Comparing W and Kerry Biographies - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

rsl12 · 03-25-2004, 01:39 PM

Thought it was interesting to see the differences between the two, in terms of both substance and rhetoric. These are both from the corresponding official campaign websites.

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George W. Bush is the 43rd President of the United States. He was sworn into office January 20, 2001, after a campaign in which he outlined sweeping proposals to reform America's public schools, transform our national defense, provide tax relief, modernize Social Security and Medicare, and encourage faith-based and community organizations to work with government to help Americans in need. President Bush served for six years as the 46th Governor of the State of Texas, where he earned a reputation as a compassionate conservative who shaped public policy based on the principles of limited government, personal responsibility, strong families, and local control.

President Bush was born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut, and he grew up in Midland and Houston, Texas. He received a bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1968, then served as an F-102 fighter pilot in the Texas Air National Guard. President Bush received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1975. After graduating, he moved back to Midland and began a career in the energy business. After working on his father's successful 1988 presidential campaign, he assembled the group of partners that purchased the Texas Rangers baseball franchise in 1989.

He served as managing general partner of the Texas Rangers until he was elected Governor on November 8, 1994, with 53.5 percent of the vote. He became the first Governor in Texas history to be elected to consecutive four-year terms when he was re-elected on November 3, 1998, with 68.6 percent of the vote.

Since taking office, President Bush has signed into law bold initiatives to improve public schools by raising standards, requiring accountability, and strengthening local control. He has signed tax relief that provided rebate checks and lower tax rates for everyone who pays income taxes in America. He has increased pay and benefits for America's military and is working to save and strengthen Social Security and Medicare. He is also committed to ushering in a responsibility era in America, and has called on all Americans to be "citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens building communities of service and a Nation of character."

The attacks of September 11th changed America - and in President Bush's words, "in our grief and anger we have found our mission and our moment." President Bush declared war against terror and has made victory in the war on terrorism and the advance of human freedom the priorities of his Administration. Already, the United States military and a great coalition of nations have liberated the people of Afghanistan from the brutal Taliban regime and denied al Qaeda its safe haven of operations. Thousands of terrorists have been captured or killed and operations have been disrupted in many countries around the world. In the President's words, "our Nation - this generation - will lift a dark threat of violence from our people and our future. We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts, by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail."

President Bush is married to Laura Welch Bush, a former teacher and librarian, and they have twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna. The Bush family also includes their two dogs, Spot and Barney, and a cat, India.

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John Kerry was born on December 11, 1943 at Fitzsimons Military Hospital in Denver, Colorado, where his father, Richard, who had volunteered to fly DC-3's in the Army Air Corps in World War II, was recovering from a bout with tuberculosis. Not long after Sen. Kerry's birth, his family returned home to Massachusetts. John Kerry was raised in the Catholic faith and continues to be an active member of the Catholic church.

A graduate of Yale University, John Kerry entered the Navy after graduation, becoming a Swift Boat officer, serving on a gunboat in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. He received a Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, and three awards of the Purple Heart for his service in combat.

By the time Senator Kerry returned home from Vietnam, he felt compelled to question decisions he believed were being made to protect those in positions of authority in Washington at the expense of the soldiers carrying on the fighting in Vietnam. Kerry was a co-founder of the Vietnam Veterans of America and became a spokesperson for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War -- Morley Safer would describe him as "a veteran whose articulate call to reason rather than anarchy seemed to bridge the gap between Abbie Hoffman and Mr. Agnew's so-called 'Silent Majority.'" In April 1971, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he asked the question of his fellow citizens, "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" Sen. Claiborne Pell, (D-R.I.) thanked Kerry, then 27, for testifying before the committee, expressing his hope that Kerry "might one day be a colleague of ours in this body."

