BushBots steaming over this picture of Kerry's encounter with Marines

[SilasSoule]

The marines at Wendy's. They're saying that Kerry telling them
"Do you know who I am ?"

[merh]

1. Looks to me like he is discussing their ribbons, which would be

their tours of service. :shrug:

[bluestateguy]

2. Well that is not what he said

And the NY Post story on the encounter never reports any such account of Kerry saying "Do you know who I am?":

http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/25935.htm

but I really like this: A sergeant with 10 years of service under his belt said, "I speak for all of us. We think that we are doing the right thing in Iraq," before saying he is to be deployed there in a few weeks and is "eager" to go and serve.

Have fun in Fallujah boys. Your president is about to give you exactly what you want.

[Sugarbleus]

11. "Have fun in Fallujah boys"..that's about right. Let's see how

they feel after they've been over there awhile. Smartasses!!

[drdtroit]

27. It also said they would not give their names.

It's amazing that soldiers that have criticized the administration give their names and risk, yet sometimes suffer retribution.

But here we have a group of Marines that are supporting shrub and they won't give their names? Evidently some "artistic license" was involved in the report.

[yardwork]

3. That picture looks photo-shopped

Notice that Kerry appears to be standing much closer to the camera than the marine at the back, yet Kerry's finger appears to be sticking in the marine's chest. Look again. Kerry's finger isn't anywhere near the marine's chest, so who is he pointing at?

Then notice that Kerry's figure is much darker than any of the surrounding images. There appears to be an aura around Kerry's head where his photo has been pasted into the marine photo.

It looks to me like the photo of the marines was staged, and somebody pasted the photo of Kerry into it.

That leads me to suspect that the entire marine episide is fiction.

[sandnsea]

7. And look at this thumb

That's the weird thumb thing that I've seen from Clinton and Edwards, specifically, and more recently Kerry. Bill Maher was making fun of it the other night. So I agree, I think the picture is photoshopped. Although the meeting with the Marines is real and they did say they support Bush. Some people do defend the war in Iraq, just like there's some people who still defend Vietnam.

[shockingelk]

13. WTF?

Photoshopped? Whatr's so unbelievable and what would be the point?

[Fla Dem]

44. I believe it is protocol for active service men & women to say they

support their commander-in-chief. At least in public. What they may profess privately to friends and family is a different matter.

[Kimber Scott]

8. You can see both figures in the convex mirror on the ceiling. The finger

looks fake, though.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. I don't think it was photoshopped

No need to imagine a bigger operation or conspiracy than necessary.

Kerry is a tall man (6 foot 4 inches, I think). He doesn't have to be pointing at anything, just gesticulating and making a point.

"No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely
necessary." William Occam (c. 1280-1349).

Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately
explained by stupidity."

Don't wast your energy on phantoms. Focus your attention and energy on the real issues, like voting machines, lying faux journalists, diversions, etc. that the Repugnants will mess with.

[Eurobabe]

32. well then he's got a LONG index finger in proportion

to the rest of his hand. Looks phoney to me, and it looks like he was referencing the man's ribbons.

[liberalcanuck]

35. Great post! Doesn't look photoshopped to me either and like you said

-- what would be the point? I know we're all a little, okay a lot paranoid lately but I think saying this pic has been altered is quite a stretch.

[nose pin]

21. Very common in journalism photos

Most journalistic photos are taken in less than ideal lighting situations, so photomanipulation (burning and dodging in the old days) is almost the norm. Pick up your local paper and look at most of the pictures. You'll see this halo effect.

Kerry does appear to be examining his ribbons, and the sgt does seem to have a lot of them. I'm sure he has seen combat in the past.

[noahmijo]

22. Dude that IS photoshopped

Unbelievable, look also how much bigger Kerry looks. I know Kerry is a very tall fellow, but his entire body seems to be unaturally huge compared to the marine in front of him.

Unbelievable this has got to be the lowest...well maybe not but just amazing utterly incredible....

[noahmijo]

23. Okay maybe not

Well I dunno I'm 50-50 on this, it is very late and I am really tired had a big day today, but I still say Kerry looks a bit too big to be in that photo, but he is of a formidable size I suppose...

Eh so what so you got a couple of Marines who are pro-Bush, as if no one here could go dig up 10 Marines who have come home from Iraq and want the next person in their sights to be Cheney or *.

[Cronus Protagonist]

29. Kerry's big, so how come his hands are smaller than the "marine"?

Are we supposed to believe that a man as tall as Kerry has hands that are about 15% smaller than a little short guy? And look how long that finger is compared to the palm, and lookeee here, not a whit of shading on the finger so it appears flat instead of cylindrical.

Additionally, it appears to me to be a knuckle shot pasted over and over to make a finger.

SHOVE IT! - Drop Bush Not Bombs! - Hero Kerry AWOL Bush
http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

[LiberalPersona]

30. Doesn't look modified to me

Not an aura around the head, that is an effect caused by the direction of the lighting which causes a glare on his grey hair. Bright colors like that reflect light good and can cause all sorts of confusing effects.

