ABSTRACT
Politics and rhetoric share corroded connotations in the popular vocabulary, revealed by the easy way just adheres to them: “that’s just politics,” “just rhetoric.” The double doubts are, first, that there is a real world of substance that politicians and rhetoricians only obscure or distort and, second that they do so for narrow personal advancement rather than for broader public good. Steeped in disciplinary histories and theories, writing program administrators (WPAs) reject the poisoned view of rhetoric. However, we tend to be less charitable with politics, which at best seem a necessary evil, at worst a block to programs justified by our professional expertise.
