Creatures of Politics Media, Message, and the American Presidency [Paperback]

Its a common complaint that a presidential candidate's style matters more than substance and that the issues have been eclipsed by mass-media-fueled obsession with a candidates every slip, gaffe, and peccadillo. This book explores political communication in American presidential politics, focusing on what political insiders call message. Message, Michael Lempert and Michael Silverstein argue, is not simply an individuals positions on the issues but the craft used to fashion the creature the public sees as the candidate. Lempert and Silverstein examine some of the revelatory moments in debates, political ads, interviews, speeches, and talk shows to explain how these political creations come to have a life of their own. From the pandering Flip-Flopper to the self-reliant Maverick, the authors demonstrate how these figures are fashioned out of the verbal, gestural, sartorial, behavioralas well as linguisticmatter that comprises political communication.

[Creatures of Politics] makes for a fascinating read and an illuminating look into the complex realm of political rhetoric.[Creatures of Politics] cover[s] different aspects of messaging with interesting discussions, and provides[s] new ways of thinking about campaign coverage....Very few scholars can match [the authors'] detailed analysis of political and media discourse. The authors illuminate the subtle, multimodal, and intertextual mechanisms by which messages are constructed. Those who read their work will learn much about the semiotics of presidential campaigns as well as the cultural expectations that regulate and naturalize our electoral character contests.A timely, fascinating, pathbreaking book by two outstanding scholars that is sure to appeal to a wide audience.

Preface and Acknowledgments
1. Introduction: Message is the Medium
2. Getting it Ju:::st Right
3. Addressing The Issues
4. Ethnoblooperology
5. Unflipping the Flop
6. The Message in Hand
7. What Goes Around...l&