rsl12

Alright, I'll start with the comments:

1. Time Emphasis: Kerry's biography emphasises his younger years, showing him to be a 'bright star' that everyone saw promise in, and a hero for doing a number of things. The time spent from the 1990s onward is left very vague, compared to the rest of the biography. My guess is that the campaigners are waiting to describe his accomplishments during this time period until they can be certain where Kerry will stand on the issues (which he hasn't really said too much about yet). In contrast, Bush's biography passes over pretty much everything before his presidency, and with good reason since his accomplishments prior to being president are pretty insignificant compared to Kerry.

2. Main Emphasis: Bush's main emphasis is clearly September 11. The only other two accomplishments that he is credited with accomplishing during his administration are income tax cuts and higher military pay. Bush is described as the person who united America to a common cause, the person who was the sword that all Americans rallied behind when the enemy came. Kerry's biography takes a broader approach, but emphasises his Vietnam experience over everything else, providing the most detail about his time there and his actions with VVAW. Clearly both sides think military issues are of prime importance.

3. Style: Bush's biography relies heavily on very general statements to the effect that Bush is a man who puts great importance "on the principles of limited government, personal responsibility, strong families, and local control." Generally, an argument that uses such general statements without concrete examples of their application is seen as a weak argument by people who study rhetoric. Also, there is a more of an emotional appeal (compared to a logical appeal), particularly in the September 11th paragraph. Emotional appeals are generally disdained by rhetoriticians, but I don't know if the rules of rhetoric are the same as the rules of politics. In contrast, Kerry biography provides a number of concrete examples to show that Kerry is someone who is motivated to do good for people from within the government and the military, without really explicitly saying so. This is generally considered to be a much stronger method of arguing a point. Anyone here disagree?

4. Promises vs. Actions: I think it's interesting to see how much of Bush's biography revolves around not what he has done, but what he has promised to do in the past. The 2nd sentence in the biography talks about his campaign promises in 2001. The biography only later notes that he accomplished some (not all) of these goals. I'm very surprised that the phrase 'compassionate conservative' got thrown into the biography, as I don't think that's the image he's going for at all anymore.

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