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Palin or Biden? Who Was More Persuasive?

October 2, 2008

Overall, it looked like a debate of style vs substance. Palin didn’t provide much in the substance department, but did it with style, so she did better than we were all led to expect. And Biden’s “I’m Joe, and I’m one of you!’ style was understated, but he used it to underline plenty of substance, so I think he did better than Palin. At least that’s my initial take on it.

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Why The Candidates Avoid Talking About The Financial Crisis

September 30, 2008

In the first Presidential debate last Friday, it seemed that both candidates sought to avoid an argument over the unfolding financial crisis. McCain simply avoided answering the economic questions asked of him, and answered unasked questions instead, about earmarks/spending, that did him little good. The $700 billion figure is an iceberg moving through our national consciousness, and $18 billion is, comparatively speaking, a snowball. And Obama kept his focus on typing McCain to Bush.

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In the First Debate, Who Was More Persuasive?

September 28, 2008

I’ve been asked repeatedly for my opinion on the debate. I give points to both sides, and I think the net result is a tie, though Obama did better at behaving Presidential, and McCain did better at scoring points.

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It’s My Birthday, Here’s Your Gift!

September 26, 2008

In spite of the deteriorating economy and tightening (rhymes with frightening) national belt, I’m in a generous mood. So for my birthday, please claim your gift. Go to LearnToPersuade.com, because your free gift is waiting there for you right now. If you haven’t already taken advantage of this offer, please do. I really want you to have this.

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How Can We Learn From Our Mistakes?

September 25, 2008

One of my favorite metaphors in the Art of Persuasion involves a guy whose daily life requires that he walk down a dark road. There’s a hole in the road. The first time he walks down that road, he doesn’t notice the hole, and he falls in. It hurts like heck to fall in that hole. He’s in deep, and it takes a while, but eventually he manages to climb out go on.

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Where Is The Care in Health Care? Needed: The Art of Persuasion

September 24, 2008

How is it possible that the most obvious therapeutic modality, the human connection, accessed with the art of persuasion, has been replaced with such distance, calculation and regulation? It’s the classic case of fear overwhelming reason. Medicine, particularly in hospitals and nursing homes, is a life-and-death business. It provokes fear at every turn by its very nature. Demanding patients, demanding family members, and the demands of the effort required to manage multiple people with multiple problems in the presence of multiple opportunities for real harm and damage have taken their toll.

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What Can You Do When A Political Opponent Attacks You? Pt 3

September 23, 2008

In the art of persuasion in politics, if your opponent happens to attack you in a public context, call it out into the open, by making the covert implication overt. For example, your opponent attacks your record in office.

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What Can You Do When A Political Opponent Attacks You? Pt 2

September 18, 2008

Anyone who wants to find fault with a legislative process or result certainly can. When the attack serves the sole purpose of tarnishing your reputation and making you look bad, one option is you can question the timing of the attack. Talk as if the attack has a legitimate foundation, and then make it seem just as legitimate to call your opponent to account for their own absence during the action.

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