Fourteen years later, John Kerry would have the opportunity to fulfill those hopes - serving side by side with Sen. Pell as a Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But in the intervening years, Kerry graduated from Boston College Law School and found different ways to fight for those things in which he believed. Time and again, Kerry fought to hold the political system accountable and to do what he believed was right. As a top prosecutor in Middlesex County, Kerry took on organized crime and put the Number Two mob boss in New England behind bars. He modernized the District Attorney's office, creating an innovative rape crisis crime unit, and as a lawyer in private practice he worked long and hard to prove the innocence of a man wrongly given a life sentence for a murder he did not commit.

In 1984, after winning election as Lieutenant Governor in 1982, Kerry ran and was elected to serve in the United States Senate, running and winning a successful PAC-free Senate race and defeating a Republican opponent buoyed by Ronald Reagan's reelection coattails. Like his predecessor, the irreplaceable Paul Tsongas, Kerry came to the Senate with a reputation for independence -- and reinforced it by making tough choices on difficult issues: breaking with many in his own Party to support Gramm-Rudman Deficit Reduction; taking on corporate welfare and government waste; pushing for campaign finance reform; holding Oliver North accountable and exposing the fraud and abuse at the heart of the BCCI scandal; working with John McCain in the search for the truth about Vietnam veterans declared POW/MIA; and insisting on accountability, investment, and excellence in public education.

Sen. Kerry was re-elected in 1990, again in 1996, defeating the popular Republican Governor William Weld in the most closely watched Senate race in the country, and in 2002. Now serving his fourth term, Kerry has worked to reform public education, address children's issues, strengthen the economy and encourage the growth of the high tech New Economy, protect the environment, and advance America's foreign policy interests around the globe.

John Kerry is married to Teresa Heinz Kerry. He has two daughters, Alexandra and Vanessa. Teresa has three sons, John, Andre, and Christopher. Senator Kerry lives in Boston.

rsl12 · 03-25-2004, 02:56 PM

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.

kutulu · 03-25-2004, 03:01 PM

I do agree, however, IMO biographies are like speeches. You'll only hear what the author or speaker wants you to hear. There is no room for criticizm.

People who look at impressive speeches need to realize that they aren't helping anyone out.

rsl12 · 03-25-2004, 03:03 PM

kutulu: i completely disagree. Looking at the biographies is just as useful as when you're hiring someone and you look at the candidates' resumes.

kutulu · 03-25-2004, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by rsl12
kutulu: i completely disagree. Looking at the biographies is just as useful as when you're hiring someone and you look at the candidates' resumes.

I see resumes as grossly overrated also. People can put whatever they want on a resume. In many states all an employer can ask about is if the person worked there, how long they worked there, and if they would be eligible for re-hire.

A resume is a tool to filter out the masses that have applied for a position. They present a candy-coated world where the person did everything right. you don't hear about how they dealt with their failures. Everybody has failures. You can learn a lot more about a person's character by asking about their failures and how they tried to better themselves in those times than you can from hearing about some filtered version of themselves.

The resume is just a tool that the employer uses to filter the masses of people that apply for a position. The real selections are based on how they presented themselves in a Q/A session, the actual interview.

rsl12 · 03-26-2004, 03:02 PM

on the other hand, you can glean quite a bit from the biographies (now i'm going to be a bit more biased in my analysis):

According to the biography, Kerry has been doing 'good for the public' for many, many years, fighting for causes: protesting the vietnam war, prosecuting organized crime, creating a rape crisis unit. Whether or not you agree with his view of social good, you have to admit that he's someone who has shown a strong interest in doing work that affects other people's well being throughout his adult life.

In contrast, Bush has done nothing but try to make money until he ran for governor of Texas. There is no mention of philanthropy, no lifelong passion for improving xyz causes. And the biography pretty much passes over all of his accomplishments in texas for whatever reason, making me wonder if he did anything worthwhile there.

That to me tells me quite a bit about their personalities.

ps. I know that Bush had a change of heart when he turned born-again, and his focus on life changed. That may be. I would love to read that, after Bush turned Christian, he devoted at least part of his life to social causes. If it's true, it would improve my view of Bush 100%, and they should stick that in the biography.

