Transcript Campaign Rhetoricx

Campaign Rhetoric
Rhetoric
• Rhetoric is the use of language to please or
persuade (wordnetweb.princeton.edu)
• The main focus of the study of rhetoric has
been on public speaking with the intent to
persuade an audience to accept the speaker’s
position
– Especially political speech
Another view
• A more expansive view would see rhetoric as
the study of the effective use of symbols
Political campaigns and rhetoric
• One could argue that all persuasive strategies
and tactics in campaign communication can
be evaluated according to the scholarship of
rhetoric
– Theories and research on persuasion
• Speechmaking is the topic most directly tied
to traditional rhetoric
Ethics
• Since at least as long ago as the ancient
Greeks there has been an ethical debate over
the use of various persuasive strategies
– Outright lies
– Misleading presentation
– Failure to reveal pertinent information
– Use of emotional arguments rather than logical
ones
• On the other hand, use of noble, uplifting
ideas to persuade may be an important
contributor to laudable behavior or social
betterment
• Speeches allow the candidate to communicate
directly with the electorate without the
mediation of newspeople, spokespersons, etc.
– An opportunity to inform, persuade and inspire
the audience
Aristotle
• Pathos—emotion
• Ethos—speaker character
• Logos—logic or reason
What factors affect persuasiveness?
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Language use
Visual imagery
Framing
Emotion
Delivery
Audience involvement/beliefs
Propaganda
• Propaganda is persuasive media content
Institute for Propaganda Analysis
• In the hope of reducing the impact of
irrational propaganda on the populace in the
wake of WWI, IPA was formed
• A number of studies, articles meant to help
people see through false and misleading
presentation, critique propaganda
Seven propaganda devices
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Name calling
Glittering generalities
Transfer
Testimonial
Plain folks
Card stacking
Band wagon
• Rhetors use a number of techniques to
connect their favored policies with beliefs that
are widely revered and to connect those they
oppose to ideas that are widely seen as evil or
repugnant
Atrocity stories
Misrepresentation
Are misconceptions corrected over
time?
• Misconceptions about the health care bill are
still circulating
Is emotion or logic more persuasive?
• For most people most of the time, emotional
appeals are more persuasive
– Impact decreases as audience knowledge
increases
The role of the audience
• A strong tendency toward biased reception,
retention
– Ignore disconfirming evidence
– Interpret ambiguous information as support
– Consider sources that deliver information contrary
to beliefs to be biased
– Seek out confirmatory content, avoid
disconfirmatory
• Cable TV, Internet/Web have made this much easier
The role of the audience
• Gain pleasure from group support, intellectual
competition
– More the case with committed partisans
• May actively demonstrate support, chant with
the speaker, boo the opposition, etc.
Existing knowledge
• The more knowledgeable an individual is on a
topic the less persuadable she is
– Complicated and powerful schema
• The less knowledgeable and individual is, the
more persuadable he is, and the more
peripheral cues are effective in persuasion
Framing
• Constructing a larger worldview that sets the
context for the interpretation of events,
people, issues and issue positions, etc.
• Once in place it is hard to change both at the
individual and aggregate levels
– Pro Choice v. Pro Life
• Frames are constructed through rhetoric and
invoked through language
Lakoff
• The Difference Between Framing and Messaging
• “Framing is the most commonplace thing we do with
thought and language. Frames are the cognitive
structures we think with. They are physical, embodied
in neural circuitry. Frames come in systems. Their
circuitry is strengthened and often made permanent
through use: the more the circuits are used, the
stronger they get. Effective frames are not isolated.
They build on, and extend, other frames already
established. All words are defined in terms of
conceptual frames. When the words are heard, the
frames are strengthened -- not just the immediate
frames, but the whole system.”
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High-level, moral frames matter more
Most framing is unconscious
Framing is long-term
Prototype frames
Bi-conceptual frames
– Contested concepts
• According to Lakoff, opinion differences
between liberals and conservatives “follow
from the fact that they subscribe with
different strength to two different metaphors
about the relationship of the state to its
citizens.” Both see governance through
“metaphors of the family.”
• “Conservatives would subscribe more strongly
and more often to a model that he calls the
"strict father model" and has a family structured
around a strong, dominant "father"
(government), and assumes that the "children"
(citizens) need to be disciplined to be made into
responsible "adults" (morality, self-financing).
Once the "children" are "adults", though, the
"father" should not interfere with their lives: the
government should stay out of the business of
those in society who have proved their
responsibility.”
• “In contrast, Lakoff argues that liberals place
more support in a model of the family, which he
calls the "nurturant parent model", based on
"nurturant values", where both "mothers" and
"fathers" work to keep the essentially good
"children" away from "corrupting influences"
(pollution, social injustice, poverty, etc.). Lakoff
says that most people have a blend of both
metaphors applied at different times, and that
political speech works primarily by invoking these
metaphors and urging the subscription of one
over the other.”
• Current frames
– “Tax and spend liberals”
• “Socialism”
– “Tea Party patriots”
– “War on Terrorism”
– “War on Drugs”
– “Illegal aliens”
– “Bailout”
Goals of public speeches
• Provide important information to the
audience
• Persuade listeners to prefer you to your
opposition
– Generate a positive view of yourself
– Generate a negative view of your opponents
• Generate media coverage
– Sound bites that further your campaign
Major speech forms (Trent)
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Announcement speech
Nomination acceptance speech
News conferences
Apologia
• Why I’m Running
Announcement speech
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Clearly signals candidate’s intention to run
May serve to discourage competition
Indicate why the candidate is running
Initiate the themes of the campaign
• Strategies
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Timing
Place
Who do you share the spotlight with?
Content
Announcement speech content
• Three typical themes:
– Candidates announce that they are, in fact,
running
– They explain why they are running
– They suggest the likelihood of their victory
Timing of announcement
• Hagel
• Obama
Follow-up
• Publicity-gaining strategies
– Walking tour of state (Missouri governor “Walking
Joe” Teasdale)
– Follow-up communications
– Endorsements
– Travels
• Kucinich “reannouncement tour”
Acceptance address
• Goals/purposes of the address
– The candidate publicly assumes the role of a
candidate/leader of the party
– Generate a strong positive response from the
immediate audience
– Unify the party
– Serve as a strong persuasive message
• Immediate audience
• Remote audience (TV)
Acceptance strategies
• Simplified partisan statements
• Laments about the present and celebrations
about the future
• Stress on the crucial nature of the election
• Attempts to seek support from the entire
constituency
• Using biography
• Comparison with opponent
Apologia
• Goals
– Explain statement or behavior that casts doubts
on the suitability of the candidate
• Explain the behavior or statement in a positive light
• Justify the behavior
• Remove the topic from public discussion
Apologia strategies
• Control of the setting
• Denial
• Bolstering
– Identify with something the audience values
• Differentiation
– Attack the source
– Separate some piece of the story from the accusation
• Transendental strategy
– Move audience away from the specifics of the case to
some higher plane of discussion
• Confession