Your brother routinely makes anti-Semitic comments. Your neighbor uses the N-word in casual conversation. Your co-worker ribs you about your Italian surname, asking if you’re in the mafia. Your classmate insults something by saying, “That’s so gay.”
When a Native American man at one roundtable discussion spoke of feeling ostracized at work, a Jewish woman nodded in support. When an African American woman told of daily indignities of racism at school, a white man leaned forward and asked what he could do to help. When an elderly lesbian spoke of finally feeling brave enough to wear a rainbow pin in public, those around the table applauded her courage.
WordPress database error: [Access denied for user: 'dbo202357768@%' to database 'db202357768'] INSERT INTO wp_bdprss_items_v3 (item_feed_id, item_url, item_name, text_body, item_update_time, item_time, item_date) VALUES ('47', 'http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Bagnewsnotes/~3/384482623/the-atlantics-r.html', 'The Atlantic's Role-Reversing, "Uppity" Atlantic Cover', '<p>
 <img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/theatlanticcoverawardsbarackobamajohnmccainmagazinecovers.jpg" height="596" width="450" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Theatlanticcoverawardsbarackobamajohnmccainmagazinecovers"></img>
 </p><p>
 Following the "TV with the sound off" test, check out this photoshopped cover of the new <em>Atlantic</em> with the words covered up. Doing so, what the picture communicates is Obama (in real life, the "cool" one) as the warrior, while McCain (the actual "hot" one, who is known for being temperamental and impulsive, and often can't keep from saying whatever noxious thing comes into his head) is framed as temperate, thinking and the more interpersonal.
 </p><p>
 The lesson of the "Dean scream" was that the media and the right has a tendency to frame passion -- if it's coming from left-of-center -- as overheated and radical. Given Obama's race, you have the added stereotype of the angry black man or the black militant. And just short of that, the photomontage also plays to the "uppity" stereotype, as <a href='http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/politicalinsider/entries/2008/09/04/barack_and_michelle_obama_are.html?cxntfid=blogs_political_insider' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>codified in the most remarkable way</a> this week at the RNC by Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia.
 </p><p>
 The reality, of course, is just the opposite. Far cry from the insincere "high road" theme <a href='http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/05/us/politics/05repubs.html?partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>McCain pitched</a> in his acceptance speech, it's the wingers like Bush and McCain who tend to be hyper-aggressive, reactionary, averse to listening and blind to boundary. They just deflect that fact by coating the behavior under a moralistic, religious and/or patriotic veneer.
 </p><p>
 Visually, I've seen a lot of blatant mischaracterization in this campaign season, and this ranks right up there.
 </p><p>
 <span style="font-size:9pt;">(h/t: Michael)
 <br>
 <br>(image credit unavailable. The Atlantic. September 2008)</span>
 </p> <p><a href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?a=ZPq6Ts' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?i=ZPq6Ts" border="0"></img></a></p>', '1220647034', '1220647033', '2008-09-05')
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 <a href='http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/RNC10-WTC.jpg' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'><img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/RNC10-WTC-tm.jpg" height="299" width="400" border="0" hspace="1" vspace="1" alt="Rnc10-Wtc"></img></a>
 <br>The Evil-Doers and Haters video
 </p><p>
 <img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/RNC10-SP-JSM.jpg" height="232" width="400" border="0" hspace="1" vspace="1" alt="Rnc10-Sp-Jsm"></img>
 <br>No surprise, Palin gets between McCain and the cameras after Mac's speech.
 <br>Meanwhile, McCain's gesture describes whose convention it really was.
 </p><p>
 <img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/RNC10-Cindy-Theresa.jpg" height="229" width="400" border="0" hspace="1" vspace="1" alt="Rnc10-Cindy-Theresa"></img>
 <br>Cindy with Mother Teresa
 </p><p>
 <img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/RNC10-Green-John.jpg" height="246" width="400" border="0" hspace="1" vspace="1" alt="Rnc10-Green-John"></img>
 <br>Use of giant rear projection images puts sickly green background
 <br>behind Mac again for first 10 minutes of acceptance speech.
 <br>(Here's <a href='http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/213806.php' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>the real backstory</a> -- nailed by a BAGreader first, I believe, if you check the comments.) 
