Sarah Palin to Fox News

PALIN VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCgN9VlCnMw

Defrank, Thomas. “Sarah Palin to Fox News.” NY Daily News. NY Daily News, 11 January 2010. 18 January 2010.
The New York Daily News journalist Thomas Defrank opens his article with a simple and evident statement: “Sarah Palin is becoming a TV star.” Palin announced that she signed a three year deal with FOX News as a political commentator, which will inevitably bring more attacks, criticism, and chaos against the former Governor. An unnamed official was quoted in the article saying, “She’s doing it for the money”, while Palin aides state that she is simply signing on to have her voice heard once more. I believe that the country has had enough of the dolled-up, incompetent, and controversial Caribou Barbie. She already abandoned the people of Alaska, who she is widely known for caring about, to join the McCain campaign, and then resigns as their Governor. Sarah Palin is having huge success with her novel Going Rogue and now thinks her next career move should be to provide political insight. But who is she fooling? She cannot be taken seriously as a politician, an author, or a legitimate journalist. Palin’s autobiography reminisces about her short sports-reporter days, but it was nothing to be labeled as a career. Clearly, the United States has one too many “you betcha’s.”

Sarah from Alaska

Scott Conroy, the author, is producer of CBC’s The Beast.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/author/scott-conroy/

Conroy, Scott. Sarah from Alaska. New York: Public Affairs, 2009.
In Scott Conroy’s narrative Sarah from Alaska, the journalist provides a different look on Governor Sarah Palin than usually seen. He uses an unbiased viewpoint to describe events and his style is convincing. Conroy utilizes quotes from Sarah’s friends, family, campaign staffers, and intertwines them to produce an accurate diary of the 2009 election. In addition to people’s comments, facts are not sparse. While in the process of describing Palin’s impact on the McCain campaign, he writes, “On the day Palin was named to the ticket, online donations, which had been averaging around $250,000 a day during the previous week, shot up to $4.5 million” (Conroy 108). His citation of monetary donations adds meaning to the text, directly shows Sarah’s affect, and shows an appeal to authority. There is no doubt that Scott Conroy has done his homework as he journals his trip to Alaska, Palin’s state, to track down the local media, citizen’s opinions, and family stories. Additionally, the writer exhibits logical arguments for Palin supporters and critics, showing a neutral opinion. In conjunction with the author’s superb journalism, simple statement of the facts and references to campaign aides, Scott Conroy identifies himself as an experienced writer who understands Palin power.

CNN’s “Fact Check” for Going Rogue – Campbell Brown

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2009/11/18/cb.fact.palin.cnn?iref=videosearch

Going Rogue

Palin, Sarah. Going Rogue. New York: HarperCollins, 2009.
As in any argumentative piece, a solid background of logos, ethos, and pathos would undoubtedly strengthen the text. It shows the reader that the author has reliable sources, a strong passion for the argument, and believes in their position, as supported by facts. Unfortunately, even though Sarah Palin’s novel Going Rogue has meaningful ethos and pathos, logos are weak. The book focuses on the candidate’s life with perspective to her childhood, family, career, and the election. Palin appeals to emotions, pathos, when she describes the moment she found out her son had Down syndrome: “Did I have enough love and compassion in me to do this? Don’t you have to be wired a little differently to be gifted with the ability to raise a special needs child, a child who isn’t ‘perfect’ in the eyes of society” (Palin 178)? The author provides detail and personal anecdotes to capture her audience’s attention many times throughout the autobiography. In terms of ethos, her appeal to authority was illustrated when she illustrates her position as not only a political figure, but an ordinary mom, and wrote, “And she got to shout it out to the world with no one to shush her or to tell her to be humble and quiet. For me, standing there in the sunshine, it was one of those Mo Moments” (Palin 138). Sarah Palin exemplifies the classic mother while walking the halls of the Alaska Governor’s Mansion. If the author had focused on her own political statistics, content of bills she supported, and factual data of her administration, the piece would be more convincing and would have possibly changed her reader’s opinions. The text lacked logical material and it significantly changed the mood of the book.

