Electronic Democracy Project: Speech Watch (a rhetorical analysis)

In preparation for the general election, each party holds a national convention. Smaller parties like the Libertarian Party and the Green Party are all but ignored by the national media, but the two major parties the Republican Party (a.k.a. The Grand Old Party, or GOP) and the Democratic Party receive more media attention. Their national conventions are given prime time coverage on network and cable stations, allowing voters to hear a multitude of arguments about why we should vote for each party and presidential candidate. Transcripts of the major speeches appear in some national newspapers (e.g.: The New York Times), and videos of the major speeches are also archived on the web (on cspan).

This paper invites you to learn more about this process, and to select one speech from either the GOP convention or the Democratic Convention and analyze it using the strategies we have discussed so far.  Written arguments, images, and speeches each have their own specific features, but argumentative strategies also apply to all, and in this assignment you will be watching a televised speech, listening to that speech, and reading a transcript of it. Your task is to identify the rhetorical strategies at work in the speech and analyze how effectively the speaker uses those strategies to support the theme of the day, the party platform or vision of America, and the presidential candidate.

How are Convention cites selected and what do conventions do?

Republican Party (GOP) Convention official website (you'll find speeches by Republican candidates and supporters here)

Democratic National Convention official website (you'll find speeches by Democratic candidates and supporters here)

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