Cut-and-paste job

A cut-and-paste job is a form of attack on a perceived opponent in some public controversy. It consists of selectively quoting the opponent's words, out of context, and/or in misleading juxtaposition to each other in order to leave the impression that the subject has said something that they have not. It is intrinsically mendacious because if the subject had actually said what they are implied to have done, there would be no need for the cut-and-paste job - they could be quoted directly.

Another form of cut-and-paste job consists of conflating not the actual words of the subject, but paraphrases of their words in order to leave the same misleading impression.

The cut-and-paste job is often used in connection with the process of demonization. Fear of the cut-and-paste job would also Appear to be one reason for the widespread use of sarcastic quotation marks in newspaper headlines and other writings.