Korach
My take on why an insincere argument is referenced as the paradigmatic argument of Korach and his group, rather than Korach against Moshe: It's because for Korach there was not other side, no Moshe's side. There was only his side. It reminds me of when students ask for more points on a test, but they don't want to hear your explanation as to why they lost the points, your side. They just want the points. Korach just wanted what he wanted, he didn't want answers to questions, didn't want dialogue around idea.