I commented a few days back on the brilliant, evocative new trailer for Oliver Stone’s W., and it’s now up and running in chopped-and-diced form in 30-second television spots, including on MSNBC and CNN. There’s a new line not glimpsed in the theatrical/online long-form cut (“I don’t understand why you’re bringing this up at lunch,” says President Bush says to Vice President Cheney when the latter starts talking about the potential for an anthrax attack), but perhaps most fascinating is the inclusion of voiceover and text narration that sells the film as “based on the unbelievable true story of George W. Bush, and the trillion dollar mistake.”

Wait… which trillion dollars, again? I know it’s not the Iraq War (which currently sits at around $585 billion, but runs as high as $3 trillion when factoring in long-term costs). And it’s not the total federal deficit, which has ballooned to $10 trillion-plus under Bush. Oh, right… it’s that other $1 trillion or so ripped from taxpayers’ futures, in the form of the Congressional economic bail-out package. Put a saddle on this guy. I can’t recall any other agitated-entertainment promotional campaign — and this includes Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 — so openly, contemptuously bagging on a public figure, and incorporating up-to-minute material. Of course, I can’t really recall anyone else who has so brought it upon themselves and deserved it, either. Regardless, it’s the right campaign to run for W., really, stripping the bark off its own subject of focus. This push has me rethinking my previous assessment that Stone’s movie is financially doomed; talking to a few friends and colleagues recently opened my mind to at least the possibility that the filmgoing public could be receptive to a cathartic dismissive experience, something I hadn’t previously considered.