Drudge: AP gives Bush “devil horns” in photograph
posted at 4:35 pm on December 20, 2006 by Ian
Drudge says an AP photographer pictured Bush under the Presidential seal in a fashion that made it look like he had horns. Was it intentional?
GreenRoom
- Let’s Get One Thing Perfectly Clear…
- Obama: ‘I deserve a second term’
- NYC mom sues city for $900 trillion for taking custody of her children
- CNN’s suspension of Roland Martin is a teachable moment
- Mitt Clinton, Rick Obama?
- Buck up, GOP voters!
- Romney and Gingrich debate ‘who’s on first’
- UK Teens given birth control without parental consent
- Second teacher from LA elementary school identified as child molester
- The jobs numbers the Obama administration doesn’t want you to see
Hot Links
|
|
Feeds
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Of course it was. They do this all the time. Nothing new.
I would place money that they all sit around chuckling over it as they crop it out.
Gregor on December 20, 2006 at 4:37 PM
Kinda looks like the little angel wings on top of my Christmas tree.
maintenanceman on December 20, 2006 at 4:37 PM
No way to tell for sure. You’d have to look at the photographer, find out if he or she was doing the same sort of absurd contortions that press photographers were using to get John Ashcroft lined up with the breast of that statue (remember that?) before it got covered up.
Spurius Ligustinus on December 20, 2006 at 4:38 PM
I think it is reaching really far to assume they did this on purpose.
bj1126 on December 20, 2006 at 4:41 PM
Who cares. As someone in another thread stated; these BDS sufferers are going to need counseling come 2009.
dalewalt on December 20, 2006 at 4:41 PM
It’s not the photographer. Lawrence Jackson is a good photographer with no history of this type of thing, but the cropping is obvious. Why would you crop a photo almost to his chin, and then so high above his head unless you were purposely attempting to frame in the “horns?”
Gregor on December 20, 2006 at 4:44 PM
I’m waiting for the Hillary photo where she is wearing a halo!
dallas94 on December 20, 2006 at 4:46 PM
Tony’s right… This IS a No News Day.
Mazztek on December 20, 2006 at 4:48 PM
I think the golden circles look like halos…
see-dubya on December 20, 2006 at 4:49 PM
I prefer to think of them as “rays of light”, ala Michelangelo’s Moses with horns.
EF on December 20, 2006 at 4:51 PM
For the record, I believe this is purely a coincidence.
Ian on December 20, 2006 at 4:53 PM
I’d be interested in finding out if the employees who cropped the photo have names such as …
Bidal Huissen
Mohammed Jafar
Najib al-Hazmíjah
Gregor on December 20, 2006 at 4:55 PM
Can I…Uh…question the timing?
serenity on December 20, 2006 at 4:56 PM
“El Diablo” indeed…
CliffHanger on December 20, 2006 at 4:57 PM
What do our photo experts out there think? Would anyone charged with the responsibility of prepping photos for publication – assuming they’re professionals – crop a photo this high toward the chin?
I’m not an expert, but even basic photography teaches that this would be a piss poor cropping job unless they were trying to focus attention on the “horns.”
Gregor on December 20, 2006 at 5:01 PM
“Satan is good. Satan is your pal. Kill, Kill, Kill.” From The ‘Burbs
MikeyB on December 20, 2006 at 5:01 PM
You can’t address this unless you know what the original photo looked like. Looks more like bat wings to me…..
honora on December 20, 2006 at 5:05 PM
Good point on the cropping, that’s what gives it away. The face should be centered, or at least in the middle of the pic.
JustTruth101 on December 20, 2006 at 5:10 PM
Drudge is going out on a limb with this one. They (the AP) has better luck with words or letters behind him. At least it’s not photoshopped.’ A snark reaction would send our ilk into “Kos Land.” Slow news day so just move along and let Drudge suffer the lack of attention. Other stuff to really worry about. Like OMG, Denver is stuck in a blizzard! Poor us, no work and plenty of booze!
Jiggity on December 20, 2006 at 5:10 PM
I think I see a halo, too.
Either way, the composition is peculiar. Attention is definitely being drawn to the seal behind him. Probably not the photographer, but the composition of the final image, whatever the intent, is not a coincidence.
Blacklake on December 20, 2006 at 5:11 PM
I agree with that, except … if you do a search on the photographer it’s obvious that this guy is extremely good and his photos are fair to Bush. So it’s hard for me to believe he would frame a photo like this.
However, it’s possible there’s something in the lower part of the photo which ruins the shot, but that’s doubtful. I would love to see the original, and I also think it would be interesting to find out the names of the employees who cropped it and examples of some of their other work.
Gregor on December 20, 2006 at 5:14 PM
They’re off their game. I can’t make out the Hitler mustache.
