No, that's not what that means. An ad hominem attack is invalid because the target is simply being insulted or called evil in some way. "You can't believe Bill

No, that's not what that means. An ad hominem attack is invalid because the target is simply being insulted or called evil in some way. "You can't believe Bill Smith: all the Smiths are no-good iron-pounding dummkopfs." If the NYT calls other organizations out on their privacy policies without pointing out that their own is terrible, the term for that is a hypocritical omission.