The Lincoln No One Knows

[kerry]

Yeah, it is "weaselly," and often irresponsible to do that. I sometimes wonder how to avoid it though, when addressing things that don't have a clear answer and kind of call out for one - like Lincoln representing slave owners. It doesn't strike me as especially surprising or complicated, as I assume it was because as an attorney he felt obligated to both take the client and follow the law, but it would be presumptuous to assert it as fact. An "it is possible" is better than an unsupported "therefore," but when you have 5 "it is possibles," it doesn't look good.