And Not a Single Complaint from the Deceased

Quote: "You know I talked to Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi yesterday because some people were saying, 'Well, if you hadn't sent your National Guard to Iraq, we here in Mississippi would be better off.' He told me, 'I've been out in the field every single day, hour, for four days and no one, not one single mention of the word Iraq.'" Former President George H.W. Bush, speaking to Larry King

Term: ignoratio elenchi (ig noh ROT ee oh ay LEN chee), the fallacy of proving the wrong conclusion

Because those Mississippians who talked to the governor didn't mention Iraq, does it prove that the state didn't suffer from the lack of troops? No. It proves only that the people of Mississippi may have had other things on their minds than the war in Iraq like, oh, surviving. Bush the Elder commits a classic fallacy, ignoratio elenchi, in which the argument is irrelevant to the conclusion.

Snappy Answer: "Did you hear any mention of the word 'HELP!!!'?"