Types of refutation used by Barrack Obama and John Mccain on the candidate President debate

ABSTRACT

Refutation is the key element in debate and makes the whole process exciting by relating ideas and arguments from one team to those of the other. It is challenging because it is more spontaneous than reading prepared speeches. Refutation is based on good research, good constructive development, and good anticipation of potential attacks. It is the essence of debate and is difficult to master. A great deal of practice and attention to the basic principles outlined in this chapter will help guide you to becoming an effective debater through skillful refutation.

This research investigates the types of refutation used by Barrack Obama and John McCain on the candidate president debate. Refutation is responding to the reasons presented by the opponents and not merely presenting a counter argument. Refutation in academic debate is a process in which debaters react to the arguments presented by the opponents in order to reduce their impact on the audience.

The descriptive qualitative method is used to conduct this study. This study describes and explains the types of refutation used by Barrack Obama and John McCain’s debate. To obtain the manageable and systematic data, the writer himself becomes the main instrument by browsing the internet, reading and classifying the data. Then the data are presented and analyzed by using the types of refutation theory proposed by William E. Kennard.

Based on the finding of the study, types of refutation which are used by Barrack Obama and John McCain can be divided into general and specific refutations. Each debater has different methods. In some words or utterances by the speaker, they use different refutation method to their rivals. But, they have similarities on using general refutation technique that is giving and exploring what the reason to make their arguments better. The technique makes their debate balance and systematically. It does not make bad provoking to the audience since McCain and Obama also give their arguments based on the facts on their country. In addition for the next researchers it is suggested they can use the other theories of refutation and analyze other candidate president debate, such as Bill Clinton’s or text debate in detailed.