication quoting the line has mentioned Agnew since 1988; a few publications from the 2000s refer back to the Bush-Dukakis debate. Interestingly, this is only one of several political catchphrases resurrected in the 2004 presidential cycle from the Vietnam era; another rarely attributed quotation is Gen. Omar Bradley's "the wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy".

External links

Attacking Patriotism & Judgment: From Agnew to Dubya: includes detailed listing of use.