Plato, through Socrates, vehemently rejects rhetoric as nothing more than opinionated words in Gorgias. Plato objects to rhetoric because he believes it offers no real knowledge but only opinions. As Socrates tells Gorgias, who puts up a fierce defense of rhetoric as the highest art in Gorgias, ôEvidently oratory is a producer of conviction-persuasion and not of teaching-persuasion concerning whatÆs just and unjustàAnd so an orator is not a teacheràbut merely a persuaderö (454e-455a). While PlatoÆs distinction between learning and persuasion with respect to rhetoric may be true, political speeches are designed to persuade through rhetoric.
Aristotle saw the usefulness of rhetoric as a means of persuasion. In Rhetoric, Aristotle maintains that there are three kinds of persuasive appeals embodied within the best rhetoric: Logos, Pathos, and Ethos. Logos is an appeal to the reason of an audience. Pathos is an appeal to the emotions of the audience. All three appeals are what is known as ôinternal argumentsö, ones that help a speaker persuade his audience of the validity of what is being said (Synopsis 2004, 1). In his recent loss of SpainÆs election, ruling Popular Party (PP) Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar could have used better strategies of rhetoric to stave off Socialist challenger Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, persuading Spanish voters he was the better candidate.
The Socialist Party won the election in Spain by a mere 4% of the vote, 42% to the Popular PartyÆs 38% (Spanish 2004, 1). Part of the reason for this victory is the image problem associated with AznarÆs leadership of the Popular Party. When the terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda killed 200 and wounded hundreds of others, AznarÆs government blames Basque separatist group ETA for the attacks (Al Qaeda 2004). When Al Qaeda admitted responsibility for the attacks, Aznar appeared as someone trying to misinform the public,
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