Presidential Debate

Right off the bat McCain uses pathos by saying, "By the way our beloved Nancy Reagan is in the hospital tonight." This really has nothing to do with the first question of "Why is your economic plan better than the other guy's?" but is clearly said to spark some emotion. He goes on to say "Americans are hurting right now and they're angry, they're hurting and angry. They are innocence victims of greed and excess on Wallstreet and as well as Washington D.C. and they're angry." It's true, the average American is a little upset that they aren't doing so well financial and yet you have CEO's and politicians living the high life still. He goes on to use logos by saying, "We have allocated 750 billion dollars, now lets take 300 of that billion and go in and buy those home loan mortages." It makes sense to help people out with there home loans since that is one of the major factors for our current economic crisis. He uses logic again when he says, "It doesn't help that person in their home if the next door neighbor's house is abandoned." Home value suffers depending on the neighborhood so if all the other houses are abandoned and in ruin then the value of the homes with people living in them will decline. Obama uses both pathos and logos when he talks about his core principles he wanted for the financial package. He says, "making sure CEO's don't enrich themselves through this process." This plays on the emotions of the average joe who sees rich people still living lavishly while they suffer and the logic that the rich getting richer is not advantageous to the economy. Obama is clearly trying to play towards the emotions of the middle class when he talks about economics. Which is a logical thing to do considering the majority of Americans aren't upper class. McCain trys to emphatize with people by bringing up the now famous Joe "The Plumber" after Obama's first turn of speaking. To understand the whole Joe "The Plumber" you have to be familiar with the incident where Joe met with Obama. Obama had said something along the lines of "spreading the wealth around" during that meeting. McCain and most conservatives have been trying to attack Obama by saying that this was a "socialist" statement. They both attack eachother (Obama's is more jokingly) as a way to discredit the other person.

The context of the event affects the viewers. While both candidates have a equal amount of time and the program was broadcasted on t.v. and put online there is one major problem. The event only had participants from two (albeit the major) political parties. There were no independents, greens, etc. as part of the debate. Since only republicans and democrats were part of the debate the audience doesn't get the chance to learn more about the ideals of the other canidates from other parties. Only certain questions are asked at the debate so not everything gets answered. Even the questions that are asked get skirted by the canidates at times. The audience has limited control over the event where two presidential canidates (who will have control) argue.