 <br>(And if you haven't seen it, watch the <a href='http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/videos.jhtml?videoId=171579' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Colbert Green Screen Challenge</a> from the 2:30 mark.)
 </p><p>
 <a href='http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/DNC10-Bridget2-1.jpg' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'><img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/DNC10-Bridget2-1-tm.jpg" height="204" width="350" border="0" hspace="1" vspace="1" alt="Dnc10-Bridget2-1"></img></a> <a href='http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/DNC10-Bridget1-1.jpg' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'><img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/DNC10-Bridget1-1-tm.jpg" height="204" width="344" border="0" hspace="1" vspace="1" alt="Dnc10-Bridget1-1"></img></a>
 <br>After all the GOP bluster about the exploitation of candidate's children, Cindy
 <br>actually exploited Bridget and her adoption to boost her own humanitarian cred.
 </p><p>
 <img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/RNC10-Black-Faces.jpg" height="257" width="400" border="0" hspace="1" vspace="1" alt="Rnc10-Black-Faces"></img>
 <br>The networks managed to <a href='http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/the_blizzard_in_st_paul_diversity_is_mia/' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>make it seem</a> like there were plenty of black faces among the delegates.
 </p><p>
 <img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/RNC10-Mitchell.jpg" height="220" width="400" border="0" hspace="1" vspace="1" alt="Rnc10-Mitchell"></img>
 <br>MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell thought her near-drowning by balloon was an innocent thing.
 <br>No Andrea, Palin and her religious right posse are completely pissed off and they <em>really were</em> trying to drown you.
 </p><p>
 <a href='http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/DNC10-Palin-ebay.jpg' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'><img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/DNC10-Palin-ebay-tm.jpg" height="178" width="300" border="0" hspace="1" vspace="1" alt="Dnc10-Palin-Ebay"></img></a> <a href='http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/RNC10-Cindy-plane.jpg' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'><img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/RNC10-Cindy-plane-tm.jpg" height="178" width="308" border="0" hspace="1" vspace="1" alt="Rnc10-Cindy-Plane"></img></a>
 <br>You know that plane Palin sold on eBay? I think Cindy bought it.
 </p><p>
 <a href='http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/RNC10-Mom.jpg' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'><img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/RNC10-Mom-tm.jpg" height="225" width="400" border="0" hspace="1" vspace="1" alt="Rnc10-Mom"></img></a>
 <br>Proper etiquette: When your Mom's to your right, you should acknowledge her by reading off the teleprompter <em>to your right</em>.
 </p><p>
 <img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/RNC10-Sara-Moose.jpg" height="226" width="400" border="0" hspace="1" vspace="1" alt="Rnc10-Sara-Moose"></img>
 <br>Who could resist Sarah in pearls and the paramilitary-looking outfit. (Can anyone ID the uniform?). 
 <br>And, of course, the moose.
 </p><p>
 <img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/RNC10-Lindsey-.jpg" height="241" width="400" border="0" hspace="1" vspace="1" alt="Rnc10-Lindsey-"></img>
 <br>O.K, it's an eleventh. I just had to say:
 <br>I hope I don't see that whiney little war-mongering Lindsey Graham ever bear his teeth again!
 </p><p>
 <em>The BAG'</em>s complete RNC 08 coverage <em><a href='http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/convention_08_rnc/index.html' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>here</a></em>.
 <br><em>The BAG's</em> complete DNC 08 coverage <em><a href='http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/convention_08/' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>here</a></em>.
 </p> <p><a href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?a=oM2g53' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?i=oM2g53" border="0"></img></a></p>', '1220647034', '1220647032', '2008-09-05')
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 <img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/Bristol%20Levi.jpg" height="375" width="610" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Bristol Levi"></img>
 </p><p>
 1. Still another variation on "getting it in writing?" 
 </p><p>
 2. I'm just wondering how fresh the tattoo is.
 </p><p>
 3. Wingers answer to the Obama fist bump?
 </p><p>
 Call it another example of how the visual media gets sucked into the cultural politics. This shot is fresh on the newswire from last evening. The caption reads:
 </p><blockquote>
 The hand of Levi Johnston (L), and his girlfriend Bristol Palin hold hands as they attend the third session of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota September 3, 2008. Bristol Palin is the daughter of U.S. Republican vice-presidential candidate and Gov. of Alaska, Sarah Palin. Johnston has a tattoo of Bristol's name on his left ring finger The campaign has announced that Bristol is five months pregnant and plans to marry Johnston.
