Citizen Kane: Bias, Fallacies, Rhetorical Devices, and Arguments the speech "Charles Foster Kane Campaigns for

Governor," is rife with bias, full of fallacies, and uses numerous rhetorical devices, yet comes across as a very convincing argument for Kane as Governor nonetheless! From the beginning the speaker demonstrates a particular bias against the current Governor, Jim Gettys, by blatantly labeling his rule as 'evil domination'. This term indicates clear bias by the Campaigner, who is equally biased about, but in favor of Kane, depicting him as an ally of the common man. The campaigner bases his argument on his or her own personal preference but states no supporting facts. A theme of the speech which contains the argumentum ad pabulum fallacy is that Kane is a friend of the common man or lower class. One of the most prominent fallacies is the argument that Kane seems to have already been predetermined to win the Governorship. Since the election has not even begun, this is certainly fallacious, and specifically the fallacy of irrelevant conclusion. It is a purely personal consideration, argumentum ad hominem. The next fallacy is Kane's assertion that he wants to protect the underprivileged, followed by the disclaimer that he's too busy to make specific promises. This technique of making circular arguments is a fallacy. The speech also includes the use of multiple rhetorical devices such as several instances of the expletive type where a word or short phrase is used to dramatically breaks the normal flow of speech, emphasizing the words prior to the expletive. The Asyndeton type of rhetorical device, where conjunctions between words are omitted to give the effect of extemporaneousness is used in the passage where Kane says ""with one purpose only: to point out and make public the dishonesty, the downright villainy, of Boss Jim W. Gettys' political machine -- now in complete control of the government of this State". The device of antithesis, which is the technique of

contrasting two opposite ideas by joining them in one phrase is used in the passage about hope, specifically Kane's new hope, and Getty's lack of hope. Kane and the campaigner both make powerful arguments and counterarguments throughout the speech. The first, that Getty is evil, and Kane is the ideal replacement is quite effective despite the lack of facts, because of the passionate manner of delivery. The second argument, made by Kane, is that every straw vote, every independent poll shows that I'll be elected'. The arguments is not particularly effective as it is difficult to verify without being able to verify the poll results, and also knowing that polls are often inaccurate. Kane's subsequent argument, the promise to work for the betterment of the community is followed by the counterargument that he cannot make any promises, which effectively invalidates the argument. The final argument Kane makes is that he will indict Jim Gettys if elected, but as this argument immediately follows the statement that Kane can make no promises, it is also not effective.