I watched the entire Clint Eastwood speech again tonight - but with a different lens than before. I watched less for his performance and more for his actual implications on his views of politics. I found that when he addressed Obama's "failed practices" in regards to healthcare, Eastwood was using judicial rhetoric. He was attempting to get his audience to form an opinion (his opinion) about things Obama had or had not done in the past. Additionally, epideictic rhetoric was used by Clint Eastwood to praise Romney for his accomplishments and blame Obama for his lack of accomplishment in the White House.
I know all of what I just typed is extremely one-sided. However, I am just analyzing this speech and not stating (or at least trying not to) my own political beliefs. But hey, it's an election year, these things just come up.
My name is Molly, and I approve this message.
Yes - it's tricky to talk about all of this without suggesting a partisan point of view, which I am not so worried about. In other words, feel free to be partisan, as long as you are on point (I am very partisan, it turns out, but trying not to be as we discuss the campaign via rhetoric). I like that you're bringing in judicial rhetoric here as a feature of these campaigns, because we need to take on the idea of "wrong-doing" as it relates to the opponent, who is always, of course, committing some awful wrong-doing...
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see you get more specific with your posts as you continue writing.