how the electoral college works

The topic of the Electoral College came up in class recently. You might find helpful this explanation of "How the Electoral College Works" (from the Federal Election Commission).

maps and their meaning

Following the election on November 2, we've all seen several color-coded maps of various kinds used in the service of various arguments about the state of "red" (Republican) versus "blue" (Democrat) America. Take a look at this interesting overview of different maps, by Michael Gastner, Cosma Shalizi, and Mark Newman at the University of Michigan.

how polling works

"About Polling offers information on the field of opinion research gathered from a variety of sources and commentators."

an example of...

...how writers for blogs comment on writers for more traditional media.

First read "Bush's Tax Cuts Are Unfair ...To the rich.," by Steven E. Landsburg at Slate. Then have a look at "Unfair to the readers," by blogger John Quiggin at Crooked Timber.

relevant to our discussion today concerning sentence structure and style

"Kerry vs. His Script: Why can't the man read a simple speech?" by Chris Suellentrop (Slate)

Kerry proves incapable of reading simple declarative sentences. He inserts dependent clauses and prepositional phrases until every sentence is a watery mess. Kerry couldn't read a Dick and Jane book to schoolchildren without transforming its sentences into complex run-ons worthy of David Foster Wallace. Kerry's speechwriters routinely insert the line "We can bring back that mighty dream," near the conclusion of his speeches, presumably as an echo of Ted Kennedy's Shrum-penned "the dream will never die" speech from the 1980 Democratic convention. Kerry saps the line of its power. Here's his version from Monday's speech in Tampa: "We can bring back the mighty dream of this country, that's what's at stake in these next two weeks."

debate tonight: candidates for missouri governor

From BlogKC:

First debate between Claire McCaskill and Matt Blunt is tonight at 7:00 pm at the Liberty Memorial museum. It will be aired on Channels 9 and 19, and 89.3 FM.

two sides to every story?

"'Balance' in a Spinning World," by Howard Kurtz (WaPo).

Are the media's truth-squadding troops ganging up on George W. Bush? And if so, does he deserve it?

epideictic rhetoric revisited

One occasion that is sure to prompt exercises in epideictic rhetoric is someone's death. Two people, prominent in very different circles, have died in the last few days:

• Christopher Reeve, actor and spinal cord research advocate
• Jacques Derrida, philosopher and founder of the movement known as Deconstruction

Follow the links to look for examples of writers praising or blaming these two men.

why missouri makes the news

BlogKC points to an unflattering story in Salon on U.S. Senator Kit Bond (R), from Missouri. The state is getting attention from the national media in part because we are a "swing" state: pollsters are not 100% certain which way the state will vote come November, and this uncertainty presumably creates exigence for trying to understand the way we (and our elected officials) think.

second presidential debate: links roundup

WaPo has a full transcript of the October 8 Presidential Debate in St. Louis. They also have video. The following, in no particular order, is a list of some post-debate commentary:

• G. W. B. on Dred Scott, Earth Wide Moth
• Haughty, Haughty, Michelle Malkin
• Town Hall Debate, Wonkette
• Strikeout: Kerry blows the second debate., William Saletan (Slate)
• A Draw, Andrew Sullivan
• Debate Report!, Fafblog
• Untitled, Instapundit
• Bush Wins Going Away, Little Green Footballs
• The Yelling, Matthew Yglesias
• Foreign vs. Domestic, Kevin Drum

I still need to glean some commentary from these sources (and others):

• Washington Post
• NY Times
• Salon

vice-presidential debates

Last night Vice President Dick Cheney and Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards had their one and only debate. The full transcript can be found here at the Washington Post, which also maintains an entire online section devoted to this campaign's series of debates.

