Overview
Presidential debates are forums designed to present and select candidates for national office: Their purpose is to provide opportunities for candidates to win over undecided voters, to reinforce voters who have already made a decision about who to vote for, and to change the minds of those who are willing to reconsider their initial judgments concerning which candidate seems more fit to serve as president. Edward Hinck argues that debates are not primarily about presidential policy-making. Rather, they are opportunities to demonstrate a candidate's ability to lead by summarizing, in a specific test of presidential character, the larger conflict between the candidates. Hinck develops an in-depth rhetorical analysis of the presidential and vice presidential debates of 1960 to 1988. The analysis of each series of debates begins with an introduction that focuses discussion on the most important aspects of political image for each of the candidates, then develops a case for understanding the ways in which the debates revealed the rhetorical strengths and weaknesses of each candidate's performance. Hinck's neo-Aristotelian approach asserts that debates serve both deliberative and epideictic ends because they provide important information about the candidates that cannot be disclosed except in the dramatic confrontation of the debate, and because this dramatic confrontation enacts the democratic values of rational dialogue. Enacting The Presidency is recommended to scholars in communication and political science.
Full Product Details
Author: Edward A. Hinck
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Imprint: Praeger Publishers Inc
Dimensions:
Width: 15.60cm
, Height: 1.50cm
, Length: 23.50cm
Weight: 0.595kg
ISBN: 9780275934880
ISBN 10: 0275934888
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 21 January 1993
Recommended Age: From 7 to 17 years
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
?The thorough debate analyses will be useful to students of the presidency and political communication. Recommended specifically for advanced-undergraduate through professional collections.?-Choice
The thorough debate analyses will be useful to students of the presidency and political communication. Recommended specifically for advanced-undergraduate through professional collections. -Choice ?The thorough debate analyses will be useful to students of the presidency and political communication. Recommended specifically for advanced-undergraduate through professional collections.?-Choice
Author Information
EDWARD A. HINCK is Assistant Professor of Communications and Director of Forensics at Central Michigan University. He has coached debate for thirteen years and taught argumentation, public speaking, communication theory, and rhetorical theory and criticism.
