Click here, and scroll down for the before and after photos. The version that appeared in USA Today makes Condi look quite demonic, doesn’t it?
Check Michelle Malkin’s blog for a comprehensive list of links and reader emails that provide even more proof that this photo was obviously altered - and for what reason? Hmmm ….
I’m joining her in encouraging people who are bothered by this to email Richard Curtis (USA Today’s Graphics and Photos Managing Editor) at rcurtis@usatoday.com
Update: On the USA Today page on which the photo appeared, the unaltered version is now up, along with this note at the top:
Editor’s note: The photo of Condoleezza Rice that originally accompanied this story was altered in a manner that did not meet USA TODAY’s editorial standards. The photo has been replaced by a properly adjusted copy. Photos published online are routinely cropped for size and adjusted for brightness and sharpness to optimize their appearance. In this case, after sharpening the photo for clarity, the editor brightened a portion of Rice’s face, giving her eyes an unnatural appearance. This resulted in a distortion of the original not in keeping with our editorial standards.
But probably in keeping with the personal beliefs of some of the editorial staff, I would venture to say.
Evening update: My buddy Cal over at California Conservative has the third pic in this series (scroll down a bit in that post). Heh.
The republic is being destroyed and sold to the highest corporate bidder and THIS is what right-wingers (and childish newspaper editors) choose to focus their efforts on? May God save us all!
Comment by Dan Kallem @ 10/26/2005 - 3:36 pm
Save the chicken little argument and look around you. This isn’t the only issue being discussed.
BTW, I wasn’t aware the republic was being destroyed …. should I be on the lookout for burka advocates knocking forcefully on my door any day now?
Comment by Sister Toldjah @ 10/26/2005 - 3:47 pm
If USA Today had any integrity, the person who altered the picture and the page editor who approved running with the picture would both be fired. They are still employed at USA Today and will pull this stunt again, and again, and again…
Comment by PCD @ 10/26/2005 - 3:51 pm
Let us break down the story a little for you liberals… to show bias … non reporting of facts… lots of opinion in a news piece.
———-
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declined on Wednesday to rule out American forces still being needed in Iraq a decade from now. Senators warned that the Bush administration must play it straight with the public or risk losing public support for the war.
Condi said a whole bunch. But USA Today led with Condi declining to rule out “American forces still being needed in Iraq a decade from now…” Why was this even a question posed by senators? Bush has been clear that there is NO TIMETABLE. That we will stay until the job is done. In this SAME first paragraph the next sentence says that “Senators warned that the Bush administration must play it straight with the American public….”. So must Congress. So must Boxer. So must Shumer. When Shumer said on Meet the Press on Sunday that there is “no plan”. Why isn’t he told or why isn’t it reported that there is a plan and that Shumer must play it straight with the American people? People wonder where the bias is…. It’s easy to see.
Pushed by senators from both parties to define the limits of U.S. involvement in Iraq and the Middle East, Rice also declined to rule out the use of military force in Iran or Syria, although she said the administration prefers diplomacy.
Why was this even an idiotic question of Senators and why was it reported as something new? I’m sure Clinton would’ve made sure (IF HE WAS TELLING THE TRUTH) to say that he is declining to rule out the use of military force in Iran and Syria if asked. Heck. Clinton did use military force by the way without U.N. approval in a few countries.
“I don’t think the president ever takes any of his options off the table concerning anything to do with military force,” Rice said.
BRILLIANT. Thank you Condi!
Rice appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations committee for only the second time since members gave her an unexpectedly tepid endorsement to replace Colin Powell in January, and she fielded pointed questions about U.S. intentions and commitment on Iraq from lawmakers who said they are hearing complaints at home.
Hearing complaints from home after a near incessant negative reporting from the media and constant drumbeat that Bush lied. Way to create news USA Today!
“Our country is sick at heart at the spin and false expectations,” Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., told Rice. “They want the truth and they deserve it.”
