Podium, the Pulpit, and the Republicans, The: How Presidential Candidates Use Religious Language in American Political Debate

In this book, the presidential debates of 2000, 2004, and 2008 are analyzed in terms of linguistics, rhetoric, and religious context to offer a unique perspective on the styles, beliefs, and strategies of the two major parties and their candidates.

In The Podium, the Pulpit, and the Republicans: How Presidential Candidates Use Religious Language in American Political Debate, a veteran minister analyzes the religious metaphors Republicans use at the podium and alleges that the party deliberately employs blaming tactics, fear metaphors, and coded references to apocalyptic judgment to sway undecided voters.

Over the past 40 years, Frederick Stecker charges, the Republican Party has created fear for political expediency. Stecker’s book traces the development of the Republican rhetoric of polarization and applies the linguistics-based nation-as-a-family political typology of George Lakoff to an analysis of the presidential debates of 2000, 2004, and 2008. He demonstrates how Republican candidates select their language and metaphors to signal adherence to rigid belief systems and simple, black-and-white choices in domestic and foreign policy.