Political Campaign Rhetoric

In Mark Twain’s, “A Presidential Candidate,” Twain makes a modest proposal for his own desire to run for the presidency. He comes forward with all of his wrongdoings unlike most candidates who choose not to reveal personal shortcomings while running for office. His use of rhetorical devices and various strategies throughout his proposal help achieve the purpose and humor of the selection. Several devices which accomplish the humor of this piece include details, irony, and tone.

Thus, he draws the attention of readers by explaining how campaigns are not what precede the election results but a continuing mechanism through which the presidents continuously keep in touch with the public in order for their images to stay fresh and active among public. He challenges the views of other prominent social scientists who have expressed strong views on president’s power to change public opinion. Furthermore, he argues that even rhetorically skilled presidents have found it

Over the years Campaigning in the U.S. has changed drastically because of technological advances, the internet, social media, and the real-time information sharing across the globe. One study suggest that over the years, examining 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012, political advertising has become more negative. The Wesleyan Media Project’s charts states and 2004 election 45 percent of the ads were negative, where in 2012 about 65 percent of the ads were negative.1 There are many speculations on why these negative ads are increasing with every election, but one fact is that campaigns can use negativity to bring attention to a certain topic and sometimes benefit from the free media coverage if the controversy is popular enough.

When attempting to present a certain perspective to an audience, the speaker must not merely string a list of monotonous and meaningless words together and call it a speech. Rhetoric, also known as persuasive elocution, has the power to captivate an audience and is essential to any effective oration. In his 2008 Republican Convention speech, actor Fred Thompson lends his support to John McCain’s presidential campaign in order to convince American voters to do the same. Appealing to his audience’s patriotism and sense of responsibility while also discrediting the possibility of a successful Democratic nominee, Thompson delivers a memorable presentation laced with passion, light-hearted humor, and, most especially, hope for a better future lead

“On Political Labels” by Christopher Borick and “Four Words That Will Decide the Election” by David Green both deal with how language is used in politics. Borick’s essay is a more historical and informative of the origins of political language and key words, while Green’s essay is a game plan for the Democrats to defeat the Republicans by using their own rhetoric against them. David Green makes great points in his essay, but because of his left wing bias and his overall view of Republicans being almost idiots discredit his essay. This is because of the multiple schools of thought that aren’t taken into account for in his essay. Borick’s historical analysis of political terms gives the reader a greater understanding on the rebuttals the Democrats and Republicans can use, but his overall naïve tone on politics today makes his essay almost utopian or unrealistic. Since both essays were written before the 2012 election, they have some outdated views because of our current changing political climate. The current political climate has made the Democratic Party is leaning more European Socialist, while the Republican Party is being dominated by any reactionary movement that is prides itself on nationalism and anti-immigration rhetoric.

My essay challenges how each political party feels in regard to the middle class. I presented viewpoints from various sources that were able to engage in a conversation. Many Americans believe very strongly in favor of one political party, but in my essay I presented points that support and oppose each political party. This challenges the idea that a person can only support one political party when their interests can support another.

In this essay, I will closely examine the role of ethos, pathos, and logos as they were utilized in the 1992 Presidential Debate video clip. Throughout Clinton and Bush’s debates, they used the three options of persuasion effectively and discretely; however, it is evident that out of the three ways of persuasion, the candidates used ‘pathos’ because of the content they were providing. It was apparent that Bill Clinton was more prepared to display forms of persuasion than George H.W. Bush was because Clinton had prior experience dealing with lower income people. In the upcoming paragraphs, I will explain and analyze how each candidate made use of the three forms of persuasion: logos, pathos, and ethos.

America’s history of Presidents has been a long and grand one. With many close races, campaigns have been a crucial part of gaining votes. However the campaigns today are completely different compared to those before those before the nineteenth century. The ideals behind each voter differed greatly and the way each party gathered votes may have been considered strange today. Compared to the days where direct appeals were looked down upon, the American society has adapted itself with the advancement media and technology has made such appeals a common thing. Political parties have had to adapt to these

