The rush to judgment on the Kaloogian photo is so absurd, it’s laughable. So, let’s laugh. Forwarded by Jack Orr, on the supposed Howard "controversy"….
"I received the following forwarded message today from Tom Hanscom, obviously a person of wit and good humor. Finally, a truly funny moment in an otherwise deadly serious campaign":
I’m assuming (since you’re giving the 50th race so much attention) that you’ll probably address the Kaloogian-photo-of-Baghdad "controversy."
Before you give Howard too hard a time, please consider that he has corrected the mistake, replacing the photo from Istanbul with a real one from the Iraqi capitol. As you’ll note in the verified photo, the streets are packed with unworried, unhurried Iraqis. The sidewalks are lined with flowers (probably sprouted from the bouquets thrown at our soldiers three years ago); American presence is strong (note the U.S.-held building at left); and buildings are hardly the bombed-out shells we see exclusively on TV news reports (note one of Saddam’s palaces, intact, in the background).
We all make mistakes; and I, for one, do not think any less of Mr. Kaloogian than I did before this issue hit the blogosphere.
Tom Hanscom
March 30th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Haha…very funny Barry. My 4 year old daughter is sitting next to me as I read this and as soon as she saw the picture she said, “Disneyland!!!…daddy take me there.”
This whole controversy reminds me of Joe Justin’s column yesterday about getting a call asking for Morrow to step aside. He stated, “read Machiavelli and you’ll learn that the one who approaches you wanting something is in a weaker position”……But don’t forget that when someone is being attacked rightly or wrongly, they are usually perceived as being in the stronger position. Over the last few weeks it has been Bilbray, now it seems to be Howard. It makes one wonder.
For the record, I will be thrilled if Howard, Bill, or even Roach win out. I wish each of them the best of luck, but I also wish they would all turn their attention back to the moderate and stop bashing each other.
March 31st, 2006 at 12:00 am
Hey Barry, just wanted to let you know that you are on Howard’s endorsement page too. Maybe you are one of the few who really HAVE endorsed him, but just wanted to give you a heads up. Can’t be to careful about Howard and his claimed endorsements these days ;).