The nominating convention as purveyor of political medicine: An anecdotal analysis of the democrats and republicans of 1984

This paper employs the Burkean notion of sociological criticism as a means of studying the discourse associated with the 1984 national nominating conventions. Through the use of the “mirroring” anecdote the findings indicate that the two parties organized narratives that followed distinct assessments of political reality as the Democrats told a story following a “fear and fairness” theme while the Republicans relied on a “prosperity and patriotism” theme.