 </blockquote><p>
 <span style="font-size:8pt;">(image: </span><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:8pt;">Rick Wilking/</span><span style="font-size:8pt;">Reuters. Minneapolis. September 3, 2008)</span>
 </p> <p><a href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?a=BItbPa' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?i=BItbPa" border="0"></img></a></p>', '1220647034', '1220647031', '2008-09-05')
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 <img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/inevitability.jpg" height="480" width="640" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Inevitability"></img>
 </p><blockquote>
 <em>Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty blamed the violence this week on a small group of "anarchists, nihilists, and goofballs who want to break stuff and hurt people."
 <br>
 <br>"They need to be dealt with," Pawlenty said in an interview with WCCO-AM of Minneapolis. (via </em><em><a href='http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26548721/' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>MSNBC</a></em><em>.)</em>
 </blockquote><p>
 This is a pic and an accompanying write-up posted anonymously at Twin Cities Indymedia I wanted to pass along.
 </p><p>
 Notice the horses are wearing those riot masks too. Robo horses. I don't remember seeing that before. The blue line looks pretty deep on this narrow, otherwise two-way path along what must be quite a scenic view. And then, there is something ironic to those 13 or so teeny-tiny American flags.
 </p><p>
 The post is titled: "The Right To Be Here," and it begins:
 </p><blockquote>
 I'm not an anarchist. At least I wasn't one of the kids running around the Xcel Energy Center in black handkerchiefs during the St Paul RNC. Nor did I store my urine in a bucket for a week to throw on delegates, and I didn't break any windows either. But, I was one of the people detained by police on Monday. One of my co-workers even saw me on the Channel 11 news, zip-tied like a hog, being led away walking backwards by two riot police. <em>(</em><em><a href='http://twincities.indymedia.org/2008/sep/right-be-here' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Full text.</a></em><em>)
 <br></em>
 </blockquote><p>
 <em>
 <br></em><span style="font-size:8pt;"><em>(image: anonymous)</em></span>
 </p> <p><a href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?a=YQSFph' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?i=YQSFph" border="0"></img></a></p>', '1220647034', '1220647030', '2008-09-05')
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 <img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/Palin-McCain-BAG-final.jpg" height="612" width="417" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Palin-Mccain-Bag-Final"></img>
 </p><p>
 
 </p><p>
 I seriously never thought I'd do another BAG again, it being years now, but this situation is so frickin weird, it just came out of me. 
 </p> <p><a href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?a=WH7V8z' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?i=WH7V8z" border="0"></img></a></p>', '1220647034', '1220647029', '2008-09-05')
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 <img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/Palin%20Mt.%20Rushmore.jpg" height="501" width="340" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Palin Mt. Rushmore"></img>
 </p><p>
 Helping bridge Sarah Palin's self-avowed (and clearly evidenced) pit bull role, the RNC flashed large scenes behind her evoking the American landscape. There was a soaring shot of the arch in St. Louis, another of farm fields, still another of a ferris wheel at dusk.
 </p><p>
 My favorite, though, was Palin juxtaposed with Mt. Rushmore. Reminiscent of <a href='http://www.flickr.com/photos/creepysleepy/115164323/' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>this</a> classic Rove move (or <a href='http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/newnewdeal-1.jpg' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>this</a> folly the NYT WIR concocted right after Bush's second inaugural), the association was meant to visually bestow a little more gravitas, a connection that much more amenable because of all the Alaska mountain imagery also ubiquitous this week.
 </p><p>
 You can never tell exactly how precisely those TV cutaways are tied to specific parts of a speech, but my tweet on this one read: <em>Extra-long isolation shot of Palin with Mt. Rushmore on the mega-screen (while attacking "the old boy network"). </em>If the timing was intentional, it seems that the gender contrast might have been still another part of the package.
