The Evolution of Political Rhetoric: the Year in C-SPAN Archives Research
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The Year in C-SPAN Archives Research Volume 6 Article 1 12-15-2020 The Evolution of Political Rhetoric: The Year in C-SPAN Archives Research Robert X. Browning Purdue University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/ccse Recommended Citation Browning, Robert X. (2020) "The Evolution of Political Rhetoric: The Year in C-SPAN Archives Research," The Year in C-SPAN Archives Research: Vol. 6 Article 1. Available at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/ccse/vol6/iss1/1 This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. The Evolution of Political Rhetoric: The Year in C-SPAN Archives Research Cover Page Footnote To purchase a hard copy of this publication, visit: http://www.thepress.purdue.edu/titles/format/ 9781612496214 This article is available in The Year in C-SPAN Archives Research: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/ccse/vol6/iss1/1 THE EVOLUTION OF POLITICAL RHETORIC THE YEAR IN C-SPAN ARCHIVES RESEARCH Robert X. Browning, Series Editor The C-SPAN Archives, located adjacent to Purdue University, is the home of the online C-SPAN Video Library, which has copied all of C-SPAN’s television content since 1987. Extensive indexing, captioning, and other enhanced online features provide researchers, policy analysts, students, teachers, and public offi- cials with an unparalleled chronological and internally cross-referenced record for deeper study. The Year in C-SPAN Archives Research presents the finest interdisciplinary research utilizing tools of the C-SPAN Video Library. Each vol- ume highlights recent scholarship and comprises leading experts and emerging voices in political science, journalism, psychology, computer science, commu- nication, and a variety of other disciplines. Developed in partnership with the Brian Lamb School of Communication and with support from the C-SPAN Education Foundation, this series is guided by the ideal that all experimental outcomes, including those from our American experiment, can be best im- proved by directed study driving richer engagement and better understanding. Other titles in this series The C-SPAN Archives: An Interdisciplinary Resource for Discovery, Learning, and Engagement Exploring the C-SPAN Archives: Advancing the Research Agenda Advances in Research Using the C-SPAN Archives The Year in C-SPAN Archives Research: Volume 4 President Trump's First Term: The Year in C-SPAN Archives Research, Volume 5 THE EVOLUTION OF POLITICAL RHETORIC THE YEAR IN C-SPAN ARCHIVES RESEARCH Volume 6 edited by Robert X. Browning Purdue University Press West Lafayette, Indiana Copyright 2021 by Robert X. Browning. Individual contributions are copyright of their respective authors. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Paper ISBN: 978-1-61249-621-4 ePUB ISBN: 978-1-61249-622-1 ePDF ISBN: 978-1-61249-623-8 Cover: Lucky-photographer/iStock via Getty Images To James M. Barrett Robert G. Gassert, SJ James H. Scott All undergraduate mentors CONTENTS FOREWORD ix PREFACE xi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii PART 1: A LOOK AT C-SPAN PROGRAMMING WITH ALL ITS “MADISONIAN PASSION” 1 James A. McCann, Discussant CHAPTER 1 More Than Partisans: The Role of Identity in the Justice Kavanaugh Hearings 7 Nadia E. Brown, Sarah Gershon, and Lauren Hanson-Figueroa CHAPTER 2 Competing and Recurring Narratives: Crafting Credibility in the Hill-Thomas and Ford-Kavanaugh Hearings 37 Joseph Sery CHAPTER 3 Partisanship Over Principle: The “Logic” of Congressional Impeachment Inquiries 69 Matthew L. Bergbower and Robert Van Sickel PART 2: PORTRAITS OF POLICY DISCOURSE ON C-SPAN 93 Janel Jett, Discussant CHAPTER 4 Careless or Criminal? The Social Construction of Wall Street in the Aftermath of the 2008 Financial Crisis 97 Justin Rex viii CONTENTS CHAPTER 5 Schrödinger’s Podium: The Rhetoric of Presidential Campaign Announcements 129 Stephen M. Llano and Alexander J. Carver CHAPTER 6 He Said, She Said: How Gender Affects the Tone and Substance of White House Press Briefings 163 Newly Paul PART 3: LOOKING FORWARD AND LOOKING BACK AT ANALYSIS OF COMMUNICATION IMPACTS 187 Rosalee A. Clawson, Discussant CHAPTER 7 Americans for Zero Population Growth: Media, Politics, and Public Understandings of Overpopulation 191 Caitlin Fendley CHAPTER 8 Is There Anybody Out There? C-SPAN, Women, and the Distribution of Desirable Speech Time 209 Bryce J. Dietrich and Jielu Yao CHAPTER 9 For the People Act of 2019: A Framing Analysis of Legislators’ Videos on Twitter 229 Katelyn E. Brooks ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS 255 INDEX 261 FOREWORD ast summer I had the pleasure of working at the British National Archives just outside of London. With the River Thames nearby and swans swimming L in a small stream out front, I entered a highly regarded archive where vis- itors are greeted with a large banner encouraging them to “explore 1,000 years of history.” I was there to study the correspondence