# My Cousin Vinny example cited by Giuliani... did he get it wrong? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 9, 2020, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-vinny-example-cited-by-giuliani-did-he-get-it-wrong/927656 "2020-12-09T17:38:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-vinny-example-cited-by-giuliani-did-he-get-it-wrong/927656/1 "2020-12-09T17:38:49Z")
I’m probably late on asking this and may have chosen the wrong forum, but… Rudy Giuliani loosely quoted a scene from “My cousin Vinny” at one of his recent press conferences. It was the scene where a lawyer holds up a certain number of fingers from across the courtroom which a witness can’t see and count properly. Rudy’s claim was that similarly poll watchers were too far away to see what was happening with vote counting during the 2020 election = fraud (I guess). BUT… The actual point made during those movie scenes was that the old lady had bad eyesight and needed stronger lenses in her glasses, which she herself admitted, and hence made a mistake in what she thought she saw at the crime scene. A person with normal eyesight (like the judge) COULD in fact see how many fingers were being held up at that distance, which became the funniest part of the scene when he said out loud for the record the number of fingers being held up messing up the lawyer’s first attempt at his argument. [Here’s the scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsG1_wahKVc) So, not that it would surprise me, but did Rudy actually discredit his own theory of election fraud by using a movie example of how someone who can’t see properly (for whatever reason) can make a mistaken claim that something wrong occurred, and probably shouldn’t be trusted? ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-vinny-example-cited-by-giuliani-did-he-get-it-wrong/927656/2 "2020-12-09T17:41:13Z")
You’re putting more thought into this than Rudy did. ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-vinny-example-cited-by-giuliani-did-he-get-it-wrong/927656/3 "2020-12-09T17:43:38Z")
LOL, I’m some random dude on the internet posting to one message board. Rudy is a high-profile lawyer / celebrity (of sorts) representing the POTUS on national TV. I’d hope he’d have put a bit more thought into it. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-vinny-example-cited-by-giuliani-did-he-get-it-wrong/927656/4 "2020-12-09T18:07:23Z")
There’s nothing wrong with hope. I’d put it right up with faith and charity. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-vinny-example-cited-by-giuliani-did-he-get-it-wrong/927656/5 "2020-12-09T18:14:05Z")
> [@mmmiiikkkeee](#): > > LOL, I’m some random dude on the internet posting to one message board. Rudy is a high-profile lawyer / celebrity (of sorts) representing the POTUS on national TV. **I’d hope he’d have put a bit more thought into it.** - Not a chance. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-vinny-example-cited-by-giuliani-did-he-get-it-wrong/927656/6 "2020-12-09T18:56:34Z")
_My_ thought was, “Oh, sweet, summer child. Where have you been for the past four years?” ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-vinny-example-cited-by-giuliani-did-he-get-it-wrong/927656/7 "2020-12-10T04:40:24Z")
> [@mmmiiikkkeee](#): > > So, not that it would surprise me, but did Rudy actually discredit his own theory of election fraud by using a movie example of how someone who can’t see properly (for whatever reason) can make a mistaken claim that something wrong occurred, and probably shouldn’t be trusted? FWIW, that’s pretty much what I thought when I first heard about it. But forget about My Cousin Vinny, Giuliani did a much better Zorg impression at that press conference. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/dioZmKCFNOU/hqdefault.jpg "Mr. Shadow wants the Stones") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dioZmKCFNOU&t=64) ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-vinny-example-cited-by-giuliani-did-he-get-it-wrong/927656/8 "2020-12-10T04:53:48Z")
So apparently if you try to link to a YouTube video at a specific time in the video, the board software disregards the “start video at specific time” part of the link and just links to the full video from the start? Or am I doing it wrong? Anyway, skip the video ahead to 1 minute and you’ll say to yourself, “I didn’t know Rudy Giuliani was in The Fifth Element.” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-vinny-example-cited-by-giuliani-did-he-get-it-wrong/927656/9 "2020-12-10T04:57:16Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > So apparently if you try to link to a YouTube video at a specific time in the video, the board software disregards the “start video at specific time” part of the link and just links to the full video from the start? Or am I doing it wrong? It worked for me. The video started at 0:57. The second time I clicked on it it restarted from the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-vinny-example-cited-by-giuliani-did-he-get-it-wrong/927656/10 "2020-12-10T06:16:40Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > It worked for me. The video started at 0:57. I just loaded the page again and it started at 1:04. Weird. And the link at the top left of the video window is to the full video. Well, close enough. ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2020, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-vinny-example-cited-by-giuliani-did-he-get-it-wrong/927656/11 "2020-12-11T21:40:25Z")
Rudy reminded me of [Ernest](https://youtu.be/B8pWEUZKIds?t=45) goes to jail (should start at 0:45).