"You don 't get the chance to make America great by getting rid of everything that made America great,” Stated by Hillary Clinton during her campaign rally in St. Louis, Missouri to attack candidate Donald Trump from his previous diverse rhetoric. Political Rhetoric has been very popular in today’s society. Politics use this as a platform to criticize other candidates about important points that are essential to the United States and its citizens. Not only does others believe that political rhetoric is out of control but it is a negative form of art. During election time, the media and the internet are critical for candidates because it gives them easy access to the younger audience. Although social media is enormous in today’s society, this is the best way for young voters to make their voices heard. Scott Keeter a research analyst and exit poll analyst for NBS News stated that “Young voters have given the Democratic Party a majority of their votes, and for all three cycles they have been the party’s most supportive age group” (Keeter, 1). According to U.S. Census Bureau over the course of time the rate of younger voters “Dropped from 50.9% percent in 1964 to 38.0 percent in 2012” (U.S. Census Bureau, 2).However, the media continue to evolve with modern society. I believe that rhetoric such as visual political rhetoric helps the youth to get more involved with the political arguments while being educated and entertained at the same time.

Yet, it is only the appearance of religion that is helpful . George Bush claims that not only is he saved, but is called upon by God to political office. He also uses extensive references to scripture during his public speeches and he promises to bring freedom “as a gift from the Almighty” to benighted regions of the world like the Middle East. His so called strong morality and grounding in faith was one of the major reasons for his widespread public appeal, and according to some estimates, they are among the most important factors in the 2004 election(Urban, #130). This “good ole boy” painted a virtuous image of himself that the people loved and he has quickly fallen from grace after being in office for two terms. His positive popularity diminished, not only in the United States, but all over the world as well. I found the following fact interesting: a poll conducted in Britain named Bush the second biggest “threat to world peace” after Bin Laden, beating North Korean president Kim Jong–il (Wikipedia, #203). I guess appearance isn’t everything.

It is very common among the United States’ political sphere to rely heavily on T.V. commercials during election season; this is after all the most effective way to spread a message to millions of voters in order to gain their support. The presidential election of 2008 was not the exception; candidates and interest groups spent 2.6 billion dollars on advertising that year from which 2 billion were used exclusively for broadcast television (Seelye 2008.) Although the effectiveness of these advertisements is relatively small compared to the money spent on them (Liasson 2012), it is important for American voters to think critically about the information and arguments presented by these ads. An analysis of the rhetoric in four of the political

On July 27th 2004, Obama spoke at the democratic national convention in Boston, during John Kerry’s presidential campaign. Obama laid out his vision for the United States and launched himself onto the stage. His keynote address, entitled “The Audacity of Hope” was the best speech given at the convention. After his amazing speech, the then-senator was suddenly famous. This speech led him to a very important role as a serious presidential candidate. He portrays the fact that he is a strong speaker because of his brilliant use of rhetoric. This speech engages the audience through the use of rhetorical appeals to pull in the listener and make logical arguments by using his own personal life examples.

I am studying the rally speeches for the leaders of the Labour and Liberal Democrat party’s. Nick Clegg has been the leader of the Liberal Democrat party for 5 years now and Ed Milliband has been the leader of the Labour party for 2 years. Both of these leaders have become unpopular in the public’s eyes: Nick Clegg due to him lying about the raising of tuition fees as well as the negative view from his party as they feel he has disassociated himself from the party objectives in order to conform to a conservative coalition. Ed Milliband is unpopular due to his lack of solid policy projections and no real estimates of what he would do as prime minister, he has left the nation in confusion and doubting his ability.

In a world of politics, many politicians are involved in negative campaigns and as a result healthy conversation among politicians often lead to a disaster. With the endless political news cycles, rhetoric is essential for politicians to deliver their speeches. Therefore, in this essay, the style and delivery of Bill Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention will be examined. It will be using the three main appeals of Aristotle’s mode of persuasion, the five essential rhetoric elements and the classical canons to analysed the speech and evaluate its effectiveness all of which will contribute to its persuasive power to leave a memorable impression in the minds of the audience.

In any presidential election, it is important to take the characteristics of each candidate into consideration in order to determine who is most qualified for the title “president of the United States”. Being a president of a country comes with a great deal of responsibility. A president is required to make appearances, present speeches, be involved in foreign affairs, help make military decisions, and serve as a representative of the nation as a whole. To be a good president, one must be able to present their arguments eloquently with sufficient evidence provided to support their claims. Though the practice of good rhetoric is fundamental in any potential president, it is not the only the only skill necessary to be considered a good president.