Since the campaigning has begun and we've had a couple of debates already, what are some of the obvious PR moves or arguing tactics you see the candidates employ? Where are we witnessing shameless politicians playing the game on TV? For example, Rolled up sleeves when speaking to the crowd. It means he's ready to do some work. He's just one of the people. When asked about a question, deflecting it completely by a bash of another opponent: "Governor, how do you feel about such and such issue? I'd tell you how I feel about the issue Jake, but the real issue is how the Obama administration has failed to blah blah blah" Not wanting to back down in conversation on national TV when in real life you'd just let the other guy finish. On TV that could be mistaken for a sign of weakness and therefore you have to keep yelling over him. Not all do this of course but enough to notice. O'Rilley VS Geraldo would be an example. Deflecting a question with a patriotic rant: "Senator how do you feel about such and such issue? I'd tell you how I feel about the issue Jake, but the real issue is how great this country is and how with its greatness, it will once again blah blah blah" *crowd applauds, moderator moves on. Others?
Republican debate rules. 1. Talk about how much you hate abortion and how we should defund planned parenthood. 2. Talk about Iran as if it's the greatest existential threat to America and how you'll negotiate a better deal even though nobody is going to go back to the negotiating table. 3. Talk about how your gonna cut taxes and it will generate job growth. 4. Talk vaguely about how you're gonna cut useless regulation without even being able to mention one decent example of a regulation we should cut. 5. Pander to the religious nutjobs and embrace Kim Davis or pretend that Christians are somehow being persecuted. 6. Talk about Israel a lot and how you would suck Netenyahu's dick. 7. Blame Obama for everything. You fell off your bike and skinned your knee it's Obamas fault for not being a strong enough leader to pass a long term highway funding bill to fix that bump in the road. 8. Pretend that it was Obama who created a power vacuum in Iraq which lead to ISIS and not George Bush/Cheney who toppled the government. 9. Talk about how Mexicans are stealing all our jobs and tax money, and how we're gonna build a big ass wall even though it would probably do very little to stop them. 10. Talk about how weed is a gateway drug despite all evidence to the contrary. 11. At least mention buzzwords like free market, religious liberty, big government, Obamacare, bureaucracy, and possibly some socialism to spread the fear. 12. Talk about the war on police and how Obama has somehow created a situation where police are being killed despite the fact that police shootings/attacks are going down compared to previous years. 13. Talk about how the labor force participation is down without addressing the fact that the baby boomer generation is retiring in vast numbers. 14. Degrade people for using welfare and make vast generalizations about people you've never met. 15. Talk about how greedy unions are. 16. Privatize any and all government programs. 17. Talk about having a stronger military and spending more money despite the fact that we spend an ungodly amount already on military well the infrastructure is fucking crumbling in this country. 18. Talk about the keystone pipeline and how it will generate all these jobs despite the fact that many reports say it will only generate a couple hundred full time jobs max. 19. Talk about destroying ISIS without laying out any real plans of action or the potential consequences. 20. Deny that global warming exists and is having any effect on our society. 21. Use some bullshit anecdotal evidence to validate all your positions. 22. Pretend that somehow were going to compete with China for manufacturing jobs by cutting a couple regulations/minimum wage when they make pennies on the dollar compared to American wages. 23. Mention Ronald Reagan and how he is your hero all the time. The liberal version 1. Free shit. 2 free shit. 3 free shit. 4. Use buzzwords like the greedy corporation, credit default swaps, and paying their fair share. 5. Raise taxes on the greedy wealthy people. 6. Republicans are fighting a war on women, even though they just believe abortion is wrong. 7. Men and woman should receive equal pay and then go on to cite the debunked 78 cents on a dollar statistic. 8. Embrace the black lives matter to pander to black voters. 9. Blame the issues in the ME squarely on bush. 10. Pretend the economy is so much better off, despite everyone knowing it isn't. 11. Once again blame the evil corporations for all the problems. 12. Pander to college students by talking about student debt. 13. Iran deal is the best option we have even though it's not the strongest deal. Going to war with Iran would be a horrible idea. 14. Mention some anecdotal story about someone trying to get by and how your plans will help them. 15. Pander to Hispanics by talking about amnesty. 16. Paint Relublicans as the xenophobic party of white identity politics. 17. Talk about the poor old lady who won't get full Medicaid benefits under the Ryan Plan and pander to old people. 18. More government regulations, because we all know those are working out so well. 19. Talk about turning everything into solar/wind even though it's completely unfeasible in many parts of the country. 20. Talk about raising the minimum wage to appeal to low income voters. 21. Pander to gay marriage/trans crowd about supporting their rights, well the crazy Republicans want to deny them equal rights. 22. Don't mention religion and if you do don't talk about it in the context of a policy decision. 23. Talk about how the free market can fail. 24. Finish it off by talking about how they're the party of change and hope well the Republicans will be on the wrong side of history on many issues. I'm sure there's a bunch of things I'm missing but that's a lot of the oversimplified talking points they spew
You say "pander to" but aren't the liberals just trying to improve the lives of the mentioned ppl/groups?
It's a fine line between pandering and supporting. I happen to believe that even a lot of republicans who believe abortion is wrong aren't just pandering but often believe that it is actually immoral. I think someone like Bernie is much more adamant about fighting for LGBT rights than Hilary who seemed to follow whatever the public opinion was at the time. I think it's definitely a situation where a lot of these positions are a combination of what the candidate believes/what they believe will get them elected. So it was probably a little exaggerated when I said pandering for some things, but I didn't want to paint one party as being above the fray when it comes to political bullshit because both sides do similar shenanigans. That being said I tend to side much more with the Democratic Party and feel that their platform is better suited to address certain issues, but they're also completely fucking baseless on certain issues, so it's a mixed bag. I would have to say Sanders seems to have more sincerity than all 15 republicans combined. He's one of the first politician actually gaining some traction who I feel says what he believes and doesn't shy away from stating his opinion even if it's not popular.
I know I posted this in an earlier forum. Say what you want about Bernie Sanders, but you can't call him fake. The man believes what he says and just for that gets a major distinction from the political pack.
If we were to play a drinking game based on the occurrence of logical fallacies during political debates, well, there wouldn't be enough alcohol on this continent to sustain us for the entire debate.....