2. Then upon the next day he did speak at another gathering, "My good baptist granny always wanted me to be a good man."
3. Uponst his fifth use of a grandmother in yet a fifth denomination, an aide did ask of HUEY,"How many grandmothers of different religious preferences do you truly have?"
4. HUEY didst say,"As many as it takes to become elected."
5. Thus is seen HUEY P. LONG's use of the art of rhetoric.
6. Notice that HUEY doest never speak of the enlightenment or the truth of justice in society.
This is a bit of an extreme in the case of Huey P. Long's rhetoric but it is an accurate view of his speeches. What he actually said was second to how or in what context he said it. By placing emphasis on the crowd, he allowed people a chance to like him as a person first and a politician second.
To anyone seeing all of his speeches back-to-back, most things are obviously lies or untruths he uses to garner favor with the audience of the moment.
His sharing of enlightenment shone through such patent deceptions. Though he lied daily, he spoke of a truth beneath his deceptions and offered hope to the beleaguered poor.
He seems to speak with no justice by using such falsehoods. But if you look even closer at Long's rhetoric they will see the actual delivery of his promises. It appears as if he justified any means to the end of helping the poor.
Since his time the use of rhetoric has passed the point of any-means-to-an-end and become any-means-to-power. The concept of truth and justice in political rhetoric has apparently vanished. The only thing left is pure desire transformed into magnetic charisma used in the task of becoming elected to obtain the power the politician desires.
by Luke McClung
Notes: the anecdote is real not fiction
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