Post #11 - Presidential Election

On the third and final presidential debate, both candidates were asked many questions that allowed them to give answers to convince or persuade the American audience to vote for them as President. Very rarely, the presidential candidates agreed, which forced the two representatives to use rhetoric strategies to move and convince the audience. Through logos, pathos, and ethos, both Presidential candidates were able to provide concrete examples to support their beliefs and have an impact or influence on the viewers. The interviewer of the show asked both Barack Obama and John McCain, "Why would your vice president be a better choice of a respresentative rather than the other other candidate's running mate?" Both Barack Obama and John McCain were able to each give their own opinions and applied rhetoric skills.

Right away, Barack Obama answers the question by applying ethos by stating, "I believe that Joe Biden is one the finest public servants that has ever served this country. It's not that he has some of the best foreign policy credentials of anybody, Democrats and Republicans both aknowledge his expertise there." This is a very bold statements that uses ethos because it gives a great deal of authority to Joe Biden's character, for it proves that he is respected very well by both parties. It also presents Joe Biden with a lot of credibility, for Obama states that he is very well-known and familiar among politicans. After those statements, Obama begins to use a different style of rhetorics buy applying pathos to his argument of persuasion. He uses pathos by noting, "Biden fights on behalf of the working families and remembers what it was like to see his father lose his job and go down through a downward spiral economically. He has a consistent pattern that has been to fight for the little guy. It helps working families get a leg up." These are prime examples of pathos because Obama refers to an appeal that applies to the emotions of the audience. He uses a sad story from Joe Biden's life of his father losing his job because it is something that will affect the audience strongly because it may be something that they can relate to. And finally, by backing up these pathos of Joe Biden, Barack Obama backs up these examples with facts. He supports his previous statements by saying, "When it comes to helping working families, he has passed the Landmark 1994 Crime Bill and the Violence Against Women's Act." By backing up and supporting his statements with facts, Barack Obama is using logos to rationally argue his point. He is appealing with reason and attempting to persuade his audience by providing proof and evidence.

Right away, John McCain uses ethos to argue his point by noting that Sarah Palin is a "role model" to women and reformers all over America. By saying this, McCain is giving her a credibility and appealing to a character of authority. Furthermore, McCain uses rheotoric skills by providing facts of what Sarah Palin has done in her past as a politician. He says, "When she was head of the energy board, she saw corruption and resigned. She has given money back to the tax-payers. She's cut the size of government. She's negotiated with oil companies." Once again, by providing facts, McCain is able to use logos to make an attempt to persuade his audience through reasoning. He uses facts as proof and evidence. Finally, McCain makes some very clear points by using pathos. He notes, "She understands families with special needs. She understands that autism is on the rise. We need to find out what's causing it and reach out to these families and help them." This is a clear example of a patho because it targets a very emotional subject. He targets autism and families with special needs because they tend to have some sad stories and an emotional state that may be easily reached by the audience.