[Visual description – image of President George W. Bush with excerpt from the State of the Union address: “As a new Congress gathers, all of us in the elected branches of government share a great privilege: We've been placed in office by the votes of the people we serve. And tonight that is a privilege we share with newly-elected leaders of Afghanistan, the Palestinian Territories, Ukraine, and a free and sovereign Iraq.”

Narrator: In this excerpt, the president is establishing his credibility by stating he was elected by the American people.

George Bush: "We've been placed in office by the votes of the people we serve."

Narrator: This technique may also be used to discredit opposing points of view by attacking the character of the opposition.