JammieWearingFool on December 20, 2006 at 5:18 PM
“Wherever you find people with a great reservoir of common sense,they don’t believe idiotic things such as the earth spinning around the sun. Reasonable, intelligent people have always recognized that the earth is flat.”
there it is on December 20, 2006 at 5:19 PM
They do do this all the time, but I agree with Ian in this case, seems like coincidence. At the same time though, they really do do this kind of crap all the time, and I wouldn’t be surprised one bit to learn that the photographers were snickering to eachother about it, and one had the balls to go and do it.
RightWinged on December 20, 2006 at 5:19 PM
meh. i’m having a hard timeimagining taking a picture there without the seal framing his head in one way or another. i’m calling coincidence.
jummy on December 20, 2006 at 5:39 PM
My Trekiness is telling me those are Andorian antennae
with the halo effect.
allie on December 20, 2006 at 5:40 PM
I agree…Looks more like a halo you’d see in an old religious icon painting…
Agreed with Ian…not intentional, but also something to keep in mind. ‘Cause this stuff does happen, just not this time.
JetBoy on December 20, 2006 at 5:49 PM
I’m thinking: Batman.
Halley on December 20, 2006 at 5:51 PM
The photographer probably took 100 pictures. AP editors always pick the least flattering image possible. They always try to catch Bush with a weird expression, Cheney with a snarl, etc… I can see them doing it intentionally, but if Drudge hadn’t pointed it out, would anyone have noticed?
The fact that they have done this kind of thing so often in the past, means they don’t get the benefit of the doubt, though.
reaganaut on December 20, 2006 at 5:53 PM
The sudden benefit of doubt given to the AP for no apparent reason wouldn’t be so annoying if the commentors were paying attention. The issue isn’t the photographer. The issue is the cropping, which has obviously been centered awkwardly and unusually high.
Why?
If this was not done on purpose … the employee responsible should still be fired for doing a crappy job.
As Allah likes to say …
There are two possibilities:
1) The person doing the cropping took an otherwise normal picture, zoomed in, and cropped the photo almost to Bush’s chin, totally against the normal proceedure.
2) The person doing the cropping is a 9 year old kid who was playing around with the digital equipment while nobody was looking.
Gregor on December 20, 2006 at 5:57 PM
“Who cares. As someone in another thread stated; these BDS sufferers are going to need counseling come 2009.”
Counseling? More like COMMITTMENT in a facility!
georgej on December 20, 2006 at 6:02 PM
Yep, when I first glanced at the photo it reminded me of Renaissance paintings of Christ. Was pretty amusing to see the topic of the post was devil horns, hah.
Seems a bit of a stretch to look for malicious intent in this particular photo. Doing so seems to discredit other legitimate malicious photos/photoshops/etc.
CorinthianJest on December 20, 2006 at 6:08 PM
I see the Halo
DANEgerus on December 20, 2006 at 6:11 PM
Regardless, I think it’s a good photo. Bush should have it framed.
sandberg on December 20, 2006 at 6:23 PM
Looks he’s pointing and saying, “Joy Behar” to me.
SouthernGent on December 20, 2006 at 6:48 PM
Compare and contrast.
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/pl/021103kerry/im:/061218/481/4c0b70beda864ffba95d50f647e71d22
max on December 20, 2006 at 7:01 PM
Does anyone remember any other photographs of Bush or his cabinet members which were touched up a bit, or at least selected, and looked really bad?
I do.
Condaleezza Rice’ photo, was it on the cover of Time or Newsweek? They could have posted a better photo.
Compared side by side with the same photograph displayed properly, it did look like they did something to the photo, making her eyes look like something from a demon and slasher film character.
Yes, of course I not only believe that the press does this stuff on purpose, I see evidence of it with my own eyes.
William
William2006 on December 20, 2006 at 7:34 PM
“max,”
That is interesting.
It appears that “Mister Death” John “Morgue” Kerry is supposed to be weaing a halo, a glow of heavenly influence, above his head.
Nevertheless, Kerry always lookes like a cross between a movie version of a stereotypical undertaker, such as the emaciated look of the old western, gun slinger, lawless town undertaker, and a corpse.
Kerry also has the most unpleasant tone to his voice, so grating on the nerves, and he has the most unpleasant speaking style, like listening to someone scratch their fingernails across a slate chalkboard. Yeeettccchhhhh!!!
Yes, Kerry looks like death. His face looks like Lurch from the Television “Adams” family, or worse, and he could play the part of the grim reaper, if he’d just keep that mouth shut!
With “leaders” like Kerry in office, is it any wonder that our nation is seeing such problems?
William
William2006 on December 20, 2006 at 7:40 PM
But, then. again,
If we ignore the “Wings as horns” we can see a saintly halo.
Nevertheless,
With their open hostility toward President Bush, that urge to berate him at every turn, and with the psycho babble of modern day psychoanalysts which can conjure up ideas and problems with many a person did not know existed until a “therapist” brought it up, the MSM could subconsciously, unintentionally, be manifesting their subconscious bias and hatred toward President Bush, and this photo image could be a manifestation of that subconscious hatred, bias, and brainwashing from their buddies and their peers.
