Straw man

A Straw man is a misrepresentation of the other side's case. Such an argument is called a straw man because a straw man is easier to attack than the real argument of the other side.

Examples of straw man arguments
Misrepresenting Liberals is common among Conservatives, examples below Straw Man. Oh, the many times this appears in comment threads… These sort of fallacies are similar to the “slippery slope” but are more subtle. With a straw man argument, the original position against which the argument is made is misrepresented (usually to make it sound weaker), or exaggerated. Then the misrepresentation is refuted. By refuting the weaker, made-up position, the original position is seen as having been refuted. For example, you argue that we ought to spend more money on infrastructure to which your opponent responds with questioning why you don’t want America defended properly. She then can argue why the defense budget shouldn’t be cut while you are still on infrastructure.

Straw man debate

 * 1) 1st person puts forward argument A.
 * 2) 2nd person puts forward argument B misrepresenting A.
 * 3) 2nd person refutes argument B.
 * 4) It appears superficially that argument A has been refuted.

Videos

 * The "Straw Man" Fallacy Video with a clear explanation of the straw man fallacy