On the front page Jon Seidl has a post about a mildly funny photo the AP snapped of Mitt Romney yesterday. It caught the attention of reporters and bloggers around the Internet because it looks like a little girl is starring at Romney’s butt as he bends over.
Accompanying Seidl’s post is a poll in which he asks readers whether the AP should have posted the photo. The answer “No, it seems like a ploy to make him look bad” is winning with 90 percent of the vote.
I asked Seidl if he would take a stand on one side or the other. He said the photo of Romney struck him as “odd.”
“In our business, everything is scrutinized as it’s our job to find the details everyone else is missing,” he said. “So it’s hard for me to believe that not one person at AP looked at that photo and thought, ‘Now that’s odd.’ The question then becomes, what was the intention of publishing. Was it to intentionally make Romney look aloof, or did they just find it more funny and innocent? If the former, that’s bad. If the latter, we now know they were grossly mistaken.”
Two thoughts:
1. Those people who said the AP shouldn’t have published the photo are never again allowed to participate in our popular “Caption that photo!” contests on Fridays. (Honor system, people.) Photos selected for that feature are always taken at awkward moments, never in context and usually come from the AP wire.
2. If we’re not allowed to look at funny photos and laugh at them, we would have never had this one from 2009 below. You’ll recall it was published on the Drudge Report and conservatives lapped it up like a nice soup.
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Joel Knows
Oct. 10, 2012 at 12:29amIt would have been very different if the female pictured was an adult. It might have been funny if it had been a blue haired woman that reminded us of Golden Girls sitcom. I heard this was 1 of 6 photos picked out of around 100 shot of Romney at the location. I hope the girl’s parents sue AP over the exploitation and perversion of this shot being 1 of the 6 chosen for publication.
The set-up on the shot was deliberate given the obvious foreshorten in the depth of field. I would also say the girl was a good 15 feet behind Romney at the time. I know because I’ve used similar setups in nature photography a number of times.
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Cosmos102
Oct. 9, 2012 at 10:35pmThe Associated Press is quite a bit different from the Blog section at the Blaze. When the powerful AP publishes a picture out of pure glee because it may do harm to a candidate they oppose, well you can see where the problem comes in. This may spell doom for the AP. They may have “jumped the shark”. Newspapers are already a dying news medium. This spectacle certainly didn’t help.
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912network
Oct. 10, 2012 at 3:06amThe author of this Blaze blog post, Eddie Scarry, has made his disdain for Mitt Romney known, repeatedly, in dozens of stories, since he began working at The Blaze. It’s unsurprising, if disappointing, that his anti-Romney bias is still evident, when we’re facing an existential threat. Even though he claims to not be a RONulan/PAULestinian, he certainly acts like one! The photo in question was grossly inappropriate, and considering the reverence with which Obama was treated when he was running for his first term in office, the contrast couldn’t make their intent more clear.
Eddie, Romney’s the GOP nominee. Get over the loss of your preferred GOP Presidential primary candidate! Based upon your comments, I would guess your preference was Newton Leroy ‘Newt’ Gingrich, the serial adulterer & hardcore ‘Progressive.’ You two seem to think alike.
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BenInNY
Oct. 9, 2012 at 3:25pmVoted no not because of the photo itself, but due to the fact that the caption ignores the content and the story ignores the context of the entire visit.
The Caption That Photo contests have their intent right there up front: make the photo sillier by virtue of the caption. The AP story does what is common for them: omit, misdirect, and imply.
They’re supposed to be a straight, unbiased news source aren’t they? That, I’m reasonably sure, is the reason behind all the “no” answers. We expect it from left or right oriented sites. Putting aside the fact that we do, SHOULD we also have to expect it from organizations like the AP?
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ForMyKidsVA
Oct. 9, 2012 at 3:12pmI sent the Daily Mail link for this photo to The Blaze yesterday hoping it would be this week’s Caption that Photo. Glad to know I get to still participate!
As for those who don’t think it’s appropriate, lighten up. I’m about as hardcore against pedophilia as it gets and I give no leeway in that regard. But this photo…come on. If the situation were reversed and it was Romney gaping at the back of the little girl then that would be sick. It’s obvious she isn’t looking at his can which is what helps to make it funny.
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indy1
Oct. 9, 2012 at 2:22pmIs Eddie Scarry a *******? Why would he think such a posed picture was appropriate from Associated Propaganda with the election only weeks away? You have no idea what that little girl was really looking at.
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AZGranny
Oct. 9, 2012 at 12:41pmThere’s a HUGH difference between a grown man drooling over a womans behind, (which is juvenile) and a grown man supposeably showing his behind to a young girl (which is sick considering the heinous crime of child sex abuse). I would feel the same even if it were Romney ogling and Obama bending over.
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Zipit
Oct. 9, 2012 at 1:34pmOh! Right you are granny. Maybe the caption should read; “Here’s what’s going to happen to you if your parent’s vote for Obama again”
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grand slam grandam
Oct. 9, 2012 at 12:32pmSo glad you were able to re-post Obama checking out that shapely girl’s “Blessed Assurance” (****)! at a public event….no accident there! Gotcha, buddy! Now, all we need to do is ask the little girl herself in Romney’s elementary school impromptu visit why she was gasping!! She’s going to gasp even larger with her newfound publicity! Poor kid.
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