Why do conservatives reference “think tanks” in their arguments?

Question by Kary L: Why do conservatives reference “think tanks” in their arguments?
I’ve always been fascinated by the whole alternative universe of conservative think tanks, like the Fraser Institute or the American Enterprise Institute, or literally hundreds of others. I’ve found that when a conservative will try to actually use “facts” in their arguments, they’ll say, “Hey, it says so at the Fraser Institute”, not understanding that it’s a conservative organization with a partisan view point. I’m amazed that even educated conservatives don’t really seem to get this. Liberals like to use peer reviewed, objective sources to make their case, because it’s based on a thing called science, but these conservatives literally can’t make these distinctions. What’s up with that?
See, the 2 responses perfectly illustrate my point. Liberals don’t reference a “think tank”, they will reference a peer reviewed article or a government study, by an objective source. Since when do liberals reference “Moveon” in their arguements? That’s a little silly, and you guys are grasping at straws. The only thing you have left is to say that all scientific work done in a university has a liberal bias. That’s it. That’s all you have, and so you make your own “think tanks” to reference, not understanding that it makes you look a little foolish.
Brian,
Thanks for your response. Care to provide examples? Please, no references from a wingnut think tank!
Brian,
Wow, those are 2 really bad examples, but a fine effort. The 935 false statements don’t require a methodology, other looking at what Bush administration officials had been saying about Iraq’s WMD programs in the lead up to the war. You don’t need to generate a hypothesis in order to check the veracity of statements that were made in the public record. You misunderstand the nature of scientific inquiry, and the different types of studies that exist. Is it partisan to do this? Maybe, but looking at what someone said and seeing if it squares with the truth seems kind hard to critique. As for the IQ thing, I’ve never heard of that, but it’s telling that that particular rumor is over 6 years old, while conservatives continue to put out all kinds of bogus “studies” about Intelligent Design or Global Warming Denialism or whatever it is that they disagree with, NOT using scientific methodology I might add. I would say that particular example is an anomaly.

Best answer:

Answer by Star 69
One thing that the republicans are good at:

Making sh*t up

Even the so-called fair-and-balanced FloxNews ‘dem’ talking heads are on the conservative think-tank payrolls

What do you think? Answer below!