John McCain's concession speech

John McCain handled his concession speech very maturely and respectfully. When people started booing Barack Obama, McCain was very humble and simply shook his head, gesturing that he was not going put up with that kind of behavior. This proves McCain's modest personality. He was very respectful towards Obama by recognizing what a historical election this truly was, and saying Obama and himself both love this country. He uses a good amount of logos mentioning President T. Roosvelt and Booker T. Washington. He uses pathos by talking about how he is sad that Obama's grandmother could not be there to see her grandson become the next President. Also, I think it was very effective that he did not only talk about the election, but he said how the country needs to unite, despite their differences. Whenever the crowd began to cheer for him, he thanked them for all of their support, but acknowledges the failure was his own and he will not dwell on it. He uses pathos by thanking his wife, mother, and the rest of his family. All in all, I believe McCain did a wonderful and effective job in his concession speech.

Old President Speech

I looked at George Bush's 2000 acceptance speech. Bush began his speech with thinking his supporters, family, God, and Al Gore. He thanks Al Gore several times and makes several references at him being a good man; Bush does this in order to prove to the country that he is a respectful and modest man. He does not appear boastful or gleeful. Rather, he is very humble in his acceptance and makes a point to let the viewer know than he knows he did not win this election alone. He had a lot of people help him out and he acknowledges all of those people. Also, he strongly stresses that just because his Republican party won does not mean he is going to over look every single Democratic idea. He encourages the American people to join together in order to make our country stronger, and a better place for every citizen to live. Also, he takes long pauses in his speech to leave room for the audience to respond and clap. He does this so that the viewer knows he has supporters in the room with him cheering him on. He ends his speech with more pathos and ethos to make himself more relatable to the audience. Also, he says the typical "God Bless America" as a strong statement to end his speech.

research!!

So far I like the research on Lexus Nexis the best. It is very easy to use and I like how you can be so specific on it. I am having a little bit of trouble finding articles specifically on Special Ed, they seem to be more about education funding in general. I also found a good article on the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents website. However, just like the other ones it didn't specifically pertain to Special Ed. But I'm still looking so hopefully I will find a good one to pertain to my topic better!

For our next project I have decided to look at education funding and what they current politicians plans are for funding our schools. More specifically, I want to look at special education funding versus public education funding.

Humor Project!

For my humor project I decided to look at fashion in politics and the impact it makes on our politicians. I decided to use the tag line, "Who wore it better", like they do in US Weekly and People Magazine. I took 5 poster boards and put pictures of Sarah Palin vs. Pamela Anderson in a red bathing suit, Brad Pitt & George Clooney vs. Al Gore and Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton vs. a model in Marc Jacobs, and Jack Gyllenhaal vs. George W. Bush. For my last poster I cut out bodies of male models and put Obama, and McCain's heads on them and ended it with, "Some fashions should be left for the stars".

humorous article

For my humorous article I choice an article from The Onion titled, "The 60 Million People You'd Never Talk To Voting For Other Guy". This article is basically about the ignorance and stubborness of the American society. It is talking about how everyone knows they are right and any opinion that is not your own, when it comes to politics, is wrong. The article remarks that if you were to go up to someone with opposite political views than your own and try to suade them into agreeing with you, they never would; and vice versa, if someone tried to persuade you and change your personal political views you would, more than likely, not listen to a word they have to say. The article remarks that every year the list of people you would never talk to, and don't have anything in common with just keeps going up and up because we become even more stubborn and single minded in our views every year. The article used surveys and reports to prove their statement, even though it is mocking the American society.

op-ed

Politicians Today: Not Just Your Average Joe

When I turn on the TV to watch my favorite shows, sex and the city, friends, and full house, the main thing I focus on is their outfit. I love watching the styles change through the seasons of all of these shows. I love how everything from their hair to their shoes becomes more fashionable as the years go on. When one is watching a political conference on TV, while I know they are more focused on what they are hearing rather than what they are seeing, their personal style truly does affect how we feel about our candidates. Fashion in politics, especially in this day and age, influences our personal lives whether we realize it or not.
Within the last decade fashion has become a huge aspect in United States citizen’s lives. Celebrities have set the bar for what we consider “beautiful” and “fashionable”. However, it seems as though our politicians are now following these trends, and even setting a few of their own. Sarah Palin has been sporting a pair of Kazuo Kawasaki glasses, model 704, No. 34 gray. These glasses have become a huge phenomenon over America. In fact, the owner of Oak Lawn boutique Image Eyewear, which sells the glasses Sarah Palin made so popular, confirmed that, his “phone has been ringing nonstop from people around the country looking to get in on the latest fashion trend”. In fact, the shape of the frame has been called SP, and people are beginning to speculate whether this SP is in reference to Sarah Palin. The pricey lightweight titanium frames, which cost $375, come in several colors and styles. Mr. Brown, the owner of the Oak Lawn boutique Image Eyewear, remarked that people wanting to get their hands on a pair of the glasses are going to have to wait because they are being taken as soon as they hit the shelves. Because of Sarah Palin’s fashionable glasses, she has received positive publicity without even opening her mouth. David Letterman stated that, “the Statue of Liberty earlier today was wearing a pair of those hip Sarah Palin glasses”. While several people have commented negatively on Sarah Palin’s personal life, American citizens have only good things to say about her fashion sense. In fact, while celebrities are usually the main, and only, focus during New York’s fashion week our current politicians were observed and spoken of during fashion week.
An article from Life & Style on New York fashion week presents fashion from McCain’s wife, Cindy McCain, Obama’s wife, Michelle Obama, and, of course, Sarah Palin. This article, titled “NY fashion: politics, celebs, and unsexy clothes”, comments that, “the country became increasingly obsessed with Michelle Obama’s shift dresses, Cindy McCain’s expenditure and, of course, Sarah Palin’s glasses”. The article remarks that fashion week designers had to try and outdo the new publicity that our politicians are getting, “Fashion designers reacted by trying to outdo the competition”. Fashion designers responded by showing their support to certain candidates in order to attain more publicity, and popularity. For example, Diane von Furstenberg and Marc Jacobs, who were prominent Clinton supporters, stuck with the Democrats and backed up Obama. The article stated that, “This week's fashion icon was Cindy McCain, with stiff hair and Mad Men-style 1950s dresses becoming increasingly popular.” Fashion has always been a huge aspect in life and now it is even overtaking our politicians.
Personally, I have never really coincided fashion and politics. However, I have clearly been proven wrong because these politicians have what it takes when it comes to being in style, and fashionable. Politicians these days are now right alongside celebrities in setting new trends and new standards of beautiful. I feel as though Politicians are sending out better messages than celebrities when it comes to what is beautiful because Politicians are proving to women that being smart and successful is beautiful. They are proving that one does not simply need to be rich with a stupid reality TV show to be considered beautiful and fashionable. My next question is this: does fashion really change the way we vote? It’s clear that it changes the way we look at our politicians, but does this in turn change our voting behavior? If a man that had the best qualifications, the best intentions and the best plans for our country showed up to a speech in torn jeans and a dirty shirt, would we not vote for him because of the way he looked? Several people would probably not vote for him because our President will be representing us and, as Americans, we want to be representing positively by someone who looks the part of the President; clean, well dressed, and professional looking.
Politicians are taking it to the next level when it comes to how they are perceived by Americans. They are now seen as fashion icons and trendsetters. So next time you are flipping through your channels and come across a political debate take a minute to notice what they are wearing and whether or not this affects the way you, personally, perceive them.