[noahmijo]

37. The evidence that it probably is real

Is that he's wearing the same suit that all the legit photos of him at Wendy's show. I actually looked up this up thinking that we'd have it nailed if all of a sudden it looked like Kerry was wearing a diff suit, but it's the same.

[MaineDem]

46. Huhhh?

I think it's the finger that's the question not the suit.

Sorry if I missed sarcasm or something.

[noahmijo]

50. Well you could have a "point" with the finger (no pun)

I was referring to the entire image of Kerry since that the topic of discussion when I picked it up last night.

[JI7]

4. there is another sequence of these pictures that don't look too bad

they didn't really seem upset. and remember, according to the post gephardt is vp.

[rumguy]

5. I must say that Marine looks like a total tool

[liberalcanuck]

36. LOL! It's funny -- sometimes all it takes is first impression. He does

look like a major doofus.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

6. According to the account, JK went over to these guys to shake hands

and say hi, and they were curt with him because they are Bush supporters (according to the piece they told the reporters this after JK had left). Supposedly he said hi and asked where they were serving.

They're free to feel whatever way they want, and I'm free to think they are dumbasses if they think shrubya gives a flying hoot whether they live or die in Iraq.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28114-2004Jul30.html

Edwards happily approached a table of Marines, who didn't look like they wanted to be distracted from their combos. Kerry, who always gravitates toward men and women in uniform, came over and asked the men, "Where are you guys serving?"

Their answers were clipped. Later, the Marines -- none of whom would give his name -- said they were Bush supporters. "He imposed on us and I disagree with him coming over here shaking our hands," one said. "I'm 100 percent against" Kerry, he said. "We support our commander in chief 100 percent."

[bluestateguy]

9. And had he ignored them the Freepers would bitch about that...

"He showed no respect to our fighting men and women" kind of thing.

If Abdul Henderson is going to be charged for speaking against the Administration in F-9/11, if a Nat. Guardsman can be reprimanded for calling for Rumsfeld's resignation, that Marine who dissed Kerry to the NY Post should face charges for making critical remarks about a US Senator and presidential nominee while he was in uniform.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

10. The other thing--JK/JE have balls, like crowds and are willing to take

the risk of getting this kind of treatment to go meet people. I doubt if shrubya has done one spontaneous thing or talked to a stranger during his whole term.

[Kimber Scott]

12. The reason Marines are so gung-ho and good at what they do is they

are totally brainwashed into it. They are very different from other branches of the service. I'm sure they are "trained" to support the Commander-in-Chief, 100%. If Kerry were their boss, they'd probably be just as protective of him.

[DieboldMustDie]

19. Here's hoping they support their next commander in chief...

as much as they do their current one.

[absolutezero]

43. doesn't the UCMJ

have provisions against being rude to any members of congress, which would include senators? I'm sure that anyone in the military who supports kerry would still smile and shake *'s hand if he came over to their table at a wendy's simply out of respect for the office or fear of getting court marshalled

[Career Prole]

14. Zoom in on that finger.

That's 'shopped, I'd swear on it. And neither one is making eye contact. Boooooooogus!

[LTR]

17. Does Yahoo News use Photoshopped images?

The pic came from the wire services.

[Fridays Child]

24. And Kerry's head is clearly a cut and paste. The back is too perfectly...

...rounded and where the back and top of his head meet is angular. Shameful. Reuters needs to retract this, accompanied by an apology. I'm going to find an email address.

[LTR]

16. Sounds like the Marines were being rude

Kerry just asked them where they were serving, and they acted rude. It didn't sound like Kerry was being obnoxious.

Is this the way Marines act toward their possible future boss?

Hell, if I ran into Dumbya, I'd at least be somewhat cordial.

[LTR]

18. More pics from Wendy's

more:

http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news/?c=news_photos&p=kerry+wendy%27s

[pocket]

20. so we dont have the marine vote

big fucking deal

[Zidane]

39. Yup

Although it's nice to have the military vote - 200,000 people spread across the 50 states is NOT exactly one of the most effective voting blocks...

Not saying the votes are not important, just that electorally they are not a critical block...

[Fridays Child]

25. Just called Reuters. This pic will be investigated as a possible...

...photoshopped fraud. They took my name and phone number for follow-up.

[yardwork]

31. Thank you. Now that I've seen more photos from Wendy's

and seen posts from others more expert than I at photography, I'm not sure if it is a fake photo or not. But I'm glad that Reuters will take a look.

I admit it. I am jumpy. The Diebold voting machines have me very worried. The Bush campaign has put out photoshopped pictures of Kerry before (remember Jane?). I'm worried.

It would be too easy for them to start flooding the internet with doctored photos to make Kerry look bad.

