Kerry/Fonda photo doctored

The BBQ Pit
1

Seen this yet?

Ken Light, a professor of journalism ethics at UCBerkeley who took the photo in 1971, says Fonda wasn’t at the rally.

What do you all think? Some super-stupid rightie in a lame attempt to discredit Kerry? Some super-stupid leftie trying to nail the right for something they didn’t do? Other ideas?

I placed this in the Pit so foaming at the mouth, from any side, could occur without some poor moderator having to take the time to move it from IMHO or GD. Hanoi Jane remains a hot-button topic among some vets and hawks. I still see the occasional bumpersticker: “I’m Not Fonda Hanoi Jane.”

2

Actually, the NY Times had an article about this last Friday in which they said:

I immediately sent them a letter pointing to Snopes’ declaration that the photograph was fabricated, and they wrote me back at 1 pm on Friday telling me they’d forwarded the information on to the corrections desk and the article’s reporter; however, the article is still appearing in its incorrect (or at least incomplete) form.

I’m a little baffled at this; it must be their goddamn conservative bias at work. :wink:

It’s pretty deliciously ironic that the doctored photograph was originally taken by a professor of journalism ethics; it’s sort of like finding out the guy you’ve sucker-punched at the bar turns out to be the local sheriff. I hope he tracks the lying bastard down who created the photograph and metaphorically pummels the stuffing out of him.

Daniel

3

Remember the photoshopped guy standing on the World Trade Center? I suspect the net is going to have fun with this Kerry doctoring. I’m sure the photoshop phreaks will soon have Kerry sitting next to the likes of Charlie Manson or Yoda.

4

The tragedy in this, to me, is that no matter how often or how loudly this photo gets debunked, I’m reasonably sure that a fair amount of voters will be left with the idea of Kerry colloborating with that “goddam pinko Femi-Nazi Hanoi Jane.”

5

essvee: you’re clear, I hope that it’s true that both John Kerry and Jane Fonda DID attend the September 1970 anti-war rally in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, right?

The photo showing them sharing the podium is fake. The photo showing them both at the Valley Forge rally is real.

  • Rick
6

And next week, the Republican pundits will argue that we shouldn’t vote for Kerry because he was sharing a hemisphere with Fidel Castro back in the early '70s. :wink:

7

Yep - that’s how dirty politics works. And it’s only gonna get worse.:frowning:

8

two different rally/photo gigs.

Photo 1, taken at the Valley Forge Rally, showing both seated several rows apart is real.

Photo 2, the topic of the OP is a photoshop of one photo of Kerry at one rally, and another of Fonda at yet another rally. (kerry in NY, Fonda in FL). So the photo referred to in the OP, Kerry and Fonda are not at the same rally.

9

Bricker, I just want to make sure you’re clear that at the rally Jane and John both attended, Jane had not yet been to Hanoi:

It’s pretty sleazy for anyone to suggest that Kerry did anything wrong by sitting several rows away from her at that point. Not that you’re suggesting that, but other people are, and it’s sleazy.

Daniel

10

Absolutely. When this issue first came up, I pointed out that I thought it was absurd to criticize Kerry for his attendance, and that Kerry’s views on the war were entitled to great deference, as someone who had been there and shot at. And the mere fact that he sat in the same general area as Fonda meant absolutely nothing. This was and is a non-issue … unless there’s a claim that the original photo is a fake, and that Fonda was never at THAT rally (the Valley Forge rally). Then I think there’s something to be said for correcting the record; even though no invidious inference can be drawn from the truth, it is still valuable to keep the record straight.

  • Rick
11

Obviously the photo was doctored. I mean, clearly Kerry’s head is way large for his body. And his profile has been mushed.

12

Okay, that makes sense. It hadn’t even occurred to me that some people might doubt the literal veracity of the first photograph. I should remember that not everyone goes scurrying to Snopes at the first hint of a rumor :D.

Daniel

13

But plenty of invidious inferences can be drawn from partial truths. It is my guess that many of the smears, coming from both sides of the isle, will be of the “half-truth” variety. The record being complete is as important as the record being straight. It’s going to be an ugly election year.

Enjoy,
Steven

14

And there are people who evidently don’t believe a word they say nor any site that agrees with them.

15

You are a mean, cruel, very funny person. :smiley:

16

I’m sure they’ll eventually print the correction.
On page 26, in a little box, with text only, and nobody will notice it or care.

17

Oh yes Bricker, I’m clear on that, and I’m also clear on the fact you didn’t read the article I posted before asking your question. Thanks though!

18

No, no - I read the article you posted thoroughly. But neither the article nor your OP makes any mention of a genuine photo at all; a reader might well conclude that Fonda and Kerry never attended ANY rally together, especially after your comment that the guy that took the photo in 1971 says Fonda wasn’t at the rally at all.

And, of course, that’s true: she wasn’t at the Mineola rally on June 13 where Kerry spoke. But she was at the Valley Forge rally with Kerry. Since your post never made clear that there was a rally that they both attended, and, indeed, might even be read to suggest that they never attended any rally together, I thought I’d ask.

But since you were hip to the facts all along, it turns out that my worry was baseless.

  • Rick
19

Bricker, or can I call you Rick, is this some kind of sick joke?

Paragraphs two, three and four form the article:

"Ken Light, now a UC Berkeley professor of journalism ethics, says he photographed Kerry at an anti-war rally in Mineola, N.Y., on June 13, 1971. The decorated Vietnam veteran was preparing to give a speech at the rally – but Fonda was never at the event.

Light’s photo gained prominence when someone took it and merged the shot of the now Democratic presidential front-runner with another separate photo of Fonda – one taken by photographer Owen Franken as the actress spoke to a 1972 rally in Miami Beach, Fla.

The fabricated Kerry-Fonda photo was circulated with an identifying logo of the Associated Press and became the subject of talk show fodder after it was placed on many Web sites as evidence of Kerry’s “anti-American” activities after his war service."

Hmm, seems like the photo is mentioned in each paragraph. Oh, I get it, your laserlike super-lawyer mind has fastened on the word “says” in the first paragraph. The second paragraph, however, makes it quite clear that the photo is indeed “genuine.”

Listen, pal, I don’t give a rat’s ass about the Valley Forge rally, and any attendant photos, or whether Kerry and Fonda ever were present a the same rally. That has little or anything to do with my post. My post is constructed in such a fashion that a savvy reader would follow the link that comprises the second line of the post, and which sets up the question(s) I ask after the link. It should be clear to anyone with an IQ in the triple digits as to what photo I refer. Kay?

I sure hope, for your clients’ sake, that you are reading them torts or contracts or whichever they are employing you to read a tad bit closer than you read the article to which I referred. If only you used your powers for good.

Now go eat a bag. You are a nasty ol’ right-wing apologist, and you smell of wee.

20

I’m gonna vote for Bush but even I thought the first Jane Fonday-John Kerry photo was a lot of nothin’! If I was gonna doctor a photo of them, it would have them shagging underneath a photo of a smiling Ho Chi Mihn.
:wink: