Sen. Sanders Strikes Back

Throughout the many months of Sen. Sanders and Sec. Clinton having divided opinions, this most recent Democratic Debate on Jan 17 was no different. In the very start of the debate, Clinton verbally attacks Sanders for his background with where he stands on gun violence and how she is appreciative he has changed his opinion. In his unprompted response to her attacks, Sanders statistics, multiple rhetorical questions, and specific diction to regain control and to rally support.

Although the moderator seems to have a different question for Sanders, he quickly responds to Clinton's accusations of his platform. Sanders starts off stating, “We have a broken justice system. Who in America is satisfied that we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth including China, disproportionately African American and Latino?” This question is pretty heavy-hearted, it begs the audience to consider the hard fact in which our country has such high incarceration of the minorities. He continues with a statistic, “51% of African American young people are either unemployed or underemployed. Who is satisfied that millions of people have police records for possessing marijuana when the CEOs of Wall St companies destroyed our economy have no police records?” Again his questions with the use of logos, invokes serious consideration in the audience. His words have significant weight in them and truly makes the audience consider and ponder how our system works. Finally, Sanders concludes with the use of words like “we”, “us”, and “our” to signify that it is our duty as citizens to unite to change our justice system. By using these words, he evokes the feeling of being unified and integrated. And that together, the citizens can do something about the injustice. All in all, Sanders knows how to use rhetoric to join the audience for his support.