a false dichotomy

Pictures of Blagojevich: A crook or a fool?

This is yet another media example of a false dichotomy.
It is quite possible for Blagojevich to be BOTH a crook AND a fool!... and it may be that he is neither!

True dichotomies meet two simple criteria:

They are mutually exclusive.
("crook or fool" fails this test)

They are exhaustive - there are no other possibilities.
("crook or fool" fails this test, too!)

This has been today's logic lesson.