BAGnewsNotes

McCool

As Tommy Lee Jones McCain jets around the country, keep your eye on his brilliant use of a strategic fashion accessory.  Not only do the cool shades blunt the  age issue, they help reinforce (and symbolize) the superficial coverage of McCain by the media.  This shot, taken this week in Meridian, Mississippi (as part of John's "My Delinquent Biography Tour"), comes via the mccainblogette.

For a more MSM example, however, check out this shot of Cindy at the Naval Academy on the NYT "Wednesday on the Trail" slide show.

Starring John McCain (LAT)

(image: By Heather Brand -- Mccainblogette.com)

The Frat Boy He's Been All Along

It's a cheap shot in a way, because the larger percentage of NATO newswire pics actually show Junior hanging all over his counterparts, and generally chumming it up.

So, why does this picresonate so much?  (Here's a variant of the above, by the way, at dependable renegage.)

It's because Bush, as telegraphed by the years worth of lip-biting, never was never up to a field like this.  What is more illuminating to me about the NATO Summit pics, however, are the many more shots of Dubya letting down his guard -- yes, Rove's ill-fitting dream for you, Pork Rind, is almost over! -- exposing the frat-boy he's been all along.

And then, on the subject
of isolation, there's this
from the archive.

(h/t Sue, Shepard)  (image 1: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters. NATO Summit. Bucharest. April 4, 2008. image 2: Bogdan Cristel/Reuters.  April 3, 2008. image 3: Francois Lenoir/Reuters. April 3, 2008.  via YahooNews)
seated

Union Embrace

On the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, I thought it fitting to embrace this image from the NYT slide show "Wednesday on the Trail."

NYT photographer Damon Winter captured these two union officials right after Obama finished speaking at an A.F.L.-C.I.O. meeting in Philadelphia.  The pink-skinned man with the white hair and creme coat offers a profound contrast with the brown man in the black coat, the two linked in arms, with the symmetry of their glasses forming a more subtle, but definitive bridge.  The letters, PR, by the way, do not allude to PR, like the kind which distracts us from more genuine feeling and thought.  In this case, they form the first two letters of the word "Proud."

Also, I can't be sure, but if that is Obama framed between the two men, he literally fits as the connecting element.

And, from The BAG archive:
Heartbreak Hotel: a previous
take on the Lorraine

(Photo: Damon Winter/The New York Times.  April 2, 2007. nytimes.com)

Prompting A Look At The Early McNasty

(click for full size)

I'm glad WAPO ran this shot yesterday, for a number of reasons.

On the most basic level, it exposes the trappings of a typical campaign event, in this case, McCain's return to his high school alma mater. I can't recall, over the past four years, when I saw such a revealing shot of a teleprompter.

Where this shot goes a little deeper, however, is in its non-idealized allusion to the man remembered at Episcopal High School as "The Punk."  Highlighting the teleprompter draws attention to how impersonal and highly-scripted McCain's self-described biographical tour has turned out to be.  In someone with a healthier attitude and behavioral history, one would expect a more informal, personal and emotional connection to one's past.  Instead, we witness events such as this one in Virginia, and one previously, at Annapolis, in which the talks are canned, the events are rote, and the candidate, beyond uncomplicated hat tips to his admiral father and grandfather  -- goes mostly for cheap laughs at his own expense.

To get a sense of the rote-quality, and how dependent McCain was on the script at his old stomping ground, check out the ABC News video, most likely taken from one of those cameras we see in the back.  The particular snippet captured on the teleprompter is interesting too.  Maybe the selection was completely random. Or maybe, reflecting the way in which the press tends to run interference for him, this particular fragment is designed to make Mac seem more like he was the happy, well-adjusted child.  It reads:

"I'm happy to be back at Episcopal, my alma mater, which I have many happy memories of, and a"

As a fragment, though, it also hints at the "real dope" which followed.  In this case, the rest of the sentence went:

"...few that I'm sure former teachers, school administrators and I would rather forget."

McCain the 'Punk' Goes Back to School (ABC News with video)
McCain on trip down memory lane (BBC)
Learning About John McCain (CBS video)
Day In Photos - April 2, 2008 (WAPO)

(image: Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post,  April 1, 2008. Episcopal High School.  Alexandria, Va. via WAPO)

Your Turn: Democratic Convention As Knife Fight

The first thing you need to know is that the pair of photos, above, lead off the latest Newsweek column by Karl Rove.  Second, what Karl has already concluded (the man always dirtying, and framing) is that the Dems are destined for a contested convention.  Third, the heavy-handed title of the piece, sitting just under the image, is: How To Win In A Knife Fight.  (Caption below.)

So, is Karl, in all his nastiness, offering us a forced choice between blood in the streets and a shot-gun wedding?

To me, at least, Tipper bears some likeness to Hillary here.  And, the sight of Mayor Daley offers an ominous comparison to '68.  But then, maybe the poke at the Obamaniacs and Clintonistas is the prompt that the man who invented the internet does ride in this year on the white horse.

