Vice‐presidential comedy and the traditional female role: An examination of the rhetorical characteristics of the vice presidency

When Two Become One? Examining Kamala Harris and Joe Biden's Campaign Themes from Primary to General Election

“…All presidential campaigns must meet the challenge of merging two individuals into one ticket. Running mates have a track record and public communications that may conflict with the nominees, and campaigns need to navigate the balance between what Bostdorff (1991) calls a running mate's individuality and subservience. For example, when Obama added Biden in 2008, Biden brought a wealth of experience to the ticket, creating balance to the junior senator's shorter career.…”

“…Running mates' goals and messaging are complicated. Bostdorff (1991) argues running mates must both rhetorically portray themselves as independent to demonstrate they are worthy and “capable individuals who skillfully could assume the presidency” if necessary, while also performing their new‐found “subservience” to the nominee (p. 8, emphasis in original). To achieve these somewhat conflicting goals, scholars have offered various communication strategies for running mates: demonstrate running mate's fitness to serve as president, explain policy positions, emphasize campaign themes, celebrate and defend the nominee, and attack the opponent (Carlin and Bicak 1993; Goldstein 2016).…”

Electile Dysfunction

“…In contrast to the beauty queen imagery, MILF Palin as site of the cum shot made a more ruthless burlesque point. These pornographic images extend Denise M. Bostdorff's (1991) claim that the vice presidential duties "consist mainly of abject 'feminine' servility" (2).…”

Rush to judgment: Burlesque, tragedy, and hierarchal alchemy in the rhetoric of America's foremost political talkshow host

“…These efforts react to the "breaking of a frame" of reference (Burke, 1984, p. 102), in which an "old order" of political arrangements seeks to make a comeback (Appel, 1996), or suffers a threat of displacement by new and "heretical" orientations, like those arising in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries with modern empirical science (Bond, 1932;Burke, 1984;Clinton-Baddeley, 1952;Jump, 1972;Kitchen, 1967;Richards, 1937). Burlesque can also surface as rhetorical style of choice when comic appeals prove ineffective over time (Carlson, 1988b); when a politician is perceived to have failed in a "comic" role, like that of vice-presidential candidate (Bostdorff, 1991;Moore, 1992); or when the medium itself (e.g., political cartoons) requires emphasis on simplistic form, caricature, and externals of behavior and appearance (Bostdorff, 1987). For resistance and restorationist politicos, a significant, partial threat to basic ways of doing things looms or holds sway.…”