straw man

Critics tend to rely on straw man arguments claiming Jeter wasn't the very best.

The problem is that the media apologists are battling a straw man.

But Scarborough said that it was a "straw man's argument" to pretend that all Republicans want European-style austerity.

Instead of paying the minor fine and moving on (that would be accepting the straw man,) they battle it out in court.

And all you have to do to collect is file the right paperwork—and in the meantime, refuse to acknowledge the straw man.

This brutal form is quite beneath the dignity of a wholesome straw man.

And what good is the straw man to you, or to himself, when the ditch keeps you from going any further?

We may have been fooled, and we may be chasing a straw man in a paper boat right at this minute, sir.

Sometimes a stuffed recamúchi (cacomistle, bassariscus) is used either in the place of a straw-man or in addition to it.

That would be putting up a straw man and knocking him down, which is profitless and unconvincing.