Also take a look at the special section on campagn 2004 maintained by the New York Times.

deadline for registering to vote

Wednesday, October 6th is the deadline to register to vote in Missouri. In Kansas it's October 17th. There are a number of ways to register at UMKC. After registering, follow these links to find your voting location:

• Kansas City (Jackson County portion, south of the river)
• Jackson County (outside KCMO)
• Clay County (including KC North)
• Platte County (including KC North)
• Wyandotte County and KCK
• Johnson County

conservative political film festival

Consider this link a partner to the one provided earlier. "The Right Stuff: In Hollywood, a Film Festival That's Rated GOP," by William Booth (WaPo):

Billed as the first conservative film festival in Hollywood, the three-day affair showcased comic shorts, one about the "ultimate minority" in Tinseltown ("Greg Wolfe: Republican Jew"), an epic homage to Ronald Reagan and his battle against Soviet communism ("In the Face of Evil") and a snappy doc on tart-tongued commentator Ann Coulter ("Is It True What They Say About Ann?"), in which Coulter signs the T-shirt of a leftie college student with the words "Have fun in Guantanamo!"

post-debate chatter, continued

A second round of links to post-debate commentary:

• David Broder, Bush's Real Opponent (WaPo)
• David Brooks, Sense and Sensibility (NY Times)
• Richard S. Dunham, Kerry Lands the First Punch (Business Week)
• Jim Lindgren, A Comment on the Debates (Volokh Conspiracy)
• Lots of comments at Little Green Footballs
• Michelle Malkin, Random Post-Debate Thoughts
• Media Matters, After "make-or-break" buildup, CNN commentators downplayed debates' significance
• The First Debate, staff editorial at NY Times
• Several letters to the editor at the NY Times: "After the First Debate, Americans See a Winner"
• Andrew Sullivan
• Ciro Scotti, See Bush Debate. See Him Squirm. (Business Week)
• Talking Points Memo, Now comes the hard part: winning the spin
• The First Debate, staff editorial at WaPo.

college students and voting: a felony?

People in the college-student age range frequently get a bad rap for not being interested in voting, so it's interesting to see all the voter registration efforts taking place at UMKC this semester. "Ms. Musings," the blog produced by Ms. Magazine, points to a story out of Arizona where a local Fox News report suggested that college students attending school in Arizona were breaking the law for registering on campus to vote. Why would Fox create such a news story when the local voter registrar says no one has ever been prosecuted over residency?

Use what you know about rhetoric and what you know (or can figure out) about these various sources of information:

• What is the ethos of Fox News?
• What is the ethos of Ms. Magazine?
• What is the ethos of The Nation
(quoted in the blog entry)?

(Thanks to Crooked Timber for the link.)

post-debate chatter

Here's a first stab at gathering together some post-debate chatter. I'm mixing commentary from bloggers with that of columnists for the "traditional media," as well as overview news articles. More later, ac (after coffee).

• Michael Berube, Debate summary (in which, for once, I do not pretend to be a Republican)
• Andy Cline, It's not a game, Not just another day, Mr. Lehrer.
• Dan Froomkin, The President Gets Defensive (WaPo)
• Howard Kurtz, Spin the Battle (WaPo)
• Lawrence Lessig, Reporting the debate
• Michael Powell, The Battle, If Not The War, To Kerry; Bush Hit Off-Notes With Debate Viewers (WaPo)
• Dana Milbank, Reaction Shots May Tell Tale of Debate; Bush's Scowls Compared to Gore's Sighs (WaPo)

presidential debate 1: complete transcripts

The Washington Post has them, already.

presidential debate parties

The first of the 2004 Presidential Debates takes place tonight.

BlogKC reports that a number of public debate parties are taking place:

• Truman Library, followed by discussion with UMKC Poli Sci professors.
• Rockhurst University’s Massman Hall, includes voter registration.
• Downings Bar and Grill, 39th and Rainbow in the ‘Dotte.
• Kerry supporters at Laborers Local 264, 1101 East 87 St. in KCMO.

I usually prefer to read about these things after they're done rather than watch them while they happen, but I would be inclined to watch if I knew that others would be watching with me.

Email me if you have an instant-messenger program (AOL/MSN) and want to talk live online about the debate as it happens. The debate starts at 8:00 p.m. Central Standard Time.

pre-debate chatter

George Bush and John Kerry will have their first debate tonight. A number of commentators are already weighing in and news sources are providing background into. (Don't forget that BugMeNot allows you to bypass registration on some sites.)

