poisoning the well

You discredited them before they opened their mouth.

Wrong: “Before Sam speaks, remember he’s been wrong before.”

Right: “Let’s hear it and judge the proposal.”

This is aimed at the audience, not the argument—and it lands before there’s an argument.

A pre-emptive ad hominem. Its power is that it works before the claim exists, so the audience filters everything that follows through the frame you set.

How to answer it: name the move. “That’s about Sam, not the proposal” resets it, because poisoning only works while nobody points at it.

Now go let them speak.