Post #9 Presidential Debate

Senator McCain appeals to logos over this issue when he says, "We can offshore drill now, we've got to do it now, we'll reduce the cost of a barrel of oil because we show the rest of the world we have a supply of our own." This appeals to logos because it's logical that we use our own oil that we can harvest from our own land to reduce the price of our rapidly rising gas prices. Gas prices hamper many people who drive gas-guzzling vehicles to and from work. He also appeals to logos when he talks about free trade. He says, "It costs our companies a billion dollars to get their goods into Colombia but it's free for their companies to get their goods into our country." Does that make any sense at all? Why should our companies pay that much if theirs aren't? Senator Obama appeals to logos when he responds by saying, "We've got to have a president who recognizes the benefits of free trade but is also going to enforce unfair trade agreements and is going to stand up to other countries." Logos is used here because it makes sense that a president should support the ones that are fair and stop the ones that are unfair. If it is unfair then someone isn't benefiting and it should be where both partners are benefiting. He also uses logos when he says, "We must also hold them (the auto industry) accountable to start producing the highly fuel efficient cars of the future." Who better to hold accountable than the people building our cars? They are the ones that can save us from high gas prices by creating cars that don't use as much gas. He also uses logos when he mentions the building of wind turbines and solar panels to create more energy.

Senator McCain appeals to pathos when he talks about the rising gas prices because Americans are feeling like they won't be able to afford their gas bills eventually. He sympathizes with the American people saying, "If we start drilling offshore we can lower gas prices." Senator Obama uses pathos when he says, "Transportation accounts for 30% of our total enegy consumption." This is because he also sympathizes with the American people and their energy bills. He also uses it when he says, "It will creat 5,000 jobs in the midwest where we can re-tool these plants and create wind farms and solar farms," because he feels for the people that can't get a job because companies are having to make cutbacks because they are losing money.

Both candidates appeal to ethoes when they talk about each other. They criticize each others view points and actions calling each other liers and hypocrites. They talk down to each other as if they have nothing in common what-so-ever and like they aren't worthy of being president. They say that because of the way that they voted on certain bills is the way they think on certain issues. Often times they only disagree with only certain parts of the bill but agree with the overall concept of the bill. They use ethos in a degrading way towards one another.

The context of this event is to tell the audience what each candidate believes on certain issues. Often times these views are masked by the continuous criticizing of one another. They spend too much time tell the audience why the other person is unworthy of being president rather than telling why they should be president. If they took more time telling us why they are the better candidate then more would come out of these debates. The real facts have to be looked up on the internet if someone wants to know the true facts. If someone can find out all the facts from one of these debates then they are a politcal genious. In any case in these debates regularly appeal to logos, pathos, and ethos because they are very effective means of getting points across to different groups of people.

T.I.