Salon.com⁠76%

‘Night, Mee-Maw. “Late Night with Seth Meyers” will miss you ⁠54%

By Melanie McFarland⁠48%

7/14/2026, 10:46:28 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 16 faulty reasoning types, including Ad Hominem, Negativity Bias, and Unattributed Quote, with Biased Writer Voice as the most egregious example at 69.8% saturation with 240 hits. Analysis detected 732 faulty-reasoning hits from 344 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 52.8% and a BS Rank of ⁠54% (9,440 of 20,516 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 54.00% of the article peer group.

Sen. 
Lindsey Graham’s sudden death on Saturday stirred up a mess of feelings . 
Analysts pondered his transformation from bipartisan negotiator to Donald Trump toady. 
A few people pulled muscles while straining to label him a “ lion of the Senate .” 
But my first concern was, “What’s gonna happen to Mee-Maw?” 
If you’re unfamiliar with the reference, Mee-Maw is the chicken-fried Greek chorus that “ Late Night with Seth Meyers ” concocted to hound Graham whenever he excused Trump’s corruption. 
Initially introduced as an invisible scene partner for Meyers to scream-drawl at during his cornpone impersonations of the Republican gentleman from South Carolina, Mee-Maw evolved into a Southern gothic performance piece. 
She could be infantilizing (“Mee-Maw! 
I’m a grown man! 
I don’t take baths with you anymore, Mee-Maw!”) 
or humbling (“My Mee-Maw keeps telling me no one’s ever going to come to my parties. 
Maybe they’d come if you’d stay in your room instead of traipsing around the dinner table with your nightgown half-open!”). 
She baked biscuits worth defending, yet pooh-poohed her grandson’s Broadway dreams. 
Despite all the power Graham amassed, Mee-Maw was always hovering nearby to remind lil’ Lindsey that he was never too good to clean her hemorrhoid donut. 
There were two Lindsey Grahams 
I had my fingers crossed that “Late Night” would haul out Mee-Maw for one last jig when it returned on Monday. 
Alas, the old girl couldn’t compete with the assortment of crises that transpired during the show’s three-week hiatus, including the once-in-a-lifetime comedy opportunity presented by explosive headlines about explosive diarrhea . 
“I don’t want to keep talking about it,” Meyers admitted during Monday’s “ A Closer Look ” segment, “but as the host of a late-night comedy show, I am contractually obligated!” 
Just as well. 
Now that Graham’s gone, it’s only fitting that his imaginary grandma rest her bewigged skeleton in that great rocking chair in the sky. 
‘Night, Mee-Maw. 
Regardless of how you showed up, you were a brilliant antagonist for a morally flexible opportunist. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 1.5%Melanie McFarland: 2.9%Salon: 5.2%Confirmation Bias1.5%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.1%Salon: 0.4%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 3.2%Melanie McFarland: 2.4%Salon: 3.1%Availability Heuristic3.2%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 2.0%Salon: 1.2%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 1.7%Salon: 1.0%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.6%Salon: 1.8%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 8.4%Melanie McFarland: 2.2%Salon: 7.2%Framing Effect8.4%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.1%Salon: 0.4%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.1%Salon: 0.3%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.2%Salon: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 6.1%Melanie McFarland: 2.2%Salon: 1.4%Optimism Bias6.1%This article: 6.7%Melanie McFarland: 0.9%Salon: 2.2%Pessimism Bias6.7%This article: 20.3%Melanie McFarland: 6.9%Salon: 10.9%Negativity Bias20.3%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.6%Salon: 0.7%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 1.5%Salon: 2.1%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.1%Salon: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 1.2%Salon: 1.9%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 1.5%Salon: 1.4%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 12.2%Melanie McFarland: 3.9%Salon: 2.4%Halo Effect12.2%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.2%Salon: 0.5%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.0%Salon: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 1.2%Salon: 1.3%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.5%Salon: 0.5%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.2%Salon: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 23.8%Melanie McFarland: 2.0%Salon: 3.5%Ad Hominem23.8%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.9%Salon: 1.4%Straw Man0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 2.3%Salon: 3.1%Appeal to Authority0.0%This article: 1.5%Melanie McFarland: 1.0%Salon: 2.3%False Dilemma1.5%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.4%Salon: 1.5%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.2%Salon: 0.2%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 4.9%Melanie McFarland: 9.1%Salon: 10.6%Hasty Generalization4.9%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.2%Salon: 0.2%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.3%Salon: 0.6%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 15.1%Melanie McFarland: 4.3%Salon: 6.0%Appeal to Emotion15.1%This article: 6.7%Melanie McFarland: 0.5%Salon: 1.4%Begging the Question6.7%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 1.6%Salon: 2.3%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.2%Salon: 0.3%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.3%Salon: 0.5%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.2%Salon: 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.7%Salon: 0.6%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 9.0%Melanie McFarland: 1.6%Salon: 2.5%Anecdotal9.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.3%Salon: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.9%Salon: 1.5%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.0%Salon: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.1%Salon: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.1%Salon: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.1%Salon: 0.1%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.0%Salon: 0.3%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 17.4%Melanie McFarland: 2.2%Salon: 2.1%Unattributed Quote17.4%This article: 6.1%Melanie McFarland: 1.7%Salon: 1.6%Quote-first Misdirection6.1%This article: 69.8%Melanie McFarland: 11.9%Salon: 15.1%Biased Writer Voice69.8%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 2.0%Salon: 2.6%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 3.8%Salon: 7.1%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.3%Salon: 0.2%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Melanie McFarland: 0.9%Salon: 1.6%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

344 words analyzed.

Speakers

1speaker9.0%attributed speech313writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 2 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 1 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 11 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 17 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 10 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 29 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 31 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 5 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 4 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 20 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 11 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 26 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 5 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 21 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 31 words • 100.0% coverageSeth Meyers • 31 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 3 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 23 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 2 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 100.0% coverage
Selected voice

Seth Meyers

100%flagged-word coverage
31 attributed words100% of attributed speech85% writer coverage
0%50.0%100.0%Unattributed Quote+90.7 ptsWriter: 9.3%Seth Meyers: 100.0%100.0%Biased Writer Voice-76.7 ptsWriter: 76.7%Seth Meyers: 0.0%0.0%Quote-first Misdirection-6.7 ptsWriter: 6.7%Seth Meyers: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.