Rove: How to Win in a Knife Fight (Newsweek)

(images: AP; Lucy Nicholson / AFP-Getty Images. caption: Love or Hate?: In 1968 Chicago (left), the Democrats paid a price for dissension; the Al and Tipper Gore kiss in 2000. newsweek.com)

Coming To A Cubicle Near You

What poverty exists when it comes to political images dealing with the economy and the corporate space!

Friday's rare example occurred at the New Jersey firm, Novadebt, a debt counseling service which provides bankruptcy, default/foreclosure and "home equity conversion" mortgage counseling.

All I can say is, it's a sad day when GWB deems to show his face under the fluorescent light to empathize with people who were played by largely unregulated lenders into assuming onerous debt.  Not only did the Bush management culture (if that's not a thorough contradiction in terms) ignore all signs of disaster, but now Bush comes to pitch for the paltry sum the government has put up for relief.

But besides that, this is probably the closest President Silver Spoon (looking like a pitchman for the Home Shopping Network) has gotten to a cubicle in his life.

And then, this image is particularly troubling, showing poor Dubya having to work for his handshake, as if the American worker, reaching out from behind glass, seeks nothing more than to feel his grip.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/business/02hope.html?ex=1364788800&en=1ac4bfadb0d25127&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

Distressed Owners Are Frustrated by Aid Group (NYT)
Bush remarks (check what he does with the phone number - whitehouse.gov)
White House photos 1 and 2
Novadebt website

(Image 1: Gerald Herbert/AP. March 28, 2008, Freehold, N.J. image 2: Jason Reed/Reuters.  Same. via YahooNews)

Iraq Civil War - #5: And, Not To Mention The Green Zone

3/23/08

3/27/08

Even for the shortest of trips within the secured zone, such as those to meet with Iraqi members of parliament, the American security agents order armored personnel carriers. Each trip becomes a small convoy, with one vehicle driving ahead and another following behind as "back-up." The entire convoy stops whenever there is an alarm. Passengers who try to get out are immediately pulled back into the vehicle.

Errant projectiles that land outside the restricted area, in the Red Zone, offer the only evidence of where the missiles strike and how much damage they cause. By late Friday evening, the Shiite attacks had already claimed the lives of close to 60 Iraqis. But when it comes to losses in the Green Zone, detailed information is rarely provided. So far the deaths of only two US citizens have been confirmed. Nevertheless, the heavy clouds of smoke above Baghdad's high-security tract suggest that there must have been more direct hits. It's as if the insurgents wanted to transform the district into a black zone.

-- Dieter Bednarz, Spiegel

I try to document what I see. But there is less to see. First the hospitals and morgues became off limits for journalists, then the car bomb scenes, next the wounded Americans, then the Iraqi detainees, then memorials for the U.S. dead, U.S. equipment damaged in battle. The visual evidence of war shrinks.

-- Photographer Michael Kamber, in Iraq for The New York Times

I find it telling that the bombardment of the Green Zone has not only drawn little media attention during the recent siege, but has mostly been depicted from long distance, typically very long distance.  You can make an argument that the scene, given the large plumes of smoke, could be best represented from miles away.  I'm sure the military would insist that a closer view threatened security.

On the other hand, could you imagine the freakout here at home if Western photojournalists were actually allowed to shoot inside and had even indirectly documented the deaths of the American civilians that took place there in the past few days?

Baghdad's Green Zone Under Attack (Spiegel)
Inside the Green Zone  (historical piece from TIME)
Missing ‘the Big Story,’ but Not the Story (Michael Kamber/NYT - Baghdad Bureau blog)

The BAG's Iraq Civil War posts in one place

(image 1:  Randy Fabi/Reuters. U.S. embassy compound/Green Zone. Baghdad. March 27, 2008. image 2 Mahmoud Raouf Mahmoud/Reuters. Same. March 23, 2008. via Yahoo News)

BAGnewsSALON 3.30.08

Thanks to all who came by Sunday for the BAGnewsSALON.
If you missed it, no worries, there will be many more.

Also, thanks to all who sent feedback.
If you have further thoughts, we'd love to hear them.
As we go forward, we will continue to work on the format,
as well as the most satisfying mix of
invited guests and community involvement.

Iraq Civil War - #4 (Day 4): The Mighty U.S. Trained And Supported Iraqi Army

If the U.S. general public was tuning in at all to the current goings-on in Iraq, this image alone could blow a major hole in the Administration's rationale for being there.

After $22 billion spent training the Iraqi army, how does Team Petraeus justify the sight of Iraqi Security forces -- within days of launching an all-out attack on the Mahdi -- turning over their weapons to officials of Muqtada al-Sadr in exchange for Korans and olive branches?

And by the way, even if few Americans ever see the picture of these forty soldiers giving it up, you can bet (if you notice the guy getting it all down on video) that the Iraqi public is getting an eye full.

After years of effort, Iraqi army still can't 'stand up' (Star-Telegram/AP)
Cleric Suspends Battle in Basra by Shiite Militia (NYT)
The BAG's Iraq Civil War posts in one place

(image: Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images. Sadr City.  March 30, 2008.  nytimes.com)