Wake up and smell the straw Somnath Mukherjee
In a famous barnstorming speech, then-US senator Richard Nixon, battling charges of embezzlement of election funds, made an emotional appeal to voters. He invoked his modest background, attacked his opponents and, most memorably, declared his intention to retain one ‘gift’, a dog his kids called Checkers.
Since then, the ‘Checkers Speech’ has become famous in the US as a storied instance of the ‘straw man’ phenomenon. His critics had said nothing about a pet dog. But Nixon pivoted the narrative by putting Checkers at the centre of the critique. He succeeded, winning […]
Full Post at economictimes.indiatimes.com