Rhetorical Analysis Choices

I have chosen to analyze a column by left-wing former New York Times journalist Chris Hedges that was published in the online magazine Truthdig. The column is titled "It's Not Going to Be OK" and is about how the current financial meltdown is not a temporary phenomenon but rather the beginning of, as he would have it, our empire's collapse. (It's posted here: www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090202_its_not_going_to_be_ok/)

Hedges' columns are consistently very moving and convincing to me, even more so than other columnists I like to read (from throughout the political spectrum). For this reason I have chosen to analyze the rhetorical techniques he uses in his writing.

For my visual text I have chosen a 22 January 2009 political cartoon drawn by The Economist's cartoonist, KAL. It is about George W. Bush's final attempts to save his legacy. KAL's cartoons tend to have much detail and always transmit their messages very clearly. I would like to deconstruct his cartoon to see why KAL is always so effective.