Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown at Party Conventions

Scott Brown at the RNC:

       Scott Brown really played no part in the Republican National Convention, even being criticized by several conservative leaders, including Herman Cain who called Brown a "RINO" or a "Republican in name only". While Brown doesn't want to look bad within his own party, he also didn't want to be one of the leaders at the RNC. Being a Republican Senator in Massachusetts, a feat in itself, Brown doesn't want to sacrifice his reelection by being to spokesman for the conservative platform running in a generally liberal state.

Elizabeth Warren at the DNC:

      Elizabeth Warren was in the exact opposite position as Scott Brown heading into the Democratic National Convention. Warren was one of the major speakers at the DNC, having been an adviser to President Obama. Warren, whose platform is virtually one in the same with the Democratic Party's platform as a whole, talked about her experience growing up in a working class family and later becoming a teacher, strengthening her already strong connection with the middle class. Warren is trying to establish herself as the protector of the middle class, focusing on its growth in size and spending power. Warren, like the rest of the Democratic Party, is running on the idea that the only was to fix the economy is to increase government spending to create public sector jobs in order to get people back to work. This type of stimulus would theoretically increase the overall size and buying power of the middle class, leading to an increase in consumerism which would stimulate the economy.

Elizabeth Warren's General Election TV Ad

    Elizabeth Warren's recent TV ad yet again focuses her message on the middle class, but in her argument, Warren makes use of logical fallacies in typical political behavior in order to make her rhetoric more effective. In her criticism of Washington, she claims that it is run by major corporations, and while there might be some truth to that, Warren takes advantage of a couple logical fallacies. Warren appeals to the general population by criticizing Washington insiders and lobbyists of major corporations, which has become a very popular criticism in the spectrum of political rhetoric recently, by either party. Warren aims this attack directly at her opponent, Scott Brown, associating him with the Washington culture she has described. Warren proceeds to cite some general information about Brown's voting history and the status of Massachusetts without providing all of the sufficient information regarding the issues. Warren also oversimplifies her message by implying that this race is simply a battle between Scott Brown and billionaire Washington insiders versus Warren and the middle class. While her overall message may be accurate, she takes advantage of a few logical fallacies, making her ad, for our purposes, rhetorically irresponsible. That being said, this ad is by no means worse than any typical campaign ad.

Elizabeth Warren's Speech at the JFK Library

      On July 17, in the middle of the anticlimactic Massachussets Democratic primary, Elizabeth Warren delivered a speech at the JFK Library discussing how she successfully headed the effort to pass legislation establishing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It seems fitting that Warren begins her speech at the John F. Kennedy Presidential library by connecting her legislation to the late Senator Ted Kennedy. Kennedy, who tragically perished in August 2009 after being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, was viewed as a major figure and spokesman for American progressivism. Relating her message to the late Ted Kennedy's message allows her to establish a connection with Massachusetts democrats who supported Kennedy and build up her credibility as a progressive politician trying to protect middle class families. Warren goes on in her speech to discuss her optimistic views of the political system, citing that she was told her ideas regarding protecting consumers from misleading contracts made by credit card companies or banks were good, but that she should not pursue them because she could not make a difference. Warren offers a hopeful message that despite a hard push by major lobbyist groups, she was able to pass legislation that helped average Americans.

     Warren's message has remained relatively the same from the primary to the general election, trying to run a sort of grassroots campaign whose sole focus is protecting and expanding the middle-class.