Cite as: 540 U. S. 1 (2003)
Per Curiam
Finally, the Ninth Circuit criticized counsel's approach on the ground that, by confessing that he too could not be sure of the truth, counsel "implied that even he did not believe Gentry's testimony." 320 F. 3d, at 900. But there is nothing wrong with a rhetorical device that personalizes the doubts anyone but an eyewitness must necessarily have. Winning over an audience by empathy is a technique that dates back to Aristotle. See P. Lagarias, Effective Closing Argument §§ 2.05-2.06, pp. 99-101 (1989) (citing Aristotle's Rhetoric for the point that "[a] speech should indicate to the audience that the speaker shares the attitudes of the listener, so that, in turn, the listener will respond positively to the views of the speaker"); id., § 3.03, at 112 (deriving from this principle the advice that "counsel may couch his arguments in terms of 'we,' rather than 'you, the jury' ").
To be sure, Gentry's lawyer was no Aristotle or even Clarence Darrow. But the Ninth Circuit's conclusion—not only that his performance was deficient, but that any disagreement with that conclusion would be objectively unreasonable—gives too little deference to the state courts that have primary responsibility for supervising defense counsel in state criminal trials.
* * *
The judgment of the Ninth Circuit is reversed.
It is so ordered.
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