Blog Assignment #2 - Rhetoric: Logos, Pathos, Ethos

On August 12, 2004, when form Governor Jim McGreevy announced that he was in fact a closet gay American and had an affair with another man, New Jersey was the height of its scandals. Since then, New Jersey politicians have even fought harder to eliminate the scandals of New Jersey politics and combat corruption.

While it’s been two months since Senator Menendez’s victory in New Jersey, some of the slandering still clings on. To me, recent campaigns to ending corruption, pay-to-play politics, and unethical actions could not have been more pronounced than in Tom Kean Jr.’s bombardment of negative campaign rhetoric during his senatorial race against Senator Menendez. Plagued with ethical charges by the Republican Ethics Committee, Menendez faced a lot of smear ads. One of the most notorious ads was one in which Senator Menendez is portrayed as a corrupt, political boss who had one of “his top lieutenants pressuring a doctor in a kick-back scheme.”

In the very opening of this 30-second political ad, Senator Menendez is portrayed in a still picture under a shade of red light, evoking a very gloomy feeling by appealing to the viewer’s pathos. Within seconds, a very unclear audio recording is played where supposedly a top aide confessed that Menendez asked him to take part in a kick-back scheme, where it is repeated three times. This ad hammers into the viewer a sense that Menendez is a dishonest, immoral politician to evoke an emotional response and sway the vote away from him. Also, the ad appeals to the viewer’s logos by inducing a rationale response, forcing the viewer to question Menendez’s abilities as a just, honorable Senator. Throughout the accusations, the ad states that the “audio tape [was] obtained by the Philadelphia Inquirer,” giving the ad credibility and evoking the viewer’s ethos by stating that the garbled audio came from a well recognized newspaper.

Finally, the end of this political ad, like most other political ads, has its candidate approving the “message.” Here, Kean Jr. appears to be a very honest and respectful person, contrary to the picture of Menendez in the ad, giving acting as a final reinforcement to the viewer that Kean is the right candidate. Moreover, the calmness of his voice and stature further evokes the viewer’s ethos. In addition, the highly conspicuous sign, “STOP Corruption” in the background subtlety stirs to the viewer’s logos and pathos by suggesting a new, reformed path for New Jersey and America with Kean as the ethical, able Senator.

However, New Jersey voters, who are mostly Democrats, did not buy Kean Jr.’s smear ads, such as this, and rejected his tactics of barraging and smearing. While these ads may have had temporary effects, in the end, Senator Bob Menendez won with an 8% margin.

As you could probably tell the language used in this blog, I am a proud Democrat. I would like to end this by saying that it’s a good thing for New Jerseyans that we can refrain from adding another dirty four letter word to our daily language than the ones we know already, like BUSH, RICE…you know the rest. (Courtesy to NJDSC Chairman Joseph Cryan)

Please feel free to open the links the topic, “Rhetoric,” to see some other gruesome and emotionally provocative ads.