A Rhetorical Analysis Thompson's Speech

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In his speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention, former Senator Fred Thompson aims to convince his audience to vote for John McCain in the upcoming election. Thompson also works to create the persona of a perseverant, patriotic leader for McCain. In his attempts to persuade the American voters, Thompson uses McCain’s personal experiences and logic that discredits the Democrats in order to gain support for McCain’s campaign.
Thompson establishes McCain’s strong moral character by speaking about the presidential candidate’s past service to the country. He speaks about McCain’s military background in depth in order to show his strong moral character. The speech describes the brutality endured by prisoners of war during the Vietnam War; …show more content…

Thompson calls the Democratic Party’s decisions throughout the recent years “history-making” but he uses the title sarcastically. The former senator calls the Democrat-controlled Congress “history-making” because of its title as the “least accomplished and most unpopular Congress in our nation’s history” (Thompson). Thompson compares the current Congress to all those in the past and declares it the worst, therefore undermining the Democrats’ power and ability to effectively lead the country. Thompson shows that the Democrats have done nothing with their power and will continue to do so, prompting American citizens to believe that there needs to be a change in leadership. By establishing that the Democrats are ineffective, Thompson diminishes their credibility and respect, thereby boosting that of McCain and the Republicans as a result. Thompson also calls the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Barack Obama, “history-making” because he’s the “most inexperienced nominee to ever run for president” (Thompson). Obama’s lack of background work makes him seem like an ill-fit candidate because the president should be someone with extensive prior knowledge and experience as to how the country’s government operates. . This seemingly poor decision makes the Democrats look like they lack judgement and direction, randomly selecting the most liberal politician. The Democrats then looks to be self-serving party that does not have the nation’s best interest in mind, they have selfishly picking the most naive and therefore easily manipulated politician for their candidate. Thompson then goes on to take apart the Democrat’s plans for the upcoming years. He discredits their tax reforms by stating how a struggling economy is not helped “by imposing one of the largest tax increases in American history” on the business sector, a sector that affects all Americans daily through sales and

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