Vice Presidential Debate

Sarah Palin seems very confident in her response to Gwen Ifill’s question, “What promises will your campaign not be able to keep because of bailout?” Although it is not the only rhetorical appeal Palin uses, she uses pathos throughout her response to help get her point across to Americans viewing the debate. By starting out by saying, “The nice thing about running with John McCain is I can assure you he doesn’t tell one thing to one group and then turns around and tells something else to another group, including his plans that will make this bail out plain, this rescue plan, even better.” To further support herself, she then uses pathos by telling a story. She mentioned how Barack Obama voted for a bill that gave a huge tax break to oil companies. “You know what I had to do in the state of Alaska? I had to take on those oil companies and tell them…that wasn’t going to happen in my state. And that’s why Tillerson and…Conoco Philips—bless their hearts; they’re doing what they need to do as a corporate C.E.O.’s, but they’re not my biggest fans.” She said that in Alaska, she had to break up a monopoly because the people come first, and she for sure wanted to guarantee that values were given to the people from those resources. Long story short, she explained that she had to undo in her state what Obama did. Once she finished explaining that, Gwen Ifill asked again that she didn’t make any promises that she wasn’t going to keep because of the financial crisis. Palin replies by saying that she has only been at this for about five weeks, so there’s not a lot that she has promised except “…to do what is right for the American People…” That is such a broad answer, but with that answer, she can’t go wrong. If, in fact, she and McCain would get into office, no one could go back and accuse her of making promises not following through with them. Isn’t that would every president does, or should, want—the best for America? I think that it is. To someone who does not know that much about politics, they might be very pleased with this answer, but I think that a well-informed voter would see that answer as a little broad. Because of that, it is a good thing that she went further to give some examples of what she and McCain would like to do for America that’s a little bit more specific that just “the best” for it. She considers the following to be what is right for the American people: put government back on the side of the American People, stop the greed and corruption on Wall Street, and include a massive oversight in the rescue plan. The preceding examples are ways that Sarah Palin used the rhetorical appeal of pathos. By smiling throughout her response and referring to past experiences, she displayed pathos in a good way.