Monthly Archives: November 2004

Anarcho-syndicalism combines movement for political liberty with the movement for economic liberty. Anarcho-syndicalists believe that formal democracy is not enough. Citizenship rights do not mean much when elections can be bought by wealthy campaign contributors and the media is controlled … Continue reading →

Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.” – Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy “The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly … Continue reading →

Senator Kerry used anaphora, a rhetorical strategy in which the same word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of a phrase, clause, or sentence, throughout the debate to emphasize his points about the failures of the Bush presidency. One … Continue reading →

In regurgitated statements against Kerry, Republicans often included zingers like “flip-flop.” Democrats often referenced the line “consistency when wrong is no virtue.” Although it would be easy to dismiss these words as political posturing by biased individuals, a more interesting … Continue reading →

Much emphasis has been placed on Kerry’s military service record. The ubiquitous and sometimes satirized recount of his three Purple Hearts may come to mind. Kerry is using this strategy as a form of rhetorical identification. That is, in order … Continue reading →

Although the President cultivates the image of a plainspoken Texan, and despite his oft-criticized ineloquence, Bush frequently has a sense of what is appropriate to say in a given situation; however, his actual execution may veer slightly—sometimes grossly—off track. Rhetorical … Continue reading →

Clichés are generally thought of as overused or trite expressions, like “every cloud has a silver lining” or “nobody is perfect,” and hence given scant attention. Yet many clichés are what Richard Rorty calls “dead metaphors,” once new and provocative … Continue reading →

Escalation is a trope that attempts to create a sense of crisis by predicting future calamity. We’ve seen this trope repeatedly during the Presidential Debates; the most glaring example was Vice-President Cheney’s claim that if Senator Kerry were elected, the … Continue reading →

In the final debate, President Bush claimed, “God wants everybody to be free,” reiterating a theme that has been a staple of his discourse—and foreign policy— since January 2003. For Bush, such rhetoric is politically invaluable: it speaks directly to … Continue reading →

Both presidential candidates committed logical fallacies during the debates. Bush, for instance, repeatedly made use of the red herring fallacy, otherwise known as changing the subject. Ask Bush where he stands on affirmative action policies and why, and he discusses … Continue reading →

In the first two debates, President Bush delivered at least five versions of the following argument about the Iraq War: BUSH: I don’t see how you can lead this country to succeed in Iraq if you say wrong war, wrong … Continue reading →

Especially during presidential campaigns, and political debates, citizens often hear candidates and pundits claiming, with an air of dismissal, that “it’s merely rhetoric”—implying that statements are untrue, policies are unrealistic, goals are unattainable, arguers not trustworthy. The suggestion is that … Continue reading →

Carol Ammons says the Champaign County Clerk’s office has rejected hundreds of voter registrations collected during a drive by her group, C-U Citizens for Peace and Justice, and the reasons for rejection seem hard to swallow. One local man allegedly … Continue reading →

In the pouring rain Saturday, October 23, spirited members of our community marched for unity and weathered the storm. They met at two locations – Douglass Park on the North side and Scott Park on the South side – to … Continue reading →