[Tight_rope]

26. They'll be kissing the ground Kerry walks on in a year!

[Cat Atomic]

28. Give 'em a break. Their heads are filled with Fox News propaganda.

[Merlin]

33. The finger is photoshopped. No doubt about it.

I don't agree that Kerry's whole image is shopped. But his index finger clearly is. You can tell that it was folded back along with his other fingers in a characteristically non-pointing gesture. The fake index finger lacks proper definition and seems to be out of perspective.

(Most upper crusties learn early on not to point at somebody unless the situation clearly calls for it. In lieu of pointing they extend their hand with folded fingers. You see Jack Kennedy doing this all the time in film of his talks.)

[yardwork]

34. Merlin - I think you are right!

I am certain that Kerry would not stick his finger in somebody's chest like that. I was instantly offended by the photo, and I saw it was a deliberate attempt to make Kerry look bad.

It's the finger. It's extended like a gun barrel. I hope that Reuters gets to the bottom of this, and takes a good close look at additional pictures before publishing.

I'm very concerned that we're going to see an avalanche of altered photos from the Rove machine.

[TexasSissy]

40. You're right! The finger looks fake. Looks like Kerry was making

his usual political hand position (the same one that Clinton and Edwards make - with all the fingers curled back, except the thumb sticking up). But someone stuck a fake index finger on there.

[SheepyMcSheepster]

42. I agree

that finger doesn't appear to follow the perspective, it would appear more at an angle and less long imo. this finger appears to be perpendicular to the camera. i love how the end of the "finger" is just a rectangle, the end doesn't taper off at all, it just ends.

[Zidane]

38. Holy shit

that one looks like he is about to take a swing at him. NOT a happy face.

[progressivebydesign]

41. I'm not one to speculate.. but WHY is Kerry's FINGER SO LONG???

That does NOT look right at all! I read, ad naseum, about the encouter with those boneheads. Sounds like the one guy is just a total, rude ass. John Kerry did not say "do you know who I am?". He asked where they were serving.. etc.. Okay.. and HOW MUCH FOOD do those guys have on that table? Geez??

[Cookie wookie]

52. Kerry's hand and pointing finger are Photoshopped

IMO. I work with Photoshop every day.

I've enlarged the photo and examined it, and although I can't determine if Kerry's image was cut and pasted into the scene. The halo around his head could be an artifact of the camera -- it looks like a 3 or less megapixel shot. The forefinger has been Photoshopped. Maybe the whole left hand and arm. The sleeve is too sharp across the bottom, the hand is disproportionate in size, and the finger's anatomy is distorted.

The way the drinks in the forefront are foreshortened and the edges are clean too raises questions about whether that part of the photo has been cut and pasted into the scene. The photographer had to be hunched down in his/her seat holding the camera low, since we are looking up at Kerry and the Marine from a low angle. The perspective on the cups seems distorted from the rest of the photo, however that could be from the camera lens?

Also suspicious in the photo is the area under Kerry's left arm between the arm and the cups. What is happening there? It almost looks like someone with a camera pointed toward Kerry, but the arm is too big for the head and the area that would be the camera is erased. That is not an artifact of the digital image. What is beside that figure? Whatever it is, it is in front of the Marine's arm. That white vertical line is too small to be a straw, unless it's been cut and pasted, losing some of the pixels.

My 2 cents.

[Cookie wookie]

53. Will add to above about white diagonal line (not vertical)

now that I've looked at it again, is supposed to be the light hitting the Marine's arm. Could be wash of light from window, but I doubt it from the lighting in the rest of the photo.

[SilasSoule]

55. Another photoshop deception ploy??

[Occulus]

45. That finger IS faked.

There's no other way to describe it.

Blow the picture up- WAY up- and look at the color tone differences between his index finger and the rest of his hand. The finger is several shades lighter even than his other fingers.

Also, there are NO natural contours to the finger, even when blown up so you can see each pixel. It's perfectly straight. No pixel strays from the rectangle they're in.

Speaking of rectangles, the end of his finger in the photo clips off.

I'm crying foul on this one.

FAAAAAAAAAKE!

[Medium Baby Jesus]

47. Photoshopped

I don't usually wear tin foil but I am certain the pointing finger is faked. Unbelievable!

[Zen Democrat]

48. Picture photoshopped. The finger gives it away. n/t

[KittyWampus]

49. The Finger Has Been Enhanced. Unquestionable.

It is totally out of proportion to the rest of the same hand... and different color.

If this is a wire photo... then photographer is a Mockingbird plant.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

51. Even if the pic is NOT photoshopped I don't see what the big deal is

he's clearly pointing at the guy's service ribbons, probably asking about them.

So what? Gawd, bush people would wet their diapers over ANYTHING, wouldn't they?

[gulliver]

54. The marine guy looks scared.

A lot of people don't like to be made the center of attention. Kerry should be more careful about singling people out. I'm sure Kerry wanted to honor the guy, but the guy looks like he isn't enjoying it.

The guy might be a freeper with a boatload of mental problems. Kerry would scare that type.

[Danger Duck]

56. This whole story

comes from the New York post, which is like getting a weather report from a guy selling umbrellas.