Opinion Pieces (email me with any others you've found)

• David Broder, "Open Up the Debates"
• E. J. Dionne, "How to Win the Heartland"
• Lawrence Kudlow, "...throught the debates loops"
• Donal Lambro, "Through the Debate Hoops..."
• Michelle Malkin, "Mr. Perfect for President"
• James Ridgeway, "What Bush and Kerry Won't Say"
• George Will, "Grand Delusions"
• Several letters to the editor at the NY Times
• Knight-Ridder online news service: "What candidates must do to win"

Background Information

• Glenn Kessler and Ceci Connolly, A Primer for Tonight's First Debate
• Maria L. La Ganga and Mark Z. Barabak, "Debate Set to Sharpen Bush-Kerry Contrast"
• Ron Hutcheson, "Debate's claims may not square with facts"

"awareness of voting" and $100,000

What do you think of this idea?

James Hong and his Hot or Not partner, Jim Young, launched their Vote or Not sweepstakes over the Labor Day weekend. Hong says the idea is "to raise awareness of the need to register to vote." Vote or Not will award two $100,000 prizes: one drawn at random and one for anyone who gets the winner to sign up for the contest. To avoid violating federal and state election laws that make it illegal to pay people to vote, the contest is open to all U.S. citizens 18 or older regardless of whether they're on the voter rolls themselves.

Story found on Wired.

polls, polls... everyone polls

This post from Crooked Timber points to a new blog by Mark Blumenthal on polls: Mystery Pollster, "Demystifying the Science and Art of Political Polling."

watch late-night comedy...stay politically informed?

As reported in this story, according to the University of Pennsylvania’s National Annenberg Election Survey, those who watch late-night comedy shows are more knowledgable about politics than those who do not:

Polling conducted between July 15 and Sept. 19 among 19,013 adults showed that on a six-item political knowledge test people who did not watch any late-night comedy programs in the past week answered 2.62 items correctly, while viewers of Late Night with David Letterman on CBS answered 2.91, viewers of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno answered 2.95, and viewers of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart answered 3.59 items correctly. That meant there was a difference of 16 percentage points between Daily Show viewers and people who did not watch any late-night programming

Keep in mind that things that coincide do not necessarily imply causation. In other words, the survey provides no answers to these questions:

• Does watching late-night comedy cause you to become more knowledgeable?
• Does being more knowledgeable make you want to watch more late-night comedy?
• Do these two characteristics just happen to coincide in people, each of them perhaps caused by something else completely?

And remember that "cause and consequence" is one of the common sources of argument in the rhetorical appeal of logos.

Update:Check out what Andy Cline has to say.

technology and democracy

The Washington Post has an interesting special report on the technology used for new electronic voting machines, "E-Voting: Promise or Peril?""

Fifty million Americans will use touch-screen voting systems to elect the next president this November. It is part of a nationwide bid to eliminate voting error and fraud, but an ever-growing group of critics claims that electronic voting machines will create more abuse and uncertainty than before.

Given the political firestorm over what happened in Florida in the 2000 presidential election, I predict that we'll unfortunately see something similar this November. The precedent has been set that our elections are not beyond reproach. The BBC reports that European observers have been asked to monitor our elections, a process that is not uncommon on the global scene...except we're usually the ones doing the observing.

Young Americans are already less inclined to vote than those in an older demographic. Wouldn't it be sad if their first adult experience of national elections were to be tainted with uncertainty and skepticism over the validity of the whole process to begin with? I am surprised and disappointed that in the four years since the 2000 presidential elections, we have not made a bigger priority out of establishing a standard, credible process that we can all believe in. Such a process should be as transparent as possible (we should all see and understand how it works, including its security features) and it should also be auditable, with a paper trail (we should all be confident someone hasn't hacked the machine and changed the data while no one was looking).

