Though admittedly a silly word, it aptly describes a silly form of argumentation. And now the New York Times vocabulary blog, which features a “miscellany of modern words and phrases”, has acknowledged the birth of “yesbuttery”:

Portmanteau term denoting agreement tempered by a contrary view.

Criticising the view that Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan has inspired homegrown terrorism, Adrian MacNair wrote for The National Post:

There is something altogether insincere about condemning terrorism on the one hand, and then rationalizing it on the other. It is a form of “yesbuttery,” a term coined by an unknown author which describes the “troops out” crowd who believe that Afghanistan would be better off on its own, despite the brutal bloodshed of Taliban retribution that would ensue.

Naturally, I acknowledge no original ownership of the term, as quoted in the Times. Indeed I heard it first from Terry Glavin, who has created his own share of Fotheringhamisms.