03-25-2004, 01:39 PM	#1 (permalink)
rsl12 On the lam Location: northern va	Comparing W and Kerry Biographies Thought it was interesting to see the differences between the two, in terms of both substance and rhetoric. These are both from the corresponding official campaign websites. ------------------ George W. Bush is the 43rd President of the United States. He was sworn into office January 20, 2001, after a campaign in which he outlined sweeping proposals to reform America's public schools, transform our national defense, provide tax relief, modernize Social Security and Medicare, and encourage faith-based and community organizations to work with government to help Americans in need. President Bush served for six years as the 46th Governor of the State of Texas, where he earned a reputation as a compassionate conservative who shaped public policy based on the principles of limited government, personal responsibility, strong families, and local control. President Bush was born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut, and he grew up in Midland and Houston, Texas. He received a bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1968, then served as an F-102 fighter pilot in the Texas Air National Guard. President Bush received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1975. After graduating, he moved back to Midland and began a career in the energy business. After working on his father's successful 1988 presidential campaign, he assembled the group of partners that purchased the Texas Rangers baseball franchise in 1989. He served as managing general partner of the Texas Rangers until he was elected Governor on November 8, 1994, with 53.5 percent of the vote. He became the first Governor in Texas history to be elected to consecutive four-year terms when he was re-elected on November 3, 1998, with 68.6 percent of the vote. Since taking office, President Bush has signed into law bold initiatives to improve public schools by raising standards, requiring accountability, and strengthening local control. He has signed tax relief that provided rebate checks and lower tax rates for everyone who pays income taxes in America. He has increased pay and benefits for America's military and is working to save and strengthen Social Security and Medicare. He is also committed to ushering in a responsibility era in America, and has called on all Americans to be "citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens building communities of service and a Nation of character." The attacks of September 11th changed America - and in President Bush's words, "in our grief and anger we have found our mission and our moment." President Bush declared war against terror and has made victory in the war on terrorism and the advance of human freedom the priorities of his Administration. Already, the United States military and a great coalition of nations have liberated the people of Afghanistan from the brutal Taliban regime and denied al Qaeda its safe haven of operations. Thousands of terrorists have been captured or killed and operations have been disrupted in many countries around the world. In the President's words, "our Nation - this generation - will lift a dark threat of violence from our people and our future. We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts, by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail." President Bush is married to Laura Welch Bush, a former teacher and librarian, and they have twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna. The Bush family also includes their two dogs, Spot and Barney, and a cat, India. ------------------ John Kerry was born on December 11, 1943 at Fitzsimons Military Hospital in Denver, Colorado, where his father, Richard, who had volunteered to fly DC-3's in the Army Air Corps in World War II, was recovering from a bout with tuberculosis. Not long after Sen. Kerry's birth, his family returned home to Massachusetts. John Kerry was raised in the Catholic faith and continues to be an active member of the Catholic church. A graduate of Yale University, John Kerry entered the Navy after graduation, becoming a Swift Boat officer, serving on a gunboat in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. He received a Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, and three awards of the Purple Heart for his service in combat. By the time Senator Kerry returned home from Vietnam, he felt compelled to question decisions he believed were being made to protect those in positions of authority in Washington at the expense of the soldiers carrying on the fighting in Vietnam. Kerry was a co-founder of the Vietnam Veterans of America and became a spokesperson for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War -- Morley Safer would describe him as "a veteran whose articulate call to reason rather than anarchy seemed to bridge the gap between Abbie Hoffman and Mr. Agnew's so-called 'Silent Majority.'" In April 1971, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he asked the question of his fellow citizens, "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" Sen. Claiborne Pell, (D-R.I.) thanked Kerry, then 27, for testifying before the committee, expressing his hope that Kerry "might one day be a colleague of ours in this body." Fourteen years later, John Kerry would have the opportunity to fulfill those hopes - serving side by side with Sen. Pell as a Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But in the intervening years, Kerry graduated from Boston College Law School and found different ways to fight for those things in which he believed. Time and again, Kerry fought to hold the political system accountable and to do what he believed was right. As a top prosecutor in Middlesex County, Kerry took on organized crime and put the Number Two mob boss in New England behind bars. He modernized the District Attorney's office, creating an innovative rape crisis crime unit, and as a lawyer in private practice he worked long and hard to prove the innocence of a man wrongly given a life sentence for a murder he did not commit. In 1984, after winning election as Lieutenant Governor in 1982, Kerry ran and was elected to serve in the United States Senate, running and winning a successful PAC-free Senate race and defeating a Republican opponent buoyed by Ronald Reagan's reelection coattails. Like his predecessor, the irreplaceable Paul Tsongas, Kerry came to the Senate with a reputation for independence -- and reinforced it by making tough choices on difficult issues: breaking with many in his own Party to support Gramm-Rudman Deficit Reduction; taking on corporate welfare and government waste; pushing for campaign finance reform; holding Oliver North accountable and exposing the fraud and abuse at the heart of the BCCI scandal; working with John McCain in the search for the truth about Vietnam veterans declared POW/MIA; and insisting on accountability, investment, and excellence in public education. Sen. Kerry was re-elected in 1990, again in 1996, defeating the popular Republican Governor William Weld in the most closely watched Senate race in the country, and in 2002. Now serving his fourth term, Kerry has worked to reform public education, address children's issues, strengthen the economy and encourage the growth of the high tech New Economy, protect the environment, and advance America's foreign policy interests around the globe. John Kerry is married to Teresa Heinz Kerry. He has two daughters, Alexandra and Vanessa. Teresa has three sons, John, Andre, and Christopher. Senator Kerry lives in Boston. __________________ oh baby oh baby, i like gravy.

