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Using The 2008 Presidential Election To Think About “Playing The Race Card”, Ronald Lee, Aysel Morin
Using The 2008 Presidential Election To Think About “Playing The Race Card”, Ronald Lee, Aysel Morin
Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications
Bill Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro were accused of “playing the race card” during the 2008 contest for the Democratic presidential nomination. This essay explores the different forms race cards may assume and the dangers each poses to the public dialogue. Moving away from the traditional focus on persuasive effects, the Clinton and Ferraro utterances are analyzed as argumentative discourses. Then, critical standards are promulgated for evaluating their reasonableness.