24. Nonsense in American Politics

Find a commercial for any American political campaign and describe the rhetorical strategies they use that are described in our Nonsense book. Name the strategies and provide a brief description of how the commercial's creators used them.

Stephen Colbert's super PAC against Mitt Romney:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aix7tQMdJ3s

The Red Herring: Literal interpretation of figurative remark

00:10 “Corporation are people, my friend.”

The video took Romney’s figurative interpretation of corporations being people literally and then goes on to say how he kills people/corporation.

Non-sequiter

00:26~00:35 “If Mitt Romney really believed that ‘Corporations are people, my friend’, then Mitt Romney is a serial killer.”

This cause and effect relationship does not follow. It would make more sense if it said “If Mitt Romney really believed that ‘Corporations are people, my friend’, and he kills corporations, he is a serial killer.” Even then, the video does not provide evidence to support the conclusion.

Name-calling/Humor

00:34 “He’s Mitt the Ripper”

The ad gives Romney a humorous yet negative label. People are more likely to accept it because it is funny and the label might stick.

Tone/Sound Effects/Repetition

00:13 "...are people, my friend."

The video changed Romney's voice to make it sound evil. It used repetition to make an impression on the video-viewers.