This Strategy Could Work (Sad to Say!)

A couple of years ago Chicago won the Oscar for "Best Motion Picture". I kind of wonder why but considering that Hollywood both produces the product and judges it, I really shouldn't. While the performances and cinematography were both very good, the story itself stunk. There was no heroism or even a really a victim and the only person with any decency and obvious goodness in him was a gullible idiot.

A murder trial, and we knew from the very first scene that the woman in question was guilty because we saw the murder committed. But Richard Gere plays Billy Flynn, a slick, slick, slick sleazeball of a lawyer, who specializes in getting guilty women acquitted of murder.

How does he do it?

He uses emotions and outright lies to manipulate public opinion, the press and the jury. He knows what draws sympathy and uses it. He gets the media behind the woman and the rest is easy.

I watch a speech or interview with Obama and I think of Billy Flynn who carefully misdirects people away from troubling facts and plays entirely on the emotions. While McCain is far from a stellar candidate, I think he's being a lot more direct and honest about his beliefs and intents.

Here's Billy Flynn's strategy for winning a trial when he knows his client his guilty. It also matches too many candidates' campaign strategy.



"How can they hear the truth above the roar?"