Again with the FALSE ACCUSATIONS but this time as a quote from a liberal Senator of my state. Yes. We want the truth from Boxer. Who incidentally supported Clinton and Kerry who both said the same things Bush said prior to the war and prior to Bush even being elected.
Rice said Iraq’s police and Army forces are becoming better able to handle the country’s security without U.S. help, and she repeated President Bush’s warning that setting a timetable for withdrawal plays into terrorists’ hands.
Thank you again Condi. Thank you USA Today for reporting what Condi said here.
“The terrorists want us to get discouraged and quit,” Rice said. “They believe we do not have the will to see this through.”
The left gives the terrorists hope.
Rice said the United States will follow a model that was successful in Afghanistan. Starting next month, she said, joint diplomatic-military groups — called Provincial Reconstruction Teams — will work alongside Iraqis as they train police, set up courts, and help local governments establish essential services.
By State Department design, Rice testified before the committee just days after Iraq apparently approved its first constitution since a U.S.-led coalition ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. Her appearance also coincided with the start of Saddam’s trial in Baghdad for a 1982 massacre of 150 of his fellow Iraqis.
Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., agreed with the Bush administration’s stay-the-course approach but said there are legitimate questions to ask about the future.
Sure there are. But not one of the legitimate questions have to do with Bush lying to get us to war.
“We should recognize that most Americans are focused on an exit strategy in Iraq,” said Lugar, the Foreign Relations Committee chairman. “Even if withdrawal timelines are deemed unwise because they might provide a strategic advantage to the insurgency, the American people need to more fully understand the basis upon which our troops are likely to come home.”
When the job is complete Mr. Lugar
An AP-Ipsos poll this month found 61% of respondents disapprove of Bush’s handling of Iraq while 32% said they approve. In August, 53% said the United States made a mistake by going to war while 43% said it was the right decision.
I’m part of the 61% who disapprove of Bush’s handling of Iraq. Too much negotiation with the terrorist leader in Fallujah and other places and too much letting them hide in mosques. No building should be sacred in this war to give them a chance to recuperate. This war needed to end quicker with us kicking but and taking names. The longer it drags out the longer innocent Iraqi’s suffer and the longer WE suffer.
The figures represent a sharp drop-off from strong support for the war in the early going. The war also had overwhelming support in Congress, including from most of Rice’s questioners Wednesday.
Thank you USA Today for mentioning that the war had overwhelming support in Congress.
“One thing the Vietnam generation learned is no foreign policy can be sustained without the informed consent of the American people. And we haven’t gotten that informed consent in terms of them knowing what they’re signing on to from here on out,” Sen. Joseph P. Biden Jr., D-Del., told Rice. “So I’m not looking for a date to get out of Iraq. But at what point, assuming the strategy works, do you think we’ll be able to see some sign of bringing some American forces home?”
That was a stupid question Biden. Not referring to your intelligence sir. Just your question.
Rice did not address the Vietnam comparison, and said the question of withdrawal is one for military planners.
BRILLIANT answer Condi!
“I really don’t want to hazard what I think would be a guess, even if it were an assessment, of when that might be possible,” Rice said of a troop withdrawal.
Later, Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Md., told Rice that her response to questions about U.S. troop withdrawal leaves open the possibility that U.S. forces could be in Iraq five or even 10 years down the road. Rice did not dispute that.
That’s right Rice can’t dispute that. What part of no timetable do you folks not understand.
“I don’t know how to speculate about what will happen 10 years from now, but I do believe that we are moving on a course on which Iraqi security forces are rather rapidly able to take care of their own security concerns,” Rice responded.
Boxer read quotation after quotation from administration figures about Iraq, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s February 2003 prediction that the war could “last six days, six weeks, I doubt six months,” to make the point that the war has not gone as the administration predicted.
