Talking Points Memo has been on this story from the start. It began with an inquiry into just what the McCain campaign was thinking when they had him stand in front of a giant lime green backdrop for his speech last night...again. Turned out the green was actually from the grass in front of what appeared to be a huge mansion, which, again, seemed an odd choice, optics-wise. But TPM kept digging and figured out that the image was of Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood, CA.
An odd choice, no? Why ever would they use that as the backdrop for McCain's nomination acceptance speech I wonder? Hmm. Could it be...
...several readers have suggested that perhaps one of the tech geeks charged with setting up the audio/visual bells and whistles for the evening was tasked with getting pictures of Walter Reed Army Medical Center but goofed and got this instead.
Pretty much says it all, doesn't it? To their credit The California Democratic Party is on it and the message is clear (from a CDP press release):
Today, John Heaner, [Region 13 Director, and Walter Reed Middle School PTA Board member], will be in front of Walter Reed Middle School to underscore how out of touch John McCain is. Thursday night's convention photo op disaster illustrates that McCain and Bush have ignored the wounded troops at Walter Reed Hospital for so long they can't even tell the difference between the hospital and the school in North Hollywood.
I just got off the phone with John who told me the this was about the hypocrisy of John McCain and Republicans who
"...claim to care about wounded soldiers but no one in his campaign could spot the difference between the hospital where we send our wounded soldiers and the middle school where I send my little girls."
He said that John McCain "took ownership" of that image the second he walked out on that stage
"...during the biggest night of his life, for the biggest speech of his life."
So far, the McCain campaign is refusing comment, for obvious reasons, but they may not be able to for long. John told me the media interest in this is out of control. He'd already spoken to NBC, ABC, NPR among others and had to go because The New York Times was calling on the other line.
As if it couldn't get better, the school's principal, Donna Tobin, has released this statement:
"It has been brought to the school's attention that a picture of the front of our school, Walter Reed Middle School, was used as a backdrop at the Republican National Convention. Permission to use the front of our school for the Republican National Convention was not given by our school nor is the use of our school's picture an endorsement of any political party or view."
TPM deserves a lot of credit for staying on this story and props to CDP for its rapid response today.
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