The Corleone Solution

A lesson in public relations

The Corleone family gathered in the den, plotting revenge for Solozzo’s attack on the Godfather. What is the next move? Sonny Corleone seethed for revenge, while adopted son Tom Hagan, the Don’s consigliore, warned to be careful, that it’s just business.

But son Michael recognized they must eliminate the opposition and the dirty cop who helped him.

“They wanna have a meeting with me, right? It will be me -- McCluskey -- and Sollozzo. Let's set the meeting…a public place -- so I feel safe…if Clemenza can figure a way -- to have a weapon planted there for me -- then I'll kill 'em both.”

The group of hardened Mafiosi laugh. Michael? The civilian war hero? Getting involved with underworld business? Taking out a ranking policeman? Sonny and Tom suspect their rational brother is seeking irrational revenge.

"Tom, wait a minute. I'm talking about a cop -- that's mixed up in drugs. I'm talking about a dishonest cop -- a crooked cop who got mixed up in the rackets and got what was coming to him. That's a terrific story. And we have newspaper people on the payroll, don't we, Tom?"

“And they might like a story like that.”

Tom shrewdly notes, “They just might.”

“It's not personal, Sonny. It's strictly business”

Brilliant. First, you plant the buzz. Then, you start the spin. Then comes the hammer. Splat. Mission accomplished. PR wins the day.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone that cold, calculating and heartless somewhere in the Bush braintrust?

It occurred to me how the Great Plame incident was bungled by the Bush administration public relations arm. First and foremost, it is obvious that the Bush administration was set up by Joe Wilson, Valery Plame, and others at the CIA. The question is how do you reveal the nefarious doings of people who hide under cover of secrecy?

Like this…

First, the Bush Administration has never appointed a Carville-Begalla-Davis Republican gadfly to pump the nasty info a President can never say himself. Somebody has to be the Luco Brazi, a “Repubrazi,” if you will, sent to do the dirty work. The moment Joe Wilson loudly proclaimed that Vice President Dick Cheney sent him to Niger on a mission to find the “truth” about Hussein’s Uranium efforts, Repubrazi would immediately complain loudly that Wilson is a left-wing shill, trustworthy as Ted Kennedy, and point out Wilson was lying. He should predict Wilson’s report would be bogus, with little facts and would claim there was no Uranium connection. And every appearance, he would remind us that tepidly friendly French, British and United Nations intelligence warned otherwise.

Keep in mind, Wilson’s report was indeed rejected as laughably inept and blatant left-wing whitewash by every government agency who saw it. Repubrazi would loudly proclaim “See? I told you so. And I’m disgusted that Democrats would dare undermine the President in a time of war. And by the way, there is something far more sinister behind Joe Wilson which I cannot discuss due to security reasons.”

Whoa! Can you imaging the ears perking up over that? You bet. Plame’s identity has been an open secret in the Washington social scene for years. Every reporter would know exactly what Repubrazi meant: Valerie Plame was behind this.

Meanwhile, Bush should recruit a Republican Deep Throat. Actually, you’d need two. Twin Throats, who would remain secret confidential sources. That way, when in front of a Grand Jury, reporters could legitimately claim two secret sources. And instead of asking appointed servants to risk their careers and jail time, Twin Throats would find the right reporters and feed secret information to the press. The right people. Novak. Hannity. Limbaugh. Boortz.

And the story?

A beautiful CIA agent, a known socialite and left-wing activist, pulled a few strings at her agency to send her loudmouthed Bush-hating husband, a former American Ambassador, to fake a story in order to damage our war on terrorism. This is unprecedented. A CIA agent and an Ambassador, charged with protecting their nation, are trying to undermine a war effort against America’s most vicious enemy in the past 100 years!

That is the spin America needed to hear.

Once the spin and buzz got whipped into a creshendo, George Bush could have held a press conference that sounded like this:

“Good evening. We are in the middle of a war against a brutal enemy who, in the most vicious attack ever on American soil, killed 3,000 Americans. Yet we now know an American spy is trying to actively undermine the heroic efforts of our men and women in arms who sacrifice their very lives for our freedom. I further regret that we have discovered that this spy is actually the wife of a former American Ambassador.

"Now, Americans love political disagreements. That is what America is all about. It is quite different to actively undermine your nation in wartime.

"Just like Alger Hiss, Aldrich Ames, and other Americans who have turned their backs on fellow Americans for money, ideology other nefarious motives, this spy and her husband have been caught trying to help American terrorists by passing false information to American intelligence committees.

"Yet, even as President, I am not allowed to reveal the name of any spy. Today, I am asking the CIA and FBI to investigate this incident and bring these two to justice. I know these agencies will cooperate fully.

"I am angered, disappointed and heartbroken. I cannot fathom the motives. But I know treason when I see it. Now, we must do what is necessary and bring these two to justice.

"Yet still, I have all the confidence that the vast majority of Americans are motivated for love of their nation and each other. Even in times like this, I invite all Americans to share in that confidence, and the love of our nation. God Bless America.”

Inside of five minutes Reporters would be camped on Wilson’s lawn, making his wife’s “secret” pretty hard to keep. And who is going to blame the Bush Administration of “exposing” the spy/wife/traitor, when it was Wilson’s own behavior that brought the attention? And after all, she’s committing treason, isn’t she?

Spin. PR.

From that moment forward, the Bush Administration would have to do nothing. The FBI and CIA would be conducting a dance to determine exactly how Plame would be investigated, charged and brought to justice. And Wilson would be properly disgraced.

Instead, Bush is struggling for footing, Wilson is getting more camera time than Chuck Schumer, and Americans have one more nagging doubt about this war, a lie planted courtesy of the American left.

But it’s been that way for this administration almost since the beginning. The nation is dying for Social Security reform, tort reform, tax reform, and a million other reforms. But they can’t get the PR machine hopping, they will get nothing accomplished.

Eventually, Michael Corleone takes over the family enterprises. He recognizes Tom Hagen is not a wartime Congigliori, and pulls him off the job when the Mafia battles start.

Don’t worry. I’m not advocating that we send someone to a spaghetti restaurant and bump off Republican enemies. Political wars are usually most effective when surviving losers are held up to ridicule. (Think Jimmy Carter, Ted Kennedy, Bill Clinton and even Richard Nixon.) But these fools must be exposed and defeated, loudly and preemptively. And that means getting hands dirty.

Unfortunately, it’s not in the Republican nature to engage in such activity. But politics is war. And rules of war are not accommodating. If Republicans understood that, we might actually know how to govern.

Meanwhile, the Democrat Corleones still rule the political underworld. Almost makes you pine for Nixon.

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Written by Tom Adkins
CommonConservative.com
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