All professional speakers use rhetoric in one way or another to get their points across stronger. Rhetoric is used because it’s a subtle, persuasive method that captures the audience’s attention better than by just stating the purpose. One of many powerful speeches that used this method to assist in getting their point across was on September 3rd, 2008. Sarah Palin gave her Republican Vice Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech at the Republican National Convention. Throughout the speech Palin used specific diction and literary strategies to not only commemorate John S. McCain but to also subtly criticize the Democratic competition. In the opening of her speech Palin addressed the Republican nominee as “a man who has come through much harder missions, and met far graver challenges” to build his credibility. Later in the speech Palin provided specific examples of this claim but the decision to include the sentence in the beginning played a crucial role for the audience since they know early on that McCain is reliable. Although the speech was heard across the country, the majority of the audience at the time were Republicans, given the location. The statement…show more content… For example, she couldn’t start off with speaking negatively towards Barack Obama because she didn’t have enough credibility from the audience yet. Without this credibility, the audience wouldn’t take her as serious and the rest of the speech would fall apart. Whether it’s the rhetorical decision of ethos regarding her political career or pathos concerning her personal life she is able to get her point across in effective ways. While other political speakers include literary strategies and diction in their speeches, Palin uses it in such a way that also combines with the order of her statements to make it even more
