New Progress

Rhetorical Analysis of the Healthcare Debate
Paper Structure

I. Introduction
A. Introduce the subject
B. Thesis
C. My experience with the issue transition
II. The Healthcare Debate (will throw in references to rhetoric where possible)
A. Why care about HC?
1. What’s wrong with the system?
2. Unsustainable
3. Why is it this way?
B. How to fix HC?
1. Single-Payer
2. Free-Market capitalism
3. The Public Option
III. My Experience (minimal citations will be needed here)
A. The Rhetoric of Television
1. The election
2. HC
3. OFA (small)
B. Town Hall Meetings
1. Arrival
- The protestors and supporters out in force
- Vandalism at the Green County Democratic HQ (Pelosi and San Francisco)
2. Beck followers (and Tea Party protestors)
3. What news station is the least bias and why? (conversation)
4. Political Information Gathering or pleasing the base? (Driehaus vs. Brown)
IV. The Rhetoric of the Right
A. Fox News
1. The Rightwing narrative
B. Sarah Palin and Friends
1. Glenn Beck and the Tea Party
2. Rush Limbaugh
C. Government Control of HC
1. Death Panels
2. Death of private market?
- Freedom and choice
- Single payer Trojan horse
V. The Rhetoric of the Left
A. MSNBC
1. The Leftwing narrative
2. Countdown – Different rhetorical strategies?
B. The White House and Congress
VI. Conclusion



This is the tentative outline of the paper as it is now. I think this should give me enough to work with. It's not completely filled in yet, but I'll add on/take off things as I see fit from here on out, as I write. I'm aiming at getting one section completely WRITTEN out every day for the next four days, so I'll have a good skeleton essay to work with, adding in more information from the many sources I am sure to have by the end.

This essay will focus on the use of rhetoric by specific groups in the HC debate. It will look at the hows and whys of political groups' rhetorical strategies to see why they might choose to argue that way, what effect they are trying to achieve, and the actual effect (assuming opinion polls reflect the success of rhetoric).