 </p><p>
 Actually, although I didn't much evidence tonight of a Hillary comparison, the shot also brought <a href='http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/2008/05/hillarys-rushmo.html' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>this</a> in mind).
 </p><p>
 <strong><em>Update</em></strong>: Rachel Hulin, the "blog stewardess" at Photoshelter, wrote me about one more Palin backdrop I happened to miss. It's the lead one <a href='http://blog.photoshelter.com/2008/09/three-from-the-floor-at-the-rnc.html' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>in her post</a>. It's a wonderful blend of allusions -- both to faith ("Old Faithful") as well as a phallic, if naturalistic expression of power. As I read more about Palin and her temperament, the analogy to explosion (akin to McCain's own wiring) also seems fitting here.
 </p><p>
 <span style="font-size:8pt;">
 <br>(image: Reuters. caption: Republican vice presidential candidate Alaska Governor Sarah Palin speaks at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St Paul, Minnesota, September 3, 2008. linked image: NYTimes Week In Review 1/23/05; images: Bettmann/Corbis and Paul Morse/White House via Getty Images)</span>
 </p> <p><a href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?a=r7Tmpd' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?i=r7Tmpd" border="0"></img></a></p>', '1220647034', '1220647028', '2008-09-05')
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 <img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/Trig-RNC-08.jpg" height="300" width="500" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Trig-Rnc-08"></img>
 </p><p>
 <img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/Trig-2-RNC08.jpg" height="310" width="500" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Trig-2-Rnc08"></img>
 </p><p>
 With the McCain's and the Palin's well aware of the camera's eye, Cindy taking full advantage; Sarah Palin highlighting her immediate family and extended family; and the Governor also promising an advocacy role for parents with special needs children, baby Trig (held by sister, Piper) has definitely become a central prop in this campaign.
 </p><p>
 <span style="font-size:8pt;">(screen shots: MSNBC)</span>
 </p> <p><a href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?a=CYNVjT' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?i=CYNVjT" border="0"></img></a></p>', '1220647034', '1220647027', '2008-09-05')
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 <img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/Rudy%20RNC08.jpg" height="338" width="610" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Rudy Rnc08"></img>
 </p><p>
 My twitter at 7:27 pm PST: <em>Mega-screen behind Rudy has mega-view of lower Manhattan. I didn't look for the Trade Towers, did you? </em>Five minutes later: <em>Prolonged mega-screen isolation shot on lower Manhattan as Rudy starts harping on 9/11.
 <br></em>
 <br>More to follow....
 </p><p>
 <span style="font-size:8pt;">(image: Reuters Pictures. caption: Former Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani speaks at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, September 3, 2008)</span>
 </p> <p><a href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?a=Mz9OLi' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?i=Mz9OLi" border="0"></img></a></p>', '1220647034', '1220647026', '2008-09-05')
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 <img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/Levi%20McCain.jpg" height="438" width="610" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Levi Mccain"></img>
 </p><p>
 <img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/McCain%20Palin%20airport.jpg" height="284" width="533" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Mccain Palin Airport"></img>
 </p><p>
 After a week of images of the Palin/McCain soap opera, the ante rose even higher today at the airport. Attempting to turn a negative into a (family values) positive, check out McCain greeting husband- and father-to-be, Levi Johnson.
 </p><p>
 And then, notice the way the NYT photographer lined up the angle in the second shot above <a href='http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/palin-family-welcomes-mccain-to-twin-cities/' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>(from a diptych</a> at The Caucus) making it look like McCain -- otherwise moving to hug Bristol Palin -- is reaching out to embrace her tummy!
 </p><p>
 As uncomfortable and inappropriate as it feels, the drama surrounding the Palin family -- especially on the visual plane -- has become very much a political issue. That's also Josh Marshall's <a href='http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/212890.php' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>reaction</a> as the GOP proper, as well as the Christian Conservative wing of the Republican Party (which the Republican Convention has turned into a pander-fest to) moves to play Sarah Palin and her family -- with all the symbolism and loading of motherhood, and the nuclear family, and the right-to-life, and the sanctity of marriage, and (the appropriation of) feminism -- for all its worth.
