Bush the Conservative p. 10

What was not predicted by the model was the President’s ability to move from a formal tone into an informal one – perhaps better called a semi-formal tone. In the two speeches where the formality was somewhat moderately high (a somewhat ambiguous determination) there was a blending of persuasion with slightly propagandistic methods. What prevented these speeches from moving fully into propaganda was the extent to which logical/theoretical arguments had already been laid out, an incomplete shift into group-based arguments, and the short length of time spent on emotional appeals.
Taken together, the cumulative effect is to support the idea that elite leaders will speak to elite groups at a higher level – making arguments in a persuasive manner that has limited latent emotional appeal. The use of theoretical statements as fact was not predicted by the model, though, and that may show a need for a more elaborate model of rhetoric. So, too, does the inability to account for the partial movement from persuasion into propaganda and back. Further investigation is needed to determine if this is an intentional rhetorical device or if it is merely the President’s preferred manner of communication responding to varying levels of formality and elite-ness of the audience.
The informal settings show the President speaking about taxes in a much different tone. These informal speeches are listed in the Appendix under Roman numeral II. The first one is at a South Dakota stop for a Congressional campaign.
In this instance, an interesting point to note is that the President doesn’t directly mention taxes at all. Instead, the most common reference is to “the surplus”. The President also repeats the word “money”. In the first quote, he mentions it as a vague reference to “the people’s money”. Afterwards, however, he uses the phrase “your money”. He finishes up by invoking “trust” – a clearly emotional appeal.

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