03-25-2004, 02:56 PM	#2 (permalink)
rsl12 On the lam Location: northern va	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. __________________ oh baby oh baby, i like gravy. Last edited by rsl12; 03-25-2004 at 03:08 PM..

03-25-2004, 03:03 PM	#4 (permalink)
rsl12 On the lam Location: northern va	kutulu: i completely disagree. Looking at the biographies is just as useful as when you're hiring someone and you look at the candidates' resumes. __________________ oh baby oh baby, i like gravy. Last edited by rsl12; 03-25-2004 at 03:06 PM..

03-26-2004, 03:02 PM	#6 (permalink)
rsl12 On the lam Location: northern va	on the other hand, you can glean quite a bit from the biographies (now i'm going to be a bit more biased in my analysis): According to the biography, Kerry has been doing 'good for the public' for many, many years, fighting for causes: protesting the vietnam war, prosecuting organized crime, creating a rape crisis unit. Whether or not you agree with his view of social good, you have to admit that he's someone who has shown a strong interest in doing work that affects other people's well being throughout his adult life. In contrast, Bush has done nothing but try to make money until he ran for governor of Texas. There is no mention of philanthropy, no lifelong passion for improving xyz causes. And the biography pretty much passes over all of his accomplishments in texas for whatever reason, making me wonder if he did anything worthwhile there. That to me tells me quite a bit about their personalities. ps. I know that Bush had a change of heart when he turned born-again, and his focus on life changed. That may be. I would love to read that, after Bush turned Christian, he devoted at least part of his life to social causes. If it's true, it would improve my view of Bush 100%, and they should stick that in the biography. __________________ oh baby oh baby, i like gravy.

03-25-2004, 03:01 PM	#3 (permalink)
kutulu Junkie	I do agree, however, IMO biographies are like speeches. You'll only hear what the author or speaker wants you to hear. There is no room for criticizm. People who look at impressive speeches need to realize that they aren't helping anyone out.