Update: Former President Jimmy Carter has an opinion piece today on this topic:

After the debacle in Florida four years ago, former president Gerald Ford and I were asked to lead a blue-ribbon commission to recommend changes in the American electoral process. After months of concerted effort by a dedicated and bipartisan group of experts, we presented unanimous recommendations to the president and Congress. The government responded with the Help America Vote Act of October 2002. Unfortunately, however, many of the act's key provisions have not been implemented because of inadequate funding or political disputes.

what's going on in iraq, part 2

This article from the Washington Post, "Violence in Iraq Belies Claims of Calm, Data Show" by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, provides a detailed overview of the different claims being made by different parties regarding the current situation in Iraq. Claims of "fact/definition" fall into which category of rhetorical appeal?

arguing about what's going on in iraq

Take a look at this story from CNN. What rhetorical appeals are being used by the different people quoted here?

blog written by missouri state representative

Vicker Walker, outgoing Missouri State Rep. (D) from southern Kansas City, has a blog: ThinkingDem. Here's an excerpt from a recent entry:

How do we fund education so that all public schools are funded, not only adequately, but satisfactorily? Funding means: books, materials, technology, buildings, teachers, principals, staff, extra ciricular?

Should it continue come from only property tax? I've heard tax experts say the best way to fund is a combination of : income, property and sales. That still means that poor areas get less.Should we forgo Federal funding for more state control? Should the Feds have any control over education? (not according to the Constititution) What about ciriculum? What is the best way to teach? Is the bar set too low for city and country kids? Are we doing anything with out manic obession with testing?

How do other countries, who out test us, and out-graduate us, fund and set teaching standards?

(Found via BlogKC. You should check out BlogKC's page of links to "Political Sources,")

If you know of other, local bloggers with a political background, please include a link in the comments.

kansas city smokers unite!

Right now you should be thinking about epideictic rhetoric and your in-class essay on Tuesday. But on Thursday, we'll start discussing the three rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos. Here's a local issue that we'll use to test drive these appeals: according to BlogKC, "The Star reports that KC City Councilman Chuch Eddy is proposing a unique metro-wide ban on smoking in public places and most work places."

Between Tuesday and Thursday,

1. decide whether you want to argue for or against this proposal,
2. pick one of these audiences: a) a girl scout troop, b) a local chapter of the AARP, or c) umkc students,
3. consider the values your audience is likely to have,
4. be prepared to explain what kind of appeals using ethos, pathos, and logos would be most likely to persuade your audience to accept your point of view. I'm not asking you which audience would find ethos most persuasive, which pathos, and which logos. Instead, I'm asking you to think about what kind of ethos would be most persuasive to your audience, what kind of pathos, and what kind of logos.

checking the facts or just covering the horse race?

"Finding Truth on the Internet," by Louise Witt of Wired:

FactCheck.org fills a journalistic void. Major media outlets tend to report on the strategy behind campaign commercials rather than analyzing the content for veracity. Even though Jackson pioneered ad watches for CNN, the cable network let him go last year.

"I've seen the press generally put less emphasis on ad watches and fact-check-type stories," Jackson said. "Political coverage is too much weighed toward covering the sport of politics: who's ahead, who's behind."

(Found via Dennis Jerz.)

while we're on the subject of presidential debates...

Andy Cline has some good things to say:

Presidential debates are politically useful; these televised events help citizens make political decisions. Part of the reason for this is that debates expose candidates to a communications environment that is not completely under their control. They can make mistakes. They can shine. But what they cannot do is hide from those moments, fleeting though they may be, in which their control evaporates.

history of presidential debates

From Chuck Tryon:

Here's an interesting resource: The Great Debate & Beyond: The History of Presidential Debates and Beyond. The archive includes select video clips froms televised presidential debates since 1960.

cline on campaign coverage

Andy Cline, a journalism professor at SMSU, has begun a new series of blog entries: "How to cover a presidential campaign". Check it out, and keep reading.

