Rhetoric Rampant

The convention produced some other notable uses and abuses of political rhetoric:

> In his acceptance speech, the President promised that he would "never stain the honor of the United States" in settling the Viet Nam War. "Honor," of course, is one of those words that strike a patriotic gong in the citizen's mind, but the concept is sometimes more complex than Nixon suggested. In the case of Viet Nam, most critics of the U.S. war policy insist that it is precisely the continuation of American involvement--especially the bombing--that threatens the national honor. But beyond that, one occasion's honor tends often to dissolve in next year's realism. In his own terms of a few years ago, for example, it surely would have been "dishonorable" for a U.S. President to bid farewell to Chiang Kai-shek and cultivate Mao. It is always risky to construct a cathedral of patriotism around the nation's necessities.

> Nixon also had a strained simile for explaining the difference between himself and George McGovern. America, said the President, was building the proudest, tallest building in the world. The opposition says," 'Because the windows are broken, tear it down and start again.' We say, 'Replace the windows and keep building.' " George McGovern later compounded that rather precarious image with an even more dubious one. Nixon was trying to build "a palace for the privileged few," said McGovern. Rather than tear anything down, the Democrats want to "restore that temple to the ancient truths." They both sounded like a couple of metaphysical contractors. High time to take the wrecker's ball to that sort of thing.

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