Confessions Of A Republican Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Superior Essays
Persuasions of a Republican
In the political landscape, it is often emotional decisions that sway voters to one side or another. Whereas a voter is less inclined to change their fundamental values based on an appeal to logic, a savvy politician can use emotional appeals to persuade the public to change their minds, and indeed, to change their vote. The “Confessions of a Republican” ad used a perfect combination of emotion, persuasion, and style to present a cogent argument that helped persuade Republican voters to override their party’s decision and vote for Johnson.
The advertisement opens with a title screen displaying the words, “Confessions of a Republican” (“Confessions”). A respectable man (hereafter called “the narrator”) in a chair turns, opening by declaring, “I don’t feel guilty about being a Republican… I voted for Dwight Eisenhower the first time I ever voted; I voted for Nixon the last time” (“Confessions”). Then the conversation turns, as the narrator remarks, “when we come to Senator Goldwater, now
…show more content…
First, trust and relatability are established. The narrator is proud of being a Republican, and is easy to identify with to the generic Republican voter. Only after the trust has been built, does he raise his concerns, starting with those around Goldwater - the cabinet, who “Have strange ideas” (“Confessions”). It is intimated that Goldwater will lead the nation into a nuclear war. “I wish … [Goldwater] had the imagination to shut his eyes and imagine what this country would look like after Nuclear War” (“Confessions”). The narrator re-establishes the trust in him being a Republican, as he yearns to have been at the convention, and to have affected who was picked. He closes with, “I do care. I wish my party hadn’t made a mistake, but now I must correct the mistake” (“Confessions”). The narrator is established as a trustworthy guide, who raises doubts about the candidate the Republicans

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    One device that Reagan uses is the appeal to emotions, such as humor, pride and sympathy. Reagan uses appeal to emotion because he wants to establish an easygoing demeanor with his audience, show that he is sympathetic to their plight, instill pride and push them towards his ideals. He wants it to be known that his intention is not to attack the Soviets but to invite them to join with the West and to work towards a more prosperous future. Some examples of this are when he tries to instill an easygoing demeanor through appealing to their emotions, more specifically to the audience’s humor. Reagan states, “But my friends, there were a few things the Soviets didn’t count on: Berliner Herz, Berliner Humor, ja und Berliner Schnauze”.…

    • 1372 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Advertisements are everywhere you go now. Without realizing we see at least a hundred ads a day. Advertisers will try pretty much anything to sell their products. So how far are they willing to go to sell you their products? What emotional appeals will they use to catch your attention?…

    • 1189 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis: Exploring Devices that Forge Connections between Unity and Cultures Published in 1996, James McBride reflects back on the lives of himself and his mother growing up in the Bronx, and the vast number of experiences that shaped both their lives. McBride poignantly reflects on the differences that unified his family, allowing McBride to successfully intertwine the two cultures as one by highlighting the differences between the two, and bringing the two together to convey that the two cultures are truly one, in the way his mother did for him. In order to promote the central theme of unity through faith in the color of water, author James McBride utilizes symbolism and juxtaposition to show the striking similarities between the cultures, despite the perceived stigmas that marred James and his mother’s childhood.…

    • 1117 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the presidential election of 2008 John McCain, in an attempt to close the gap between genders, choose Sarah Palin as his running mate. Palin in her Vice Presidential acceptance speech implicated why she would be a superior nominee. With her effective use of rhetoric she executed a nationally accepted speech. Not only revealing her political visions, but recognizing John McCain’s credibility and condemning Barack Obama. During her pronouncement, Palin illuminates McCain's qualities- simultaneously validating her own.…

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Conservative Movement

    • 1249 Words
    • 5 Pages

    He said “The root evil is that the government is engaged in activities in which it has no legitimate business” referring to the federal government’s creation of social welfare programs and laws that according to Conservatives, was the right of the state to make. (S&L 62) Goldwater’s most popular stance, however, comes farther down the page, when he says the magic words that every conservative at the time had been thinking “The government must begin to withdraw from a whole series of programs that are outside its constitutional mandate”. Goldwater went past “establishment” Republicans who the Conservative Movement saw as “temporizers” who were unwilling to fight communism and repeal the New Deal (S&L 59). The Conscience of a Conservative united the Conservative Movement and served as a platform for years…

    • 1249 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Rise of the Rhetorical Presidency written by James W. Ceaser, Glen E. Thurow, Jeffrey K. Tulis and Joseph M. Bessette, discussed various changes the electoral branch has experienced in the last 81 years and its overall effect on American politics. The key point this work touches on is “Popular or mass rhetoric, which presidents once employed only, rarely now serves as one of their principal tools in attempting to govern the nation”. The author's use various examples claiming the shift began at the beginning of 1900 and by 1913 there was a new rhetoric employed by the presidents to come. At the beginning of this work the focus is on the effects on the modern presidency, framers intent for the presidency, how the rhetorical presidency developed,…

