Disingenuous comparisons

As a follow-up to the incendiary language issue, there comes the issue that Bob Beckel displayed, and that is 'name-calling.'

Hoffa Jr. made news recently with calling various Tea Party Republicans 'son-of-a-bitches.' Beckel equated Hoffa's name calling to whether one could call Obama a socialist, and when Bolling defended calling Obama a 'progressive socialist,' Beckel ranted about how wrong it was to use such a pejorative term (socialist).

This is a false comparison, for a socialist is a denotative term to reflect a set of beliefs and policies, while son-of-a-bitch is a connotative term that is impossible to reflect anything in a denotative manner outside of a canine, or genetic manipulation. Son-of-a-bitch is slang; socialist is not slang.

Where the disingenuous nature comes in is by comparing the two terms, it is an attempt to hide the beliefs and behaviors that denote the denotative term by linking it to the inflammatory connotation of the slang term.

Don't let those who try and make such a comparison get away with it. Defend your terms, and make them defend theirs.