Rhetorical subterfuge and “the principle of perfection”: Bob Packwood's response to sexual misconduct charges

Abstract

This essay identifies Senator Bob Packwood's public response to charges of sexual misconduct as a “rhetorical subterfuge” that exhibits a cluster of terms implicit in Kenneth Burke's principle of perfection. These terms consist of perfection, the negative, antithesis, victimage, and substitution. The study shows how the principle of perfection enables us to piece together Packwood's “fragmentary” discourse before it disappears, revealing a larger problem that can account for the Senator's behavior and response to the charges. As such, the essay addresses what Burke views as the most important yet most difficult aspect of symbolic action to explain, how a hierarchy's very existence encourages an undue acquiescence among those who could otherwise be its most capable critics.