between Harry Truman and Winston Churchill in the lead-up to the Potsdam Conference held in July 1945. The National Archives lived up to its reputation. Not only were the top secret telegrams between Truman and Churchill, along with pages of notes and com- ments, preserved, but so were the handwritten envelopes in which the telegrams were delivered to Churchill. If something was missing from a folder, even an envelope, it was duly noted on the folder front. This kind of comprehensive, meticulous archive is not just important to re- searchers. It is invaluable to the citizens of a country, allowing them to see for themselves how their government works. The C-SPAN Archives offers us this same level of completeness and care. As the brainchild of Robert X. Browning, the Archives was founded in 1987 to create a record of public debate. Since that time it has grown to be an archive of the entire federal government, with over 262,000 hours of content accessible in its online Video Library. The C-SPAN Archives offers us an inclusive public record of American politics and American politicians. It is an open book to a world of historic videos, verbatim transcripts, Supreme Court oral arguments, Speaker of the House press conferences, and presidential remarks made at the White House and at campaign rallies. No other video archive offers this level of detail combined with easy accessibility. The record the C-SPAN Archives offers is critical for our understanding of where we are in the evolution of American democracy—in this current age of in- formation pitted against disinformation, the definitions of which are important x FOREWORD to grasp when considering the essential value of the Archives. Information is facts provided about someone or something. Disinformation is false or mislead- ing communication that is spread deliberately to deceive. Never before have Americans been more challenged to monitor and understand the differences between these two types of communication. Fortunately for us the Archives provides the information so that we can discern what is truly disinformation. I frequently use the Video Library for this very purpose—to go back to the original transcript of what was said to compare it to what may be a completely different statement posted on Twitter or made during a press briefing just moments later. This current volume of The Year in C-SPAN Archives Research,The Evolution of Political Rhetoric, represents a remarkable array of works examining the rheto- ric of politicians and activists and adds invaluably to our understanding of what is information and what is disinformation. The chapters offer fresh analyses of committee hearings, which include debates on highly contentious Supreme Court nominations and impeachments, and an important look at how gender influences desirable floor time for members of the House of Representatives and White House press briefings. We also learn about politicians in action—from their campaign announcements to their videos posted on Twitter. The book al- lows us to consider how politicians framed Wall Street in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and how activists worked on the issue of overpopulation in the 1980s and 1990s. In this critical time in American politics, the C-SPAN Archives is more im- portant than ever. Its chronicle of information keeps us all one step ahead of those who offer falsehoods as though they are truths. This volume is essential to helping us understand and not lose sight of the difference between the two. Lyn Ragsdale Radoslav Tsanoff Professor of Public Affairs Rice University PREFACE he 2019 Center for C-SPAN Scholarship & Engagement (CCSE) research conference produced nine papers that use the C-SPAN Archives innova- T tively to explore important questions in communication, political science, and history. With each annual conference, the authors push the boundaries of new ideas and new technology, revealing new findings and techniques to ana- lyze video, text, and data entries from the C-SPAN Video Library. This year was no exception. With a theme of Looking Forward–Looking Back: Understanding Change in Policy and Process, these nine authors looked at the recent Supreme Court nomi- nations, presidential impeachment, 2008 Wall Street crisis, presidential campaign announcements, gender differences in questions at White House news confer- ences, zero population growth rhetoric, women versus men speaking time in the House of Representatives, and the Twitter framing of the For the People Act of 2019. What unites all the pieces, besides their use of C-SPAN video, is the ti- tle of this volume, The Evolution of Political Rhetoric. It is the rhetoric of senators questioning Supreme Court nominees Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, as well as their accusers in their confirmation hear- ings nearly 30 years apart that brings insights into time and change. Presidential impeachment is clearly a timely topic, and one chapter looks back at the House rhetoric as members grapple with what is an impeachable offense.