"slime time live"

Howard Fineman and Michael Isikoff, writing in the 9/20 issue of Newsweek, address the vituperation prevalent in this season's campaign discourse with an essay subtitled, "In your face: Fueled by shadowy cash, the attacks get uglier and uglier. Why the mud's flying so thick and fast."

lessig on the issues that garner our attention

I agree 100% with Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig when he writes that we should discuss the policies the candidates are proposing and the likely effect of those policies on the future of our nation. However, this kind of policy discussion requires a much more sophisticated understanding than most of us currently have of "cause and effect" claims contained within fields such as economics, foreign relations, and social psychology. For example, if we adjust this interest rate over here, what effect will that have on rates of home ownership over there? Do we even know how to evaluate the different possible answers to that question?

Furthermore, the press would have a hard time boiling down into a pithy headline an announcement by one of the campaigns regarding, say, a particular position on our relationship with North Korea. Remember the news stories about how confusing the new overtime rules are? The story wasn't "Here are the new overtime rules"; instead, it was "These new rules are confusing to everyone." This is how the press handles things that are complicated, apparently.

The campaigns (and their supporters) know this, and so in order to capture the attention of the press, they put other, simpler issues out front. We end up with a public discourse that focuses on "Did he or didn't he?" questions that appear to have easy answers.

But it also strikes me that these "ridiculous questions" (How many times has the president been arrested? Did Kerry shoot himself to earn his Purple Heart?) all fall within the boundaries of epideictic rhetoric. They are meant to put into the voter's mind powerfully affective concrete examples from a candidate's life that will establish and reinforce either a positive or negative view of that candidate. Epideictic rhetoric like this does not, perhaps, serve our needs as voters very well, but it does serve the candidates' needs in that it's very effective at pushing people to vote one way or ther other.

issue: assault rifles

Consider this brief blog entry, which is an example of epideictic rhetoric: "Up in Arms," by Jason Rhody. What abstract qualities of Attorney General John Ashcroft are being emphasized? What audience would find this epidectic rhetoric persuasive? If you wanted to take the opposite approach to Rhody's, how would you do it?

more epideictic rhetoric

Mocking the press's obsession with scandal, "The Poor Man" uses the language of tabloid journalism to return readers' attention to what he sees as the more important (and obvious) issues relative to George W. Bush and his presidency. (Found via Crooked Timber.)

You should note this: Part of what makes epideictic rhetoric effective (besides an awareness of your audience's values and knowledge) is the use of specific details that reveal qualities of your subject. What you want to do, usually, is highlight positive or negative abstract qualities of your subject ("Bush is an idiot," "Kerry is a flip-flopper"). The best way to do this is through concrete examples that illustrate the abstract qualities you have in mind. For example:

• "Bush said, 'Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country.'"
• "First, Kerry voted for the Patriot Act, but then he turned around and said he was opposed to it".

These are examples of the rhetoric of blame, but citing specific details also works with the rhetoric of praise.

umkc student editorial

In "A terrible day met great leader," Justin Smith of the UMKC College Republicans uses both encomium and vituperation. Given his audience (UMKC), how persuasive do you think Smith's essay is? To answer this question, you'll have to decide what kind of audience UMKC is.

what kerry says about bush; what bush says about kerry

From the New York Times: "Kerry, Turning to Economy, Mocks Bush's Reaction to Data," by Maria Newman. Both of these candidates are using epideictic rhetoric, aren't they?

find examples of praise or blame

For Thursday, read through some of the links provided in the right-hand column and find examples of epideictic rhetoric, "the use of powerfully affective language to praise or blame someone or something" (Lynch). Print out one example and bring two copies to class on Thursday.

student blogs

Listed below are the student blogs for this course. If you do not see your blog listed, or if your address does not work, email me.

• http://haley16111.blogspot.com/
• http://myviewsandopinions.blogspot.com
• http://bombshellkirby.blogspot.com
• http://panfilova.blogspot.com
• http://ryandemar.blogspot.com
• http://shareyourthoughts.blogspot.com
• http://loganeng225.blogspot.com
• http://jolson.blogspot.com/
• http://stephanie225.blogspot.com
• http://jbenavides.blogspot.com/
• http://clt262.blogspot.com
• http://garretttoms.blogspot.com
• http://english225fromkeston.blogspot.com/
• http://english225.blogspot.com
• http://cyclohelius.blogspot.com/
• http://jazzdancer.blogspot.com/
• http://abstractthinking.blogspot.com/
• http://jacksback2.blogspot.com/

activities for tuesday, september 7

As we discussed in Thursday's class, on Tuesday, September 7, we will meet in the computer lab in room 303 of Royall Hall (Here's a map). You will learn to use Blogger and post your definition. The following are the instructions for using Blogger (also available in a printer-friendly format), which I'll also pass out in class:

Instructions for signing up with Blogger.

