Moonbattery and Kerry’s Iraq Pictures

Powerline has attempted to dispute the arguments that the pictures of Kerry sitting with only one other person in Iraq are faked by having a picture taken with someone holding today’s newspaper in the same spot. The pictures even have an incorrect date to show that the camera’s date was not set correctly when the original picture was taken.

The pictures don’t totally disprove the possibility that the original picture was faked as in theory all the pictures could have been taken somewhere other than Iraq and the date could have been set back just for these new pictures. Of course that would assume that the room still looks exactly the same. Regardless, I’m inclined to believe that the original picture was real.

Of course the picture is meaningless as a single picture of Kerry sitting with one person is hardly representative of what occufred on his visit to Iraq, especially in light of the other pictures (some posted here) showing Kerry with the troops. While Powerline refers to those who are attempting to show the pictures to be fakes as moonbats, the true moonbats are the right wing bloggers who claim that the original picture meant anything, and those who continue to claim that Kerry was insulting the troops when he botched a joke using his standard stump line about Bush getting us stuck in Iraq.

Hopefully most people see this as a meaningless episode. For those who are primarily interested in the humor of the situation, check out my previous post to see how George Bush would have handled this, looking back at a 2004 campaign rally when they didn’t have as many soldiers in the crowd as they wished for.

Update:  Pamela just forwarded a statement from Frank Lowenstein, Kerry’s foreign policy staffer who was with him in Iraq which puts this in perspective and is consistent with my interpretation that the picture does not back up the claims made by the right wing bloggers with regards to Kerry’s reception by the troops in Iraq:

It’s a weird feeling seeing this photo of Sen. Kerry debated and decoded like some artifact out of the DaVinci Codes. It’s strange to me because I was there when the photo was taken. I traveled with Sen. Kerry throughout his Middle East trip. I’m his foreign policy staffer. Myself and Major McKnight were sitting right there when this photo was snapped.

Snubbed? Alone? Hardly. Sen. Kerry isn’t eating alone. In fact that photo is at an off the record breakfast meeting Senator Kerry conducted early Sunday morning with the very real Marc Santora of the New York Times Baghdad bureau and his younger colleague from the newspaper. The man shown in the green shirt across from Sen. Kerry is Marc Santora. Right after that interview was completed, Senator Kerry videotaped a message expressing his and the country’s support for the troops, to be shown on the armed services network in Iraq. Just the night before, Sen. Kerry was in that very same mess hall at a table where he ate dinner with about 10 U.S. soldiers.

Additionally, Senator Kerry spent nearly a day and half (out of two days in Iraq) outside of the Green Zone because he felt strongly that he wanted to hear from troops on the front lines. On Saturday morning, he greeted U.S. soldiers in Basra, and also met many British troops while he was there. On Saturday afternoon, he flew to FOB (Forward Operating Base) Warhorse, where he had a town hall meeting with over 100 soldiers. On Sunday morning, he was briefed by U.S. commanders at a training camp for Iraqi security forces. On Sunday evening, he traveled to another FOB where he had a long dinner in the camp mess hall with soldiers, including many from Massachusetts. These troops are nothing short of amazing, and my boss knows that with every fiber of his being. He’s a combat veteran. He’s been there.

Sen. Kerry knows that if you’re in public life, you’re going to have things you say and do taken out of context, sometimes photos even. It goes with the job. I just wanted to set the record straight about this photo not just because I was there and I know the truth, but because Sen. Kerry enjoyed his time and his conversations with the troops, and I hate to see anyone try to make some political hay out of all this or pretend this photo is something its not.

1 Comment

  1. 1
    Pamela says:

    Thanks Ron! We’ll see if any of the right wing blogs acknowledge this – I emailed them all.

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