BAGnewsNotes

John and Elizabeth Edwards: Psycho Mutants, or Just Political Run-of-the-Mill?

If people inside the Beltway knew the Edwards's were phonies, and if the media and Washington's political elite were running interference for Edwards upon, and well after the disclosure of his self-annihilating affair, the bottom line is not that John and Elizabeth are monsters. It's that there is really no one to trust out there to slice through the "three bags full," ten-layers of spin between the public and the steady stream of shallow, craven personalities infesting the political scene.

As I tweeted yesterday, I've got a problem with the comic book-style illustrations in New York Magazine's adaptation from "Game Change," John Heilemann and Mark Halperin's new book. If you haven't read it by now, it will singe your fingers and steam clean your eyeballs in its likely justified, if thoroughly soap opera-style demolition of (Ego Monster) John and (Saint) Elizabeth Edwards.

Now that the couple has been exposed, however, instead of dismissing them as one-offs and demented, one-dimensional cartoon aberrations, why doesn't NY Mag show them to us in full 3-D so we can actually look back and see how these neurotic power-trippers actually had us fooled in the first place?

Best of the Bag Decade: Contributors & Friends, Pt. I

(The Best of the Bag Decade is our end of the year, end of the decade look at some of the best BAGnews posts and analysis.)

The incredible contributors and friends of BAGnews make BAG unique.  BAG not only publishes original photojournalism, many times the photographers give readers vital information about context, subject matter, and events behind the image.

Part I of Best of the BAG Decade: Contributors & Friends re-posts the work of four great photographers: Alan Chin, Nina Berman, and Tim Fadek. Part II will feature the work of Lori Grinker, Mario Tama, Peter van Agtmael, Matt Lutton, and Jason Andrew.

Alan Chin

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BAG's talented everywhere man, Alan Chin, covered the 2008 presidential candidates for BAGnews, capturing Clinton, Edwards, Obama, Giuliani, McCain, and Palin. He was credentialed for BAGnews at the DNC Convention in Denver and shot GOP rallies (see Our Man in Pennsylvania), including the above shot of a desperate looking Palin  at a Shippensburg, PA appearance just a few days before the election.

Alan reported that Palin held her prayerful position at the podium for a full ten minutes.

Alan's coverage of the DNC Convention delivered incredible photos, including this one of Michelle, Malia, and Sasha Obama gathered onstage after Michelle Obama's speech, gesturing to a large video screen full of their husband and father:


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Alan caught Rudy Giuliani at a New Hampshire Segway plant (and noted the employees' lukewarm reception, something the rest of the media missed) and a haggard John Edwards on the day he dropped out of the race (with each line in his face taking on new meaning when considering his current context):

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Why Alan's Frustrated engendered an in-depth community discussion of the disconnect between campaign-managed photo ops and the effect of the resulting photograph on the public perception of a campaign:

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"[E]ven if we know these scenes are thoroughly staged, their supposed genuineness still coerces the mind into considering they still could be what they propose themselves to be.  (Of course, this is much less true with hardened media and political skeptics, like us, but the cognitive-perceptual impact on what is generally a skeptical public, I'm assuming, remains substantive.  ...Otherwise, I imagine we'd see somewhat less control.)"

BAG's point prompted one reader to remark:

The threat of being genuine -- which is a boon to a reporters -- is that the positives don't come close to the negatives. In 2004 Bush spoke only to pre-chosen crowds of supporters. No chance for anything unscripted. Repetitious soundbites and carefully tested backdrops were used and reused daily. And what did America do? Re-elected him over the guy prone for talking too much, and too often off-script.

This exchange, and many others in the post and subsequent posts, illustrates the value of community access to the photographer's context. It's what makes BAG unique.

The Best of the BAG Decade: Heavies and Heroes, Pt. I

(The Best of the Bag Decade is our end of the year, end of the decade look at some of the best BAGnews posts and analysis.)

Politicians and newsworthy figures often find themselves analogized with favorable and unflattering figures. Sometimes they do it to themselves.  The BAG archive shows many examples of creative photoshopping, opportune posing, intentional and accidental associations.  As BAG readers have noted, sometimes the end result of photoshopping says more about the maker than the intended victim.  And the opportune pose can invite unfavorable comparison.  Below are some of the BAG posts of Heavies and Heroes seen as someone or thing other than how the subject wished to be portrayed.

Jokerization

First up, we note the BAG posts capturing the Jokerization of political and newsworthy figures, each portraying the essence of deception and betrayal.

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New York Magazine published the Madoff Joker with the stated aim of showing "Madoff as Monster." But the BAG and BAG readers noted that making Madoff so exceptional only fueled the denial that he was part of a rotting financial and regulatory system.  Marco Acevedo photoshopped Trickster McCain shortly after McCain suspended his campaign to "work" on the 2008 financial crisis.  The anonymous creator of  Obama as Joker borrowed from both Heath Ledger and Shepard Fairey in a poster that appeared during the August 2009 anti-health care reform town halls and protests.

Obama is a frequent photoshop target from the right and the left.  After the election, BAG posted (Newsweek's) Obama's Lincoln noting that "[a]fter fighting Obama's deification and glorification throughout the campaign, it seems there is little to temper that allusion now." And BAG was right, Obama was fixed with Blue Note coolness, silkscreened as Mao in a Chinese factory, morphed into Lincoln, and dropped into the middle of the Rat Pack. The  association of Obama with any number of historical and cultural figures often tells us more about the expectations surrounding the presidency and our collective relief at the end of the Bush Era.

