Incendiary Advice

After the dust-up with candidate Kaloogian's fake Baghdad photo, I've decided that bloggers are society's scrubby bubbles: workin' hard so the media doesn't have to. Because God knows, they won't.

Anyone could've seen that Kaloogian's "photo of the 'peaceful' Baghdad was an utter fraud. But who discovered it was really a photo taken in Istanbul, Turkey? Intrepid Kossacks and other Bloggers, like TPM.

The NYTimes article linked in the underlined text above takes a somewhat snarky approach to what should be a serious matter:

LOS ANGELES, March 29 — The sleuths of cyberspace never sleep.


Starting Tuesday afternoon and working through the night, a group of bloggers dissected a photo and a caption on the Web site of a Republican Congressional candidate in California, Howard Kaloogian, and declared it a fraud. Within hours, Mr. Kaloogian withdrew the picture, blamed an unnamed staff member for the blunder and apologized.

So, let's see...

We have Republican Ben Domenech, blaming his editor for his plagiarism.

Now we have Republican candidate Kaloogian, blaming his webmaster for his lies.

The party of personal responsibility, my ass.

Sorry I wasn't a part of the efforts to unveil Kaloogian's falsehoods. What's even more disgusting is his replacement picture: nearly an aerial photograph from which no details can be obtained, it's merely another deception.

And to top everything off - his Iraq "Truth Tour" (what a beautiful misnomer!) took place in July of 2005.

That's much like me posting pictures of New Orleans Mardi Gras in 2004 in support of how well the city's holding-up since Katrina.

And he would've gotten away with it, too. If it wasn't for the meddling Kos Kids. Why? Because this country lacks an inquisitive, engaged media on all levels. Kaloogian the Konniving, like so many mendacious Republicans before him, knows that people will believe what they wish, given a little help and some fake photos. Nice turkey, Kaloogian. Looks like you came wearing the egg, though.