 </p><p>
 Personally, I couldn't be more frustrated and sorry that the McCain campaign -- sinking that much further below the level of moral and intellectual poverty it has been operating on for months, and now nominating the unqualified and politically and culturally extreme Sarah Palin -- has set the stage for a Presidential campaign drama and <a href='http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jay-rosen/the-culture-war-option-fo_b_123483.html' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>culture war</a> the likes we haven't seen since Terri Schiavo. As the McCain campaign exploits the Palin pick through visual symbolism, however, the last thing we can do is close our eyes.
 </p><p>
 <em>(Edited for readability 9:10 pm PST)</em>
 </p><p>
 <span style="font-size:8pt;">(image: Reuters.&nbsp; caption:&nbsp; Levi Johnston (L) is greeted by U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain (R) as Johnston's girlfriend Bristol Palin (C) looks on after McCain arrived to attend the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota September 3, 2008. Bristol Palin is the daughter of U.S. Republican vice-presidential candidate and Gov. of Alaska Sarah Palin. The campaign has announced that Bristol is five months pregnant and plans to marry Johnston. image 2: Stephen Crowley, NYT)</span>
 </p> <p><a href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?a=f4UYGM' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?i=f4UYGM" border="0"></img></a></p>', '1220647034', '1220643120', '2008-09-05')
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 <img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/HeislerRNC.jpg" height="320" width="600" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Heislerrnc"></img>
 </p><p>
 You remember the transmitter controversy, regarding the <a href='http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2004/10/08/bulge/index.html' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>alleged bump</a> under Bush's jacket and the rumor that Bush -- like a <a href='http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/2004/10/strongmore_on_b.html' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>pod person</a> -- was receiving his debate answers directly from Rove?
 </p><p>
 Watching the RNC on TV, you quickly get the feeling -- especially when it comes to Sarah Palin -- that maybe everybody in that convention is also wearing the transmitter, so uniform are the <a href='http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/09/gops_internal_talking_points_f.php' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>talking points</a>.
 </p><p>
 It's for that reason Todd Heisler's photo last evening of the Bush tele-speech managed to effectively distill the whole situation down to one shot. I mean, it's all there: The "cowboy" party. The "white" party. The "everything's black-and-white" party. The "shifted over to the right" party. The "pretend Bush is relevant" party, and the "pretend Bush didn't have time to show up in person" party.
 </p><p>
 Given that McCain didn't want Bush here in the first place, it was also a fitting farewell for a photo-op Presidency.
 </p><p>
 <span style="font-size:8pt;">(image: Todd Heisler/NYT. September 2, 2008)</span>
 </p> <p><a href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?a=69JwY7' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?i=69JwY7" border="0"></img></a></p>', '1220647034', '1220647024', '2008-09-05')
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 <img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/mccain%20RNC%20Thompson.jpg" height="536" width="800" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Mccain Rnc Thompson"></img>
 </p><p>
 The audacious scale here is an incredible commentary on how McCain's captivity has been inflated to obscene proportions. 
 </p><p>
 And then, there's the ongoing ambiguity of what the image is supposed to actually represent. As Wes Clark said: “I don’t think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president.”
 </p><p>
 <span style="font-size:8pt;">(image: Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images. caption: Former US Senator and presidential candidate Fred Thompson speaks about presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, seen on a giant screen in the background as a wounded soldier, during the Republican National Convention at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 2, 2008)</span>
 </p> <p><a href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?a=h5xQJV' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?i=h5xQJV" border="0"></img></a></p>', '1220647034', '1220647023', '2008-09-05')
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 <img src="http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/lunch.jpg" height="493" width="610" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Lunch"></img>
 </p><p>
 This is the Day 2 shot released by the McCain campaign of the newly announced Veep. Otherwise, Palin <a href='http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/palin-keeps-a-low-profile/' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>kept a low profile</a>, canceling a convention speech before the Republican National Coalition for Life.
 </p><p>
 Your read?
 </p><p>
 <span style="font-size:8pt;">(h/t: Victoria)</span>
 </p><p>
 <span style="font-size:8pt;">(image via Reuters. Minneapolis. September 2, 2008)</span>
 </p> <p><a href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?a=MMyA7r' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Bagnewsnotes?i=MMyA7r" border="0"></img></a></p>', '1220647034', '1220647022', '2008-09-05')
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