William
William2006 on December 20, 2006 at 7:47 PM
Give em Hell, President Bush!
right2bright on December 20, 2006 at 7:50 PM
Hmm, I saw the halo thing too. I imagine it depends on your perspective, though my guess is many Bush bashers will be infuriated that some conservatives saw something different in the image.
CR UVa on December 20, 2006 at 7:51 PM
“CR UVa,”
Aside from that perspective, have you noticed the difference in the appearance of President Bush in this photo above, and the appearance of not the president Kerry in the photo in which he has that soft aura above his head from the overhead lights which was shared with us on this forum by “max”, included here, below?
President Bush appears to be a living, breathing, warm, flesh and blood human being. He has color, a gleam in his eye, and looks at peace.
Not the president Kerry appears as a dried up, colorless, kinda like the Evil Emperor Palentine from Star Wars, or like a mummified creature, or a walking zombie.
His skin is leathery, wrinkled, his eyes a consiousless, mindless stare, as if he is on display in a natural history museum, and he looks like a cross between a corpse and an undertaker.
Maybe Kerry could run for rattle snake wrangler of Arizona, or, perhaps he could run for “President” of Cuba.
William
William2006 on December 20, 2006 at 8:20 PM
No, it obviously was unintentional. Just like it was unintentional that “retire” appeared over Cheney’s head in that one photo and that one statue’s bare breast appeared over Ashcroft’s shoulder in every frickin’ picture the Zeus-damned left-stream media photographers took his photo.
JinxMcHue on December 20, 2006 at 10:38 PM
Could it be an Apostolic halo as in pre-Renaissance art?
Tim Burton on December 20, 2006 at 10:42 PM
Jay Leno’s headlines has one of these like every other week (not Bush obviously).
A cameraman picture where someone didn’t consider the backdrop forming a 2-D image; or deliberately made what they thought was an amusing picture (not sure which). Very common, not sure why, but it is.
I’m not thinking it was BDS driven. I mean, wasn’t there a Rumsfeld picture about 6 months back that looked like he had a halo (circular light in backdrop, nicely centered, etc.)?
gekkobear on December 20, 2006 at 11:00 PM
Don’t know how expert Iam, but ….
At first glance, and 2nd ‘kinda look’, its coincidence.
The seal is the edit target, with the president. More for balance w/ his arm up, and color/contrast. Had more to do with the head centered in the round seal. Look at the whole image he made,after cut.
shooter on December 20, 2006 at 11:02 PM
Is there any doubt about the MSM’s anti-Bush, pro-liberal, pro-leftists, Marxist agenda?
Is there any doubt that their world view colors their news and imaging?
Last night our local Public Television station gave a one sided story based on editorial cartoonists. Guess who was the demonized person throughout the story?
Bush, and Reagan, and Nixon.
Guess what else we were “educated” about.
You guessed it.
We were told that all the poor journalists, the press, was censored by the meannies of the Bush administration, and that the news media was holding back the news.
Funny!
It appeared to me that for the past six years, all the news was slanted against President Bush, and pro-Democrats, pro-leftists, pro-fifth columnists, pro-liberals, and even pro-Muslims Jihadis.
Leave it to the poor “We are victims of conservative-Republican meanies” leftists cry foul when they, themselves, are at fault.
William.
William2006 on December 20, 2006 at 11:05 PM
I don’t know, it looks more like Msr. Waffles is wearing a bonnet.
CliffHanger on December 21, 2006 at 12:16 AM
idk, the cropping is consistent with the rule of thirds in photography.
it could also be said bush has been given a halo.
triple on December 21, 2006 at 12:58 AM
Harumph – no one follows the trackbacks on a frivolous post. If you’re interested in indulging your fauxtography gland on this story, visit – yep – here’s the plug: http://suitablyflip.blogs.com/suitably_flip/2006/12/ap_bedevils_bus.html
My final analysis is that the pic is legit, but these exercise is worthwhile and instructive nonetheless.
flip on December 21, 2006 at 1:02 AM
I dunno, if you ignore the ‘horns’, I see the halo that you’d normally see around Jesus’ head in all those paintings I’ve seen when I was growing up. That oughta get those Bush Derangement people in an uproar against the AP. “AP Makes President Bush Look Holy” hehehehehe
DakRoland on December 21, 2006 at 9:27 AM
I think we’re reaching a bit much here. Seriously, if it’s come to this we’re in need of lives.
One Angry Christian on December 21, 2006 at 10:22 AM
I teach yearbook at my school and we take thousands of pictures which are whittled down to one thousand or so. These AP maroons know EXACTLY what they’re doing when they use that picture. They’ve taken a dozen more a second or two before and after that wouldn’t have the same effect.
Reagan was hated and hounded as well. Bush should wear their hatred of him as a badge of pride.
Mojave Mark on December 21, 2006 at 11:18 AM
There a piece of toast on eBay you might be interested in…
honora on December 21, 2006 at 12:57 PM