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Photoshoppers Turn Ugly in Hillary Clinton Run for '08 Presidency Email Print

By Dood Abides
02/05/2006 11:43:24 AM EST




New York, NY (Rotters) - Ever since being fingered by George W. Bush as the favored presidential election opponent for the Republican Party in 2008, Senator Clinton has been met with a withering disinformation campaign from the bowels of what some describe as the vast right-wing conspiracy. At issue most recently was a very unflattering and supposedly candid snapshot of the New York senator greeting people upon her arrival for President Bush's State of the Union address to Congress.

The photo has been circulated throughout the United States and indeed the world, and is currently on Yahoo's list of most e-mailed photographs.

Rotters reporters have discovered the original electronic versions of the photograph in question, and the conclusion among renowned experts is that indeed the photograph being circulated throughout the press has been doctored, or "photoshopped". "Photoshopping" is the current term from the world of blogging in which a photo is altered electronically to produce humorous or compromising results for the victim.




"The sad thing," stated photography expert Paul O. Reud, "is that this is not even a very well done job. It's obviously done by a somewhat skilled but rank amateur with no concepts for lighting, shading, or human anatomy. Technology has advanced to the point that some very powerful tools are now placed in the hands of decidedly partisan hacks"

Senator Clinton is not the only politician to have been touched recently by this growing controversy.




Republican Representative Katherine Harris of Florida recently implied that a number of mainstream media outlets were complicit in making photos of her appear that she was wearing much more makeup than she was. The cited newsrooms cried foul, stating that the very minor alterations as to color, lighting and tone are very routinely done to enhance aesthetic equality. They then presented before pictures of Representative Harris demonstrating how her features were improved through minor alterations.

"I think it behooves people, in this day and age to never really trust their own eyes with any type of photographic proof. It's far better to research a person or a topic rather than rely on looks alone," stated Mr. Reud.


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Photoshoppers Turn Ugly in Hillary Clinton Run for '08 Presidency | 12 comments (12 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
AND... (5.00 / 2)
...just to remind everyone, here's a link to Dood's  Kofax nominated diary (I know, because I nominated it, as did other bloggers)...


Click on photo for a real Classic by Dood Abides

The Albany Project. The best damned blog about New York State politics.

by NYBri on 02/05/2006 12:21:47 PM EST

Daw shucks... (5.00 / 3)

by Dood Abides on 02/05/2006 12:37:34 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Best. Diary. Ever. (none / 1)

On PTSD Combat | Email list | Book

by ilona on 02/05/2006 05:18:16 PM EST

[ Parent ]
I see this whole thing ... (none / 1)
in the larger frame of diluting the truth. If pictures are known to be able to be photoshopped, then photos like those from Abu Ghraib get called into question or diluted. Fooling with videotape does the same. Fake memos in PDF do it too.

Eventually, people will be forced to spend as much energy trying to figure out if the "evidence" is real or not as they do analyzing or discussing the content.

by SusanG on 02/05/2006 12:05:29 PM EST

I agree... see my comment to NYBri... (5.00 / 3)

by Dood Abides on 02/05/2006 12:36:08 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Dood.... (none / 1)
...First: welcome to Political Cortex.  Great to have you here.

Second: I've been learning Photoshop recently (or, at least, I've begun the process of realising how much I don't know) and am astounded with what can really be done to alter photos...and with CS2, seamlessly.

I've thought about what Susan just said as well. A picture is no longer worth a thousand words. Now A picture begs a thousand questions, and they have, indeed, become yet another tool for rampent misinformation.

Third: They must be really scared of Hillary...or they want to make her into the quintessential liberal strawman and then tie whoever does end up running to her dress hem.

Forth: LOL.

The Albany Project. The best damned blog about New York State politics.

by NYBri on 02/05/2006 12:14:43 PM EST

I agree with you both... (none / 1)
and I'm afraid our side is incredibly late to the party... The brain(how interesting this is being discussed on Political Cortex!) is wired from birth for preference in this type of information over the printed word, which is acquired much later... we can't help it... as Al Gore so Accurately points out, video or motion input trumps everything even moreso... the powers that be know this and are ramping up efforts to squeeze out the blooging "little guy"...

I thought it was interesting that RoveCo had the audacity to make an attempt at annointing our next presidential candidate through Bush's comments... I think she is the one that they would love to face and feel that they can beat... at any rate, their very action begs to put Democrats in a defensive stance rather than put forward confidently their own candidate... Rove 101 is to always keep your opponent explaining...

BTW, thanks for having me!

by Dood Abides on 02/05/2006 12:34:07 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Hilarious! (none / 1)
You are a breath of satirically fresh air.

And I agree with all your points. Just two weeks ago, the New York times Science Section front-paged a column on how to debunk photoshopped images -- not too difficult if you have the right tools, but a waste of resources nevertheless.

I don't have photoshop, buy I do use another program (Xara X) that can do just about everything you could think of.

Welcome Dood!

Political Cortex -- Brain Food for the Body Politic

by Tom Ball on 02/05/2006 02:14:55 PM EST

I actually use Paint Shop Pro... (none / 0)
it's about a tenth of the cost, and does virtually everything that Photoshop can do...

by Dood Abides on 02/05/2006 03:35:14 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Smart man. (none / 1)
XaraX is also a small fraction of the Photoshop price with virtually all the functionality.

Maybe we should do an expose on egregious sofware pricing! You just know Cheney's behind it all;)

Political Cortex -- Brain Food for the Body Politic

by Tom Ball on 02/05/2006 04:36:13 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Have you guys looked at ... (none / 0)
photoshop CS2?

Pretty amazing features....but it's for real heavy duty users, I guess...and that ain't me, but I'm trying to learn.

The Albany Project. The best damned blog about New York State politics.

by NYBri on 02/05/2006 06:43:00 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Welcome, Dood! (none / 0)
I'm a Paint Shop Pro user from way back, though now that I'm once again in the sainted land of Mac, I'm finding myself either using the tools that Apple provides, or pulling out the GIMP.

One tool that has brought me back to the PC lately is one that I never expected to like so well, or find so useful -- "The Movies" from Lionhead Software.  I've long been aching to do some 3D animation (I did some commercial work in Truespace once upon a time), but The Movies actually allows you to storyboard out a little film and "shoot" it, with dialog, soundtrack, everything.  There was a 13 minute piece done with it on the riots in France which attracted international attention and even got a review in the Washington Post.

I'm still learning the tool, but there's an amazing amount of potential in this thing for something that sells as a game (and for $30). I'd love to see what you could do with it.

by Devilstower on 02/05/2006 09:12:14 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Photoshoppers Turn Ugly in Hillary Clinton Run for '08 Presidency | 12 comments (12 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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