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The Evolution of Candidate Bush

A Rhetorical Analysis

University of Texas-Austin

Jay P. Childers

University of Texas-Austin

This article examines George W. Bush’s campaign rhetoric in both 2000 and 2004 and compares his style to that of his predecessors. Using DICTION, a computerized language analysis program, the study finds that Bush was quite tentative during the 2000 campaign and eschewed use of a narrative style. By the time his reelection campaign began, however, Bush had dramatically increased his hortatory and narrative scores, meaning he had found both an important story to tell and a forceful way of telling it. Because these qualities increased steadily with time, and because they seem to have been initiated by the terrorist attacks of September 11, they signal important epistemological, sociological, psychological, and political aspects of the Bush presidency and perhaps, of the national electorate itself.

Key Words: Bush • language • diction • rhetoric • campaign

American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 49, No. 2, 180-197 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0002764205280201


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