A sock puppet among us?

[Martin Weidmann]

Great post, John.

Weidmann seems to believe the purpose of a debate is to change the mind of your opponent.  Evidence of this is his recent comment (in this thread) that debating me wouldn't do any good since I won't, according to him, change my mind even if proven wrong.  This is pure foolishness.  It's an excuse, nothing more.

The purpose of a debate is to present your side and let the audience decide.

Weidmann seems to believe the purpose of a debate is to change the mind of your opponent.

No. I've already stated that it would be impossible to change your mind even when proven wrong, so it could never be the purpose of a debate to try and change your mind. You already know in advance that one way or the other you are going to declare yourself the winner and deny that you were wrong about anything. The only reason why you want to debate me is that you, in all your arrogance, actually believe that you can beat me. It's either that or;

I'm offering you a chance to prove to the forum members here that you are who you say you are.  You'll run from this, too.

Who the hell do you think you are that you can offer me a chance to prove anything to the forum members?

[Bill Brown]

Because the mini debate we had on this forum clearly showed that there is no point to have a debate when you make up "facts" as you go along as well as ignore evidence that proves you wrong.

[Martin Weidmann]

You made up that Callaway helped put Tippit in the ambulance before he made his call on the radio and you went so far as to claim that Callaway was mistaken when he testified;

Mr. CALLAWAY. I saw a squad car, and by that time there was four or five people that had gathered, a couple of cars had stopped. Then I saw--I went on up to the squad car and saw the police officer lying in the street. I see he had been shot in the head. So the first thing I did, I ran over to the squad car. I didn't know whether anybody reported it or not. So I got on the police radio and called them, and told them a man had been shot, told them the location, I thought the officer was dead. They said we know about it, stay off the air, so I went back.
By this time an ambulance was coming. The officer was laying on his left side, his pistol was underneath him. I kind of rolled him over and took his gun out from under him. The people wonder whether he ever got his pistol out of his holster. He did.
Mr. BALL. The pistol was out of the holster?
Mr. CALLAWAY. Yes, sir; out of the holster, and it was unsnapped. It was on his right side. He was laying with the gun under him.
Mr. BALL. What did you do?
Mr. CALLAWAY. I picked the gun up and laid it on the hood of the squad car, and then someone put it in the front seat of the squad car. Then after I helped load Officer Tippit in the ambulance, I got the gun out of the car and told this cabdriver, I said, "You saw the guy didn't you?" He said, yes.

As if you know better than the man himself! Talk about arrogance.

And you misrepresented that one of the two calls the ambulance driver Clayton Butler tried to make was to say that the ambulance was leaving, while at the same time ignoring that Butler told Nash that he tried to tell the operator in two separate failed calls that the victim was a police officer.

That qualifies as making up "facts" and ignoring actual evidence.

Add to this that during the mini debate you refused to answer any of my questions, when I answered all of yours, and it's beyond obvious that having a debate with you is a complete waste of time.

[Bill Brown]

You made up that Callaway helped put Tippit in the ambulance before he made his call on the radio and you went so far as to claim that Callaway was mistaken when he testified;

Mr. CALLAWAY. I saw a squad car, and by that time there was four or five people that had gathered, a couple of cars had stopped. Then I saw--I went on up to the squad car and saw the police officer lying in the street. I see he had been shot in the head. So the first thing I did, I ran over to the squad car. I didn't know whether anybody reported it or not. So I got on the police radio and called them, and told them a man had been shot, told them the location, I thought the officer was dead. They said we know about it, stay off the air, so I went back.
By this time an ambulance was coming. The officer was laying on his left side, his pistol was underneath him. I kind of rolled him over and took his gun out from under him. The people wonder whether he ever got his pistol out of his holster. He did.
Mr. BALL. The pistol was out of the holster?
Mr. CALLAWAY. Yes, sir; out of the holster, and it was unsnapped. It was on his right side. He was laying with the gun under him.
Mr. BALL. What did you do?
Mr. CALLAWAY. I picked the gun up and laid it on the hood of the squad car, and then someone put it in the front seat of the squad car. Then after I helped load Officer Tippit in the ambulance, I got the gun out of the car and told this cabdriver, I said, "You saw the guy didn't you?" He said, yes.

As if you know better than the man himself! Talk about arrogance.

And you misrepresented that one of the two calls the ambulance driver Clayton Butler tried to make was to say that the ambulance was leaving, while at the same time ignoring that Butler told Nash that he tried to tell the operator in two separate failed calls that the victim was a police officer.

That qualifies as making up "facts" and ignoring actual evidence.

Add to this that during the mini debate you refused to answer any of my questions, when I answered all of yours, and it's beyond obvious that having a debate with you is a complete waste of time.

I stand behind everything I said.  I did then and I still do now.  The police tapes tell you everything you need to know, re: when it was that Callaway got on the police radio.  The police tapes tell you Callaway was mistaken.  I spelled out every bit of this very clearly during the mini-debate.

[Martin Weidmann]

I stand behind everything I said.  I did then and I still do now.  The police tapes tell you everything you need to know, re: when it was that Callaway got on the police radio.  The police tapes tell you Callaway was mistaken.  I spelled out every bit of this very clearly during the mini-debate.

Thank you for proving my point!