Point your web browser to http://www.blogger.com
Click on big, orange arrow: "Create Your Blog Now."

1. Fill out the form that appears next. (For the password, choose something you'll remember.) Click the box that says "Terms of Service." Click on big, orange arrow that says "Continue." You do not have to use your real name, but you do have to use a real email address in order for the service to work.
2. Give your blog a title and address on the form that appears next. Click on big, orange arrow that says "Continue."
3. Decide what your blog should look like by choosing a "template" on the page that appears next. Click on big, orange arrow that says "Continue."

• Shortly, you'll see a page saying your blog has been created.
• Next, click on "Start Posting" and type or paste in your definition. You can do your own HTML encoding by clicking on the "HTML" tab to the right of the "title" box, or you can use the formatting tools already available in the Blogger interface by sticking with the "Compose" tab. Before you are finished, it's a good idea to click on "Save as Draft" at the bottom of the page to keep a draft of your work stored on Blogger.
• When you're finished with your definition and ready to make it readable by others, click on "Publish Post" at the bottom of the page. Make sure that you allow comments to be made on your entry.
• You'll briefly see a page that says "Publishing is in progress," and then you'll see a page that says "Your blog published successfully." Click on "View Blog" link to view your blog.

Finally, send an email to me at williamsgh@umkc.edu with the address of your new blog (and make sure I know who you are!). I'll post all the blog addresses on the course website later in the day.

Due: Between now and 9:30 on Thursday morning, read at least three other definitions from student blogs and leave comments on their blogs.

To leave a comment

• Click on the "Comments" link that should be visible under each entry.
• On the next page, click on "Post a Comment." Sign in using your Blogger username and password (the same ones you used to create your own blog).
• Type in your comment and click on "Publish Your Comment."

got plans for next saturday?

From the KC September Project website:

"On Saturday, September 11, 2004, people across Kansas City will come together to share and discuss ideas about democracy, citizenship, and patriotism through public talks, roundtables, and performances."

let's all go to the lobby...

Here's a site with a list of "Films to see before you vote." As Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig points out, "It would be better were there more that were clearly from the other side." Anyone have any additional suggestions?

on definition: why terms matter

As we discuss the importance of definition, I'd like to draw your attention to two things:

1. Michelle Malkin is upset that the NY Times does not use the word "terrorist" in their story on the past week's events in Beslan. Consider the differences in definition among such terms as "terrorist," "guerillas," "fighters," and "armed captors." Why would Malkin be upset that "terrorist" is not used?
2. Take a look at this graphic outlining the frequency of use of certain terms in speech at both the Republic and and the Democratic National Conventions. In what ways do the same terms have different meanings for the different parties and their audiences?

Update: And check out this discussion at Crooked Timber on whether the media is reluctant (or not) to use the word "terrorist."

computer lab on tuesday, 9/7

Remember that on Tuesday, September 7, we'll meet in the computer lab at room 303 Royall Hall. You should have an electronic copy of your defintion so that you may post it in the blog.

audience and the rnc

Because a national convention involves staging an interaction between the party and a supportive audience for a larger national audience that includes undecided or even hostile "overhearers," the GOP and the Dems are faced with a tricky rhetorical situation. The NYT's David Kirkpatrick writes about one strategy for managing multiple audiences and multiple messages:

At a closed, invitation-only Bush campaign rally for Christian conservatives yesterday, Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas called for a broad social conservative agenda notably different from the televised presentations at the Republican convention.

coverage of republican national convention

The Washington Post has created a section online for the RNC. You should also have a look at what the New York Times is doing.