Metaphors from sport and war are not just rhetorical devices for talking about politics. They exemplify how people ordinarily think of politics, that is they a - Essay Example

The difference between the two different declarations will be immense. Two of the biggest politicians to make speeches on war are Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George Bush. First a look at written political speeches from both of these men will be examined. Prime Minister Tony Blair has spoken of his support of the war in Iraq. In the days following the beginning of the Iraqi war, Tony Blair made a speech to the house of Commons, describing the war as necessary and just, Prime Minister Blair used some interesting metaphors to describe the war.

For example, Prime Minister Blair referred to the search for Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq as “So the 12-year game began” (“Full Text: Tony Blair’s speech”). Prime Minister Blair goes on to say: Looking back over 12 years, we have been victims of our own desire to placate the implacable, to persuade towards reason the utterly unreasonable, to hope that there was some genuine intent to do good in a regime whose mind is in fact evil. (“Full Text: Tony Blair’s speech”) In this speech words like “game”, “implacable”, and “evil” are used to incite the house of Commons to support the invasion of Iraq.

These metaphors are used to swing support in favour of Prime Minister Blair. This speech was written by a speech writer. On the other hand, when Prime Minister Blair speaks without a speech writer, he is ridiculed. When Prime Minister Blair “told ITV1s Parkinson chat show: ‘If you believe in God (the judgement) is made by God.’” his political speech writers must have cringed (“PM attacked on Iraq God remarks”). The repercussion from this statement was immediate and swift. The media and citizens from around the world laughed at Prime Minister Blair’s naivety.

The political speech writer from the speech to the house of Commons acted as a spin doctor to help Prime Minister Blair achieve backing for the Iraqi war.