Sunday, October 31, 2004
from the desk of...
NASA photo analyst: Bush wore a device during debate
Physicist says imaging techniques prove the president's bulge was not caused by wrinkled clothing.
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By Kevin Berger
Oct. 29, 2004 | George W. Bush tried to laugh off the bulge. "I don't know what that is," he said on "Good Morning America" on Wednesday, referring to the infamous protrusion beneath his jacket during the presidential debates. "I'm embarrassed to say it's a poorly tailored shirt."
Dr. Robert M. Nelson, however, was not laughing. He knew the president was not telling the truth. And Nelson is neither conspiracy theorist nor midnight blogger. He's a senior research scientist for NASA and for Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and an international authority on image analysis. Currently he's engrossed in analyzing digital photos of Saturn's moon Titan, determining its shape, whether it contains craters or canyons.
from the desk of...
October 28th, 2004 5:41 pm
Bush Campaign to Recut Doctored Ad
By Liz Sidoti / Associated Press
INDIANOLA, Iowa - President Bush's campaign acknowledged Thursday that it had doctored a photograph used in a television commercial and said the ad will be re-edited and reshipped to TV stations.
The photo of Bush addressing a group of soldiers was edited to remove both the president and the podium where he was standing. A group of soldiers in the crowd was electronically copied to fill in the space, aides say.
"There was no need to do that," said Mark McKinnon, head of Bush's advertising team who shouldered the blame. "Everyone technically works for me so I accept the responsibility."
The original photograph shows a sea of soldiers sitting behind the president as he stands at a podium just left of the center of the frame.
Democrats said it is fitting that Bush would fabricate an advertising image.
"This administration has always had a problem telling the truth from Iraq to jobs to health care," said Kerry spokesman Joe Lockhart. "The Bush campaign's advertising has been consistently dishonest in what they say. But today, it's been exposed for being dishonest about what we see. If they won't tell the truth in an ad, they won't tell the truth about anything else."
McKinnon said a video editor he declined to identify was told to edit the picture to focus on a young boy waving a flag. On his own initiative, the editor removed the podium and copied the faces, McKinnon said.
"I didn't even know it was done," he said. The doctoring was first revealed on an Internet site. "There was no intention on anybody's part to try to represent anything that wasn't true," McKinnon said
The Bush campaign noted that Bush was addressing a large group of troops in both the original and edited version.
"Bush is talking to the troops, the troops are real," said Bush spokesman Steve Schmidt said. He noted that the crowd the president was speaking to was much larger than depicted in the ad.
The ad, released Wednesday, is an emotional appeal in which Bush defends his decision to go to war and empathizes with fallen soldiers and their families.
The ad is running on national cable networks and in local media markets in at least one state, Ohio.
The issue was first mentioned on the liberal Web log www.dailykos.com.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
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MIAMI, FL - With the knowledge that the minority vote will be crucial in the upcoming presidential election, Republican Party officials are urging blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities to make their presence felt at the polls on Wednesday, Nov. 3.
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| Above: Monreal urges black community members to hit the polls next Wednesday. |
"Minority voters should make their unique voices heard, especially the African-American voting bloc, which is always a major factor in every election," said Florida Republican Party voter-drive organizer Mark Monreal, as he handed out flyers at a community center in the mostly black Miami neighborhood of South Farms. "That's why we put up hundreds of brightly colored banners featuring Martin Luther King Jr. and the 'Vote November 3' reminder. We needed to make sure they know when we want them at polling places."
"You can't walk through a black neighborhood here in Miami without seeing our 'Don't Forget Big Wednesday!' message up on a billboard, tacked to a phone booth, or taped to a bus shelter," Monreal added. "The Republican Party has spared no expense in this endeavor."
GOP committees in Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Florida have spent more than $3 million on pamphlets, posters, stickers, and T-shirts bearing such slogans as "Put America First - Vote On The Third!" and "November 3rd Is Your Time To Be Heard."
Monreal's group is joined by hundreds of local organizations, such as the Black Republicans For Maryland. While the Black Republicans do not actually include any black members, the group describes itself as "dedicated to communicating a strong message to members of the African-American community."
"We're aiming not just to get black people to vote, but to mobilize them to come together for one specific day of minority empowerment," Baltimore County Black Republicans For Maryland president Mitchell Williams said. "As Republicans, we truly believe that, by coordinating the minority vote across the nation, we can put minorities in their proper place. We believe we know what's best for the whole country."
Republicans are eager to point out the differences between their drive and those of other get-out-the-vote organizations.
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| Above: A billboard erected by the Baltimore County Black Republicans for Maryland. |
"Strange as it is to say it, we're non-partisan," Monreal said. "We don't care if the minority voter is part of the vast majority of non-whites that traditionally votes Democrat. What's important to us is that we get them to the polls bright and early on the third day of November, so that they feel like they've participated in this year's election."
Monreal said Republican volunteers will be available to drive minorities to polling places on Nov. 3.
"We'll even stay at home with them the day before, to help them prepare for the act of voting," Monreal said. "We'll engage in concentrated one-on-one tutoring the entire day, to make sure these voters focus on the important act of voting, rather than going outside, reading newspapers, or watching television."
Republican Party leaders expressed pride in what they characterized as a true alternative to other programs that encourage voting, such as Rock The Vote.
"Let's be honest," Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie said. "The Bush camp has been criticized for ignoring the minority vote for some time, especially during the last election. This project is our way of correcting that misperception. The Bush camp is extremely concerned about the black vote, especially in places like Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. This year, on Nov. 3, we'll make a concerted effort to welcome minority voters into our own special camps with open arms."
Media giant Pappas Telecasting, with TV and radio stations across the nation, will give $325,000 worth of air time on their stations for GOP candidates in many of California's hottest legislative elections. This is first time we know of that a media giant has given away airtime for partisan ads. Pappas is abusing its access to the public airwaves - your airwaves - to sway close elections. This is not about liberal vs. conservative. It's about Big Media once again abusing the public trust to advance their own political objectives. Type in your zip code to take action. |
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By J.D. Wallace, KOLD News 13 Reporter
posted 10/26/04
Ann Coulter, a conservative speaker usually on the offensive, quickly found herself on the defensive against two men each armed with a tofu-lemon pie in Centennial Hall Thursday night.
"You know, it was meant to be funny. It was a joke. The whole thing was in the spirit of comedy,â said Zach Wolff, one of the accused attackers.
"I mean I think we proved once and for all that liberals really don't have words an argument or debate, that they have to come up and throw pies at Ann Coulter. She handled it very well,â said Pete Seat, the state chair for the Arizona College Republicans.
The 24 year old men, William Zachary Wolff and Phillip Edgar Smith, who call themselves Al Pieda, were both arrested on numerous charges that included felony criminal damage. Even before they ran on stage, the pair knew they would be arrested.
"We'd kind of been looking around and thinking of different options. Can we get her outside, on the way to her car? Or, you know, inside, and it looked like inside was the best option and we kind of said, 'well, we're gonna get caught, but, let's go. It's now or never. Let's go. There's the stairway to the stage. Let's go,â Wolff recalled.
And now, there's no going back. But Wolff says he achieved his goal: humor, at the same time criticizing Coulter's conservative views.
"When throwing a pie can be called assault and bombing civilians called collateral damage, you gotta laugh to stay sane, and that's what I wanted to point out,â Wolff said.
Wolff, a registered Green, and Smith, a registered Democrat, say this was not aimed to support any presidential candidate. Coulter may return to help press charges.
36 Papers Abondon Bush for Kerry
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 27, 2004; Page A13
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