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Franco, Apparently, Still Dead

There is just too much irony in this photo -- especially after yesterday's likely meaningless news that a judicial panel awarded Franken the Minnesota Senate race ... again.   

This image of Al -- looking that much more helpless in front of a powerful column and drawing his hands to his gut rather tightly -- was taken taken three weeks ago at Arlington. The photo not only amplifies Al's isolation these days, it happens to be capture him witnessing a "changing of the guard" ceremony (no kidding) at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

In the latter case, we could take for unknown the population of Minnesota which, to date, has been short-changed a Senator.

(image: Kevin Wolf/A.P. Tomb of the Unknowns, March 25, 2009, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va.)

Palin's Place (Revisited)

Bristol and Levi Johnston have broken up? You're kidding!

This recent award-winning image by photographer Melina Mara takes us back to Campaign '08's biggest snow job. I mean, it's all there: the smirk; the fact sister Willow was mostly the one schlepping Trig; and the irony -- since Bristol's since had her own baby -- of being left holding the bottle. (And then, contributing to the family values, remember First Dude's tendency -- out of the spotlight -- to put all kinds of distance between himself and little Trig?)

(With a few more winning shots in mind) I imagine Sarah -- simply a natural when it comes to children -- must be thrilled.

Blasts from the not-so-distant past:

(Update: Embarrassingly, and thanks to the correction of my readers -- who I hope have otherwise at least partly acquired their sharp eyes from me -- I have mistaken Willow for Bristol in the photo above. Please forgive my mistake and enjoy Ms. Mara's excellent images, and have at it, as you will, in this look back at the Palin clan. With the correction, the photo realizes how then 17-year-old Bristol would soon be lugging her own baby (without Levi around). And, as for Willow (center), maybe Bristol's experience might actually help her avoid being left holding a bottle.)

(image: Melina Mara: Winner of the White House News Photographers Association - 2nd Place/Political Portfolio)

Getting The BAG's Inauguration Coverage Started A Little Early

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the '69 Inauguration and Counter-Inauguration, photographer Peter Calvin lent these images to The BAG.

Whether you remember that year or it's just historical interest, the '68 election was colored by the Tet Offensive, the signing of the Civil Rights Act, Johnson's decision not to run for re-election, the murders of Kennedy and King, the Chicago riots at the Democratic Convention, and the extremely close 3-way race between Nixon, Humphrey and George Wallace. That was also the last year any candidate (Humphrey) won a presidential nomination without competing in the primaries. ...Also, Saddam Hussein helped lead a coup which brought the Ba'ath Party to power in Iraq, and LBJ mandated all computers purchased by the government support ASCII character encoding.

So, the challenge (don't strain yourself!) is to figure out which of these images depict the Inauguration versus the Counter-Inauguration. In other words, cast a long glance back to the hey-day of identity politics (not that weak stuff we've been slogging through for the past eight years) to figure out who is part of the D.C. revelry in celebrating Tricky Dick Nixon's victory, and who is part of the "make love, not war"; "turn on, tune in, drop out"; "don't fold, spindle or mutilate"; "Steal This Book" crowd.

Don't forget tomorrow's BAGnewsSalon, Looking at Michelle O, 5:00 - 6:30 pm PST, 8:00-9:30 pm EST. Please join us.

(images: ©Peter A. Calvin/petercalvin.com)

Minnesota Recount: Barkley vs. Franken vs. Coleman vs. Lizard People

Why should the so-called experts have all the fun in the Minnesota Senate recount? Barkley? Franken? Coleman? Lizard People? Or, discard? You make the call:

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Your Turn: November 5, 2008. 12:15 A.M.

Matt Mendelsohn's NYT op-ed piece: Memorial Day. / Matt Mendelsohn's own post: "Lincoln Memorial, 11/5/08, 12:15 AM."

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It's the image I thought best captured this historic and deeply emotional week.

There are all so many allusions here. Just a couple things that struck me: I could see this as Norman Rockwell's "Obama victory" cover. I also thought of the Roosevelt tie -- not just people coming together to hear a fireside chat but for the leadership out of the depression. And then: "With malice toward none; with charity for all."

I invite your reactions.

(image: Matt Mendelsohn. Washington. November 5, 2008)

Blue Period

These "Welcome Back" decorations remind me of a child's birthday party, and I don't think the association is an accident.

In fact, this photo is probably one of the most honest and unspun portraits of Sarah Palin I've seen. What it speaks to is her very real immaturity or lack of emotional development. (Along those lines, check out the accompanying NYT article and the embarrassing AP video in which Palin calls her McCain antagonists "jerks.")

The other thing that came to mind when I first saw this picture was how Obama cancelled the fireworks for the Grant Park victory celebration. He just didn't think it was the right message to send while the economy was bleeding out.

(image: Al Grillo/Associated Press. Anchorage. November 7, 2008)

U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

I find this particularly moving, profoundly absorbing and quite sad. It's Danny Wilcox Frazier's shot of the stage after McCain's election night rally at the Biltmore in Phoenix.

(via TIME White House photo blog.)