    • 966 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Franklin D. Roosevelt’s use of Rhetorical Strategies On March 4, 1933, the United States’ new president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), recited his First Inaugural Address in which he reflected on unfortunate issues America had endured leading up to his initiation as the Chief of State. He also outlined his plan that would promote socioeconomic improvements and rekindle the traditional American spirit. In their essay, “The Rhetorical Presidency,” Robert E. Denton, Jr. and Dan F. Hahn, who are both political communication analysts and communications professors at notable universities, describe that presidents, including FDR, use five oratorical techniques to communicate meaningful and important messages to the nation’s people.…

    • 1187 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Dakota Edison Mrs. Kellogg English 10 H (Per. 3) 24 October 2016 ‘American President’ Analysis Paragraph Although all American citizens are being influenced that President Shepherd is unfit to do his job, he successfully convinces them that he is indeed fit to re-run for President through his use of pathos and ethos. The President does use pathos the most, accessing all citizens’ emotions and sense of patriotism to convince them to re-elect him. For example, when summarizing all of Rumson’s horrible actions, President Shepherd says “[...] you go on television, and you call her a whore” (Sorkin). President Shepherd’s use of the word ‘whore’ reveals his effective use of pathos, as shown by the reaction of our class, along with the audience ’s stifling silence.…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “A man who has given away a small fortune, forsaken a loving family, abandoned his car, watch, and map, and burned the last of his money before traipsing off into the wilderness” (71). The national best selling book, “Into the Wild” written by Jon Krakauer tells the story about a man name Chris McCandless. The story takes place in 1990’s and tells the adventures of the a man who changes his name to Alex Supertramp. The story tells the readers of the book:all the different people he met on his journey, where he want and how he died. As the author writees about Chris’s life and his connections with the story he includes many different types of writting styles including rhetoricstragides.…

    • 1046 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the past couple of months we have seen more and more well known establishment Republicans like Lindsey Graham, George Pataki, and Bill Kristol, proclaim their refusal to support Donald Trump if he were to secure the GOP presidential nomination. Now that Trump has done just that, political pundits from every news site, cable channel, and talk radio show seem all but obsessed with revealing the next Republican mainstay who will give the cold shoulder to Trump, and may even commit conservative blasphemy by voting for Hillary Clinton. Almost daily, we hear another report of lifelong Republicans jumping the sinking ship that was once "The Grand Old Party". Whether it be both George Bush Junior and Senior opting out of even attending this…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Throughout political campaigns in history we have seen many different evolutions from debates to political ads on television. Since political ads became big in 1952, there have been a few ads that have made a large mark, and even some that have changed the course of political campaigning. Few of the oldies-but-goodies have been updated, repurposed, and made prevalent in this year’s election cycle. One of these ads was put on television in 1964 by the Lyndon Johnson campaign and was redone and reused by the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016. This ad is known as the Peace Little Girl (Daisy) ad in 1964 and called Daisy in 2016 as titled on the Living Room Candidate website.…

    • 1304 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    During ENG 1020, we completed many assignments focusing on the three main goals of this course, teach students about different styles of rhetorical situation, learn about the different genres of reading, research, and writing, and to teach students to develop analyses and arguments using research-based content, effective organizations, and appropriate expression and mechanics. Throughout this course, I have learned how to search and specifically find appropriate sources using the CRAAP test, identify proper characteristics of a rhetorical piece, and be able to reflect on my own writing by completing multiple drafts. These experiences allowed me to improve my persuasion techniques, my ability to find reliable information, and editing skills.…

    • 1062 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the House of the Lord, a man appears to be walking down the aisle to arrive at the pulpit to serve as the connoisseur of the Bible. He wears a long black trench coat and sets down his notes on the podium. He stares out onto his followers and beings reading in a monotone voice. Although people should be uninterested in this man, he captures their attention. He entrances his audience.…

    • 1078 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    On September fifth of 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that DACA will end in six months in order to give Congress time to find a solution for the 800,000 young immigrants that are part of the program. Sessions, the president and White House officials gave many reasons explaining the program’s removal, but these reasons were either false or one-sided. An article on Politifact written by Louis Jacobson, John Kruzel, Manuela Tobias and Miriam Valverde, points out all the flaws in Jeff Sessions’ announcement about ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. For example, in his announcement, Jeff Sessions said DACA ‘denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans by allowing those same illegal aliens to take those…

    • 208 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    During his first term, Reagan vigorously pursued an anticommunist foreign-policy agenda. He announced a five-year program to increase defense spending by $1.2 trillion. In March 1983, he proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, or "Star Wars"), which was intended to protect the United States against a Soviet strategic-missile attack. Calling the Soviet Union "the evil empire," he employed anti-Soviet rhetoric that was more reminiscent of the 1950s. He also enunciated a policy that was subsequently dubbed the "Reagan doctrine," promising American help for friendly nations threatened by communist rebels and for revolt movements seeking to topple Marxist regimes.…

    • 163 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays

Related Topics