Midterm Election Rhetoric

With just over two weeks until the midterm elections, we need to look at some of the rhetorical strategies – or lack thereof – that candidates are using this year. I do not have a specific "text" that I want you to analyze. Instead, please find some form of a campaign advertisement or a stump speech, and briefly consider the rhetorical strategies that the candidates or other agencies use to manipulate the opinions of the voting public. In addition, please consider how these strategies relate to Orwell's often cited essay, "Politics and the English Language."

This is simple. Perhaps more than any other event, an election generates a plethora of straightforward, in-your-face rhetoric. Find some, and explain it in 350-450 words. There are an infinite number of options for this assignment. Contemporary campaigns exploit the internet and other digital media. Feel free to explore any of these media. In addition, you should not feel restricted to Massachusetts’s campaigns. Survey campaigns across the country if you want to. I only ask that you limit your search to Congressional or gubernatorial campaigns. Please do not explore municipal campaigns.

Despite the infinite choices you have, I do have a few requirements.

First, please identify the source of the "text" you select. You can simply include this in the post; you need not separate it in any formal way. Remember, the “speaker” might not be the candidate him/herself.

Second, please attach a copy of the “text” you select to the online journal, similar to the way you attached a “text” last week. I will happily help you with this. However, you will need to see me sometime well before the assignment is due. If you choose to analyze a stump speech, please include a link to the speech.

Third, please try to draw some connection to Orwell's "Politics" essay. If you identify no explicit connection, please explain how the "speaker" in your "text" avoids the rhetorical short-comings that Orwell describes.

Lastly, do not forget that any complete rhetorical analysis will include an explanation of the “audience.” Surely, candidates vary their rhetoric to reach different “audiences.” What “audience” does your candidate address in the “text” you select?

NOTE: Be sure to select a “text” that allows for a detailed analysis. This will require some research.