Going Rogue SOAPSTone

Palin, Sarah. Going Rogue. New York: HarperCollins, 2009.
Sarah Palin, author of the controversial autobiography Going Rogue, sprouted conversation in the political world through her criticism of the 2009 Presidential election, McCain’s campaign, and her anecdotes. Because it is her autobiography, the speaker of the book is evidently Sarah Palin, as she shares her personal stories from the campaign and events leading up to her spotlight. The occasion in which the novel was written was caused by the 2009 Election, when McCain-Palin lost. Palin writes, “And that the real extremism came from those who supported partial-birth abortion, those who didn’t believe parents should have a say in whether their minor daughters underwent abortions, and those, like Barack Obama, who opposed laws that would protect babies born alive after botched abortions” (Palin 278). Obviously, carried out through her fierce tone, Sarah uses the text back up her political decisions and criticizes President Obama. Audience is created by political journalists, inquisitive Americans, and anyone who negatively criticized Palin’s involvement in the election. I believe the purpose of the VP Candidate’s autobiography was to clearly identify herself, persuade any Democrats who are uneasy of the Obama administration, and, mostly, to “stand up” for herself. The subject matter of Going Rogue is her pre-McCain Campaign life, the infamous interviews that she was noted as failing, the numerous SNL sketches, and her views on current politics. As seen throughout the novel, Sarah Palin uses a plethora of strategies for self-definition.

An Evolve-By Date

Judson, Olivia. An Evolve-By Date. The New York Times. 24 November 2009. 29 November 2009. .
Olivia Judson’s recent article concerning the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s novel On the Origin of Species introspects into the world of evolution – particularly its faults. Because of the argumentative format of the piece, Judson clearly established logical, emotional, ethical appeals. The author did not seem to have any logical fallacies, thus strengthening her argument and connecting with the reader and her critics. Olivia uses experiments to intensify her logos and states, “Suppose you put bacteria into test tubes where their usual sugar source is in short supply, but an alternative one — which they can’t consume at all — is abundant. (If you put them with just this alternative source, they would all die of starvation at once.) Then, you can watch how long it takes for the bacteria to evolve so they can digest the alternative. The answer, in one famous case, was more than 31,000 generations” (Judson 1). Her clear position as a journalist who has covered the topic of biology (specifically evolution) numerous times adds to her appeal to authority, an ethos appeal. Pathos is founded in her conclusion when Judson writes, “In short, we can expect that — if the environment continues to change as rapidly as it is at the moment — many creatures will fail to meet their evolve-by dates” (Judson 1).

Mad Men, Maddening Times

Warner, Judith. “Mad Men, Maddening Times”. The New York Times. 12 November 2009. 15 November 2009. .
A New York Times opinion article authored by Judith Warner clearly states her view of abortion coverage under the Health Care Bill. The journalist expresses her belief that because abortion is not included in the public option, as voted on earlier this week, that it is a threat to women’s rights. But is this a precise conclusion? I blatantly feel that abortions should not be a part of the Health Care Reform Bill because of its questionable status in our culture. For decades the controversy of pro-choice/pro-life has grown in our society, and now when health reform is most vital, should not prolong Congress’ choice. Judith Warner exclaims, “Maybe because our cultural memory is short; because our fantasyland nostalgia for a world of stay-at-home moms and gray flannel dads is too great, because when push comes to shove, in tough times, there’s still a willingness to throw women under the bus” (Warner 1). The author is completely missing the point in regards to abortion; the decision was not based on women’s rights or the advancement of it, but clearly due to the dispute of citizen’s paying (taxes) for female’s birth control.

A Glimpse of the Future

Herbert, Bob. “A Glimpse of the Future”. The New York Times. 2 November 2009. 3 November 2009. .
Author Bob Herbert of a New York Times article, A Glimpse of the Future, thoroughly explained his points of view in regards to President Obama’s recent energy speech in Florida. The president claimed that, because of the governments $3.4 billion investment, a plant in the sunshine state would be able to produce energy for 6,000 of its residents through solar panels. I agree with Herbert in that Obama’s plan is undeveloped, lacks the emotion to surprise the nation, and is ultimately lost in “an ocean of other concerns”. He compared Vive-President Joe Biden’s appearance in Delaware, where he spoke of a GM plant that closed and is now reopening to produce hybrid cars. The Obama Administration is obviously on a new bandwagon to promote energy efficiency, and is attaching their name to two small community changes. Herbert quoted: “We can imagine the day when you’ll be able to charge the battery on your plug-in hybrid car at night, because your smart meter reminded you that nighttime electricity is cheapest. In the daytime, when the sun is at its strongest, solar panels like these and electricity stored in car batteries will be able to power the grid with affordable, emission-free energy”. The science is not close to being there and this “green day” is too far in the future to even fathom, making the President’s hopes very far out of reach.