I was making no case. I was stating a fact. The anti-Palin crowd sounded off just like Sullivan. And now they’re dancing with glee on her presidential grave. Just like liberals.
You are making a case: you are (1) concluding facts and basing conclusions upon the facts you conclude, and (2) you are making two analogies, which, in Logic, are inherently a form of argument or making of a case.
The simplest variety of inductive reasoning is argument by analogy, which takes note of the fact that two or more things are similar in some respects and concludes that they are probably also similar in some further respect....
Suppose, for example, that I am thinking about buying a new car. I'm very likely to speak with other people who have recently bought new cars, noting their experiences with various makes, models, and dealers. If I discover that three of my friends have recently bought Geo Prizms from Burg and that all three have been delighted with their purchases, then I will conclude by analogy that if I buy a Geo Prizm from Burg, I will be delighted, too.
Evaluating Analogies
Of course, this argument is not deductively valid; it is always possible that my new car may turn out to be an exception. But there are several considerations that clearly matter in determining the relative strength or weakness of my inductive inference:
If you are interested, you could review the Logic steps for evaluating analogies at the link and see what you think about your "fact" that x is "just like" Andrew Sullivan and "just like" liberals.
That was the point of my original post to you. Really, to express my disagreement with your analogy, but also to point out that the fastest way to lose a debate is to spout off an analogy as "a fact."
Just because two statements may be similar, in content or impact, in no way means that the two people making those statements are similar in any way. There has to be "more," at least as far as I'm concerned, to say it's Logical to conclude that a conservative who wasn't enthused about Palin is "just like" Andrew Sullivan and "just like" a liberal. It's quite obvious that in many cases their goals and motives are the diametric opposite.
Is Ralph Nader "just like" Newt Gingrich just because they both oppose the Obama administration?