The charge of “hypocrite!” in any debate is a type of ad hominem attack – that is, simply insulting an opponent personally instead of addressing the issue at hand.
The beauty (or foolishness) of the hypocrisy charge is this: With it I can distract the gathered crowd with my cries of “hypocrite!” and never touch the question of whether my opponent was correct in the past … or is correct now.
It had to be one or the other, though, right?
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