Saturday Night Live!!!!!!!

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(No Transcript)
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What Comes to Mind?
? Only President never elected.

• Son is Mike Ford of WFU.

? Would later pardon Nixon of any crime related
to Watergate.

• Saturday Night Live!!!!!!!

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John M. Orman
? Ford was under pressure to conduct an open
presidency
?2 Goals at beginning of term1) Restore
confidence in POTUS2) Increase the nations
morale
Smith Smith
?Ford had to construct rhetoric that would1)
Retain Nixon loyalists in his favor2) Establish
a favorable working relationship with the House
Senate3) Establish positive relations with the
press4) Restore confidence in, not just POTUS,
but the GOP before midterms5) Establish solid
public support for his leadership and candidacy
? As a result, Fords rhetoric was dictated by
his desire to heal the country and his party.
Therefore, it is not surprising that his
rhetorical style was sometimes contradictory.
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Upon Taking the Oath of Office...
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Address to the Nation Pardon of Nixon
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1976 Ford v. Carter
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First televised debate since 1960 first debate
between an incumbent and a challenger
Bitzer Rueter
? Not much of a debate, characterized by ?
Shallow argumentation ? Defective reasoning and
evidence ? Speeches amounted to little more
than their TV commercials

• Candidates focused on characterizing opponents
  rather than themselves ? Ford weak leader,
  unimaginative, caretaker, lacking in vision ?
  Carter vague on issues, inconsistent,
  waffling, untrustworthy

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Paradox Candidates were to answer argumentative
questions, yet debate each other.
? Often appeared as though the candidates were
debating the panelists
? Out of 103 speeches in debates, C F stayed on
subject 65 of the time 41 speeches answered the
question
? Reasons answers were vague political risk
respond to previous candidates charges
issue-building format allowing multiple questions
? While candidates did debate, they only
engaged in genuine debatedebate relative to a
specific issueduring half of the rounds.
? C F generally initiated debate
? While propositions were addressed, they were
not always argued
? Proposition was usually unknown until the
rejoinder speech was made
? When panelists did initiate, it was often done
in through a hostile ?