http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/opinion/sunday/dowd-two-presidents-smoking-and-scheming.html?ref=todayspaper
This NY Times piece by Maureen Dowd illustrates a scene in which the famous Aaron Sorkin TV character, Jed Bartlet, gives President Obama some debating tips and ideas while still in the aftermath of the first Presidential Debate. Bartlet, who has some experience of debating throughout his seasons on "The West Wing", sets him up with spectacular rebuttals against Romney's points. The real breakthrough was when Bartlet suggested that the prepping for the next debate should consist of nothing more than "Governor, you're lying."
Maureen Dowd won the Pulitzer prize in 1999 for distinguished commentary and has been writing for the Op-Ed section of the Times for over 16 years. Her audience is a very consistent flow of opinion readers, since this piece is the first selection on the NY Times Op-Ed page. It is based around the Presidential Election and her conversation with Aaron Sorkin about the recent debate. The purpose was to entertain her readers by bringing Jed Bartlet back to life and also shooting down many of Romney's arguments used to sling mud at toward the President's image.
The rhetorical element that stood out the most to me was the light, comedic tone about the piece that kept the reader laughing. For example, Dowd incorporated Sorkin's new character, Will McAvoy, into the piece by having him shouting at moderator Jim Lehrer about his poor performance while holding him in a hammerlock. I imagine all of "The Newsroom" fans like myself hollering in laughter at that picture.
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