Bob Dole Knows

The campaign ad I watched was from the 1996 Dole versus Clinton election. The ad, titled "From the Heart", is shot as a close up of Bob Dole's wife.  Dole uses in the ad the gimmick of his wife stressing his good qualities, his upraising in a small town, and his belief in family values to prove his strong moral character. He believed that the American people, especially Republicans, would respect this good character and realize that the leader of the United States of America should have those specific American values. 

By having Dole's wife as the center of this specific campaign helps to solidify him as a good husband and family man.  At the center of Dole's campaign was his great character, having strong family ties is a characteristic that the common American respects and sees as part of his good character.  Phyllis Dole starts by speaking about Bob's hometown and how he grew up with strong morals that only a small town "in the heart of America", like Russel, Kansas, could produce. He learned from his upbringing that one needs to work hard and do all that one says. What is one of the most important morals that is ingrained in those from Russel? One tells the truth, "...always the truth." This means that all that he has said in his campaign will come to pass if he is elected.  The ad ends with Mrs. Dole pushing that Bob is a family man. Dole promises a 15% tax cut because the money that goes to the government should be spent on one's family.

The need for a morally conscious president turned out to be not enough to win Dole the election, but this advertisement still seems like it would be effective. The different attempts to showcase Bob Dole's character did just that. It proved to the American people that he would work hard, be conscientious of what matters to the family, and do what he says; it just was not enough.

Persuasion

One talk that I really enjoyed was from Saturday by one of the Seventy. Gerald Causse's talk about approaching the gospel from a simplified and child-like standpoint instead of analyzing the doctrine too much and trying to understand everything from an intellectual standpoint. He used many different rhetorical tools to get his point across. He started his talk with a personal story, this is pathos, allowing the audience to connect to him because he, like everyone else, has a life outside of his church calling. For credibility he quoted Joseph Smith, the scriptures (e.g. Elisha and Naaman and Jacob's chastisment), and secular literature (e.g. The Little Prince). He also used many examples of Jesus' life to display what we should do.