Rhetorical Analysis –How to Debate a Girl and Win
In the article “How to Debate a Girl and Win” by Dahlia Lithwick, the argument presented is that Joe Biden cannot possibly win the vice presidential debate versus Sarah Palin by discrediting her or building his own creditability because therefore he will seem like a sexist bully. Lithwick says that Biden must make his qualifications known though his responses which will be in Lithwick’s opinion, much more informed and educated responses than Palin’s. Lithwick successfully argues that Palin’s nonexistent experience makes her a weak competitor for the Vice Presidency, and if Biden debates correctly, this will be made evident to the public.
Lithwick’s argument is creditable because she is a writer for a respectable website that writes articles about politics and news. In her article for the website Slate she writes her column as a letter to Joe Biden. This strategy engages the audience and possibly makes the reader feel as if they are being talked to directly and as if they are Joe Biden themselves. Lithwick is creditable in giving Joe Biden advice on debating because she too is a debater, when she states, “So this long time parliamentary debater (longer time female) is going to humbly offer you a few tips on how to debate a girl” is appealing to both the audience logic because it’s apparent that advice coming from a female debater is going to be valuable when debating a female (Palin). Lithwick is also is building her creditability because she knows about debating and has been doing it for a very long time.
Lithwick’s argument uses another rhetorical strategy that goes on to appeal to one’s reasoning and logic, as she makes it evident that Joe Biden must debate correctly, “as if Sarah is a man” in order to not come off sexist. Lithwick does so by making references to previous debates where the person lost there cool such as “the sighing Al Gore” and when she says “If you engage, fight, bluster, you can lose this...