Nope. Nobody could’ve predicted to what extent the left would’ve aided and abetted the enemy (give them hope). Nobody could’ve predicted to what extent the enemies from Syria and Iran would’ve came in to do Iraqi’s harm. That’s not lying. Nobody can predict anything. And it would be irresponsible. And Rumsfeld simply gave a flippant answer after being pressed for a timetable by reporters (I saw that question and answer period - it was disgraceful the way the reporters were NOT doing their job)
Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, read portions of a letter from a father who lost a son in Iraq. The letter called the war a “misguided effort.”
MORE USA TODAY attacks in the form of a U.S. Senator reading a letter and the USA Today innocently reporting it. Nice grandstanding. Senator George Voinovich cares more than others. It added to the debate. It added to the questions and answers to and from Condi. /end sarcasm
“We have to really level with the American people,” Voinovich told Rice. “This is not going to be over in two years … we’re not going to just be able to walk out of Iraq and this is going to be over.
Yes. Level with the American people Voinovich! Tell us why you want us to pull out before the JOB IS DONE. Please Senator explain yourself.
Comment by Baklava @ 10/26/2005 - 4:34 pm
What I do with my lips is really none of your business. I hope you haven’t spent too many restless nights wondering. Dream on and please, um - MoveOn (pun intended). –ST
Comment by phil @ 10/26/2005 - 4:50 pm
- As an ancillery, if somewhat off topic comment, if its really possible to go off topic when talking about the anal retentive all consuming mindless get ChimpyMcBush crusade of the left, John “I coined a new word pravaraflop” sKerry is at it again. This chucklehead is truly the walking, talking enbodiment of the political maleprop that just keeps on giving. Amoung his erudite pronouncements today, he avers at one and the same time that he was for more troops in Iraq before he was against them. He also did one of his amazing feats of pulling totally imaginary mis-facts from his derrier, when he stated with fierce conviction, that the US is backing an Iraqui constitution, rejected by two thirds of the Iraqui voters. He continues to make people wonder if he lives on the same planet with the rest of us. I really hope the Mass. electorate send him packing from the Senate this time around, along with Chapiquiddik Kenedrunk.
Big Bang waves hi to sistah
Comment by Big Bang Hunter @ 10/26/2005 - 6:59 pm
- On yet another front on the WOT, cable news is reporting that the defense team for Hussein and his fellow murderers, are openly yammering and whining to the UN for protection from the evil American forces. No one with half a brain doubted who the Jihadists real friends are, but they must be getting pretty desperate to be so public about it. Since the Oil-for-food gravy train has screeched to a halt, in the spirit of all crooks, I expect the UN to suddenly get amnesia.
As per Condi, the left knows full well that she is quite capable of body slamming Hillery in a head to head election, so expect to see the lefty MSM to step up the onslaught as we approach the primaries. Time is running out for the Dems. What the American voting public sees, day after day, is the left in control of the party, choosing to devote all thier energies to bringing down the Bush admin, and not a finger lifted for formimg a viable socially acceptable plan and platform for the party they infest. If the moderates aren’t able to rest some semblance of control from the extreme elements soon, this lop-sided situation may continue for generations to come, and even deepen. they really need to drop the idiotic ineffective attacks and try standing for something again, instead of against everything mainstream America. A good starting point might be to re-embrace the idea that in a Democratic system, its ok for the majority to rule…..
Bang that drum
Comment by Big Bang Hunter @ 10/26/2005 - 7:35 pm
I have the scoop on the photosphopping job on my site by a techie who knows his stuff.
It’s worth checking out.
Comment by Sam @ 10/27/2005 - 6:04 pm
PCD: At this point I’m just thankful that they changed it. Good to know there are those out there in the blogosphere who keep up with this stuff.
Bak: You’re on a roll, my friend
Bang: Literally LOL at your first post,
Sam: I’ll check it out - thanks!
Comment by Sister Toldjah @ 10/27/2005 - 10:31 pm
:neutral::shock:Sister Toldjah Rules… Keep up the obviuosly GOOD work. I look forword to reading more.
Comment by ir8-n8 @ 10/28/2005 - 4:43 pm