Bidden Pathos

Bidden starts off by saying we might have to slow down our commitment to double foreign aid. He mentions slowing it down twice. This plays on the logic that if we can't take care of our own country how are we supposed to help others. It also plays on the emotions that people have about "I" first. Bidden's little slip, "We also are going to make sure we do not go forward with the tax cut proposals of the administration...of John McCain." I think plays on a lot of people's feelings that McCain will be another 4 years of Bush. Whether slip was intentional or not I think a careful listener would pick it up. He goes on to talk about not supporting tax cuts to the wealthy or corporations, "we are not going to support the $300 billion tax cut that they have for corporate America and the very wealthy." Bidden goes on to talk about not letting up on breaks for creating new jobs, education, and affordable health care. This plays to both logos and pathos. The emotional aspect of this is that a lot of people are fearing job security right now with the economy gone to hell. The lack of adequate and reasonably priced health care scares people and also costs the country billions in money from ER visits. Now the logical part of it is that new jobs and better education for everyone would help the economy tremendously. He breaks up the seriousness and allows for a laugh by mentioning that the light telling him his turn is almost over is blinking. "The $100 billion tax dodge that in fact allows people to take their post office box off shore and avoid taxes. I call that unpatriotic. I call that unpatriotic." That statement stirs up the patriotic emotions (and anger) of citizens who don't exploit this gap. After Palin's "attack" on Obama's voting history Bidden starts off by clearing up why Obama voted the way he did. In this case it was because the bill provided for research into alternate fuels. He states that on separate votes Obama votes against giving tax breaks to oil companies. This makes Obama seem more stoic and gives people more faith in him (and restores what Palin may have taken away). Bidden goes on to say, "If John really wanted to eliminate them why is he adding to his budget an additional $4 billion dollars in tax cut for Exxon Mobiles of the world?" This goes on to question the logic and authority of McCain to deal with the economic problems. It also deals with emotions because people aren't really happy with oil companies right now, nor would they want to give them a tax break when they are posting record profits. Bidden uses a lot of hand gestures while he speaks to help emphasize the emotions he is trying to pass off. He also tends to restate topics multiple times in an attempt to drive home ideas. This could be a means to make sure certain words or phrases register and stir up something within the listeners.

PS - I believe this will be late. My mom had car troubles coming home from work so I had to run out and get her which killed about an hour and a half.