Posted on 03/30/2006 9:16:27 PM PST by Fred
SACRAMENTO – During his congressional campaign, Howard Kaloogian has portrayed himself as an aggressive conservative willing to go the extra mile, or in this case, 7,000 miles, to show that the war in Iraq is going well.
But a funny thing happened on the way back from Baghdad – at least according to Kaloogian: His group stopped in Istanbul, their pictures got confused and now he's at the center of a national Internet photo scandal.
For weeks, Kaloogian's campaign Web site featured a photo of a peaceful city block to help make his case that things are going well in Iraq.
“We took this photo of Baghdad while we were in Iraq,” the caption accompanying the photo read. “Iraq (including Baghdad) is much more calm and stable than what many people believe it to be.”
There was one problem with the photo. It wasn't Baghdad. It was a suburb of Istanbul, Turkey.
Kaloogian's explanation that it was an innocent mix-up isn't being bought by bloggers across the nation who uncovered the bogus photo.
Some of them believe he's guilty of what he's accused the mainstream media of doing: slanting the news to fit his own beliefs.
“The simplest explanation is that he lied to prove that Baghdad is this wonderful suburban safe place,” said Tamara Baker, a St. Paul, Minn., resident who followed the story on liberal Internet blogs.
After he was snared in an Internet frenzy, Kaloogian acknowledged the problem yesterday and took the photo down from his Web site.
“They used a picture that was wrong. There's nothing sinister about it,” Kaloogian said.
Kaloogian, a former assemblyman, is the founder of a group called Move America Forward, dedicated to supporting the Iraq War.
In July, he took a 10-day trip to publicize what he said was the positive news out of Iraq, now the scene of daily sectarian violence.
During his trip, he announced his candidacy for the 50th Congressional District seat.
Kaloogian said the mistake occurred because some of the people on the trip, which included conservative radio talk-show hosts, went home through Istanbul. All the group members pooled their photos. Kaloogian said his Web master selected a photo of Istanbul.
Bloggers began questioning the photo Tuesday night.
It didn't look like Iraq.
None of the signs were in Arabic. A woman was wearing Western clothes. Billboards were advertising Western products.
The issue bounced from blog to blog, mostly among liberals.
Finally, yesterday morning, a participant at the DailyKos blog found a photograph confirming that the photo was taken in a suburb of Istanbul.
Joshua Marshall, operator of a center/left blog called Talking Points Memo, said the incident undermines Kaloogian's view that the mainstream media isn't telling the truth and needs correcting from conservatives.
“He's saying, 'Believe me, I've been there.' But it makes him seem like a joke,” Marshall said.
The incident shows the strength of bloggers, he said.
“It shows the amazing power of distributed journalism, where you get a few hundred people researching this at the same time and someone comes up with the answer right away,” Marshall said.
Kaloogian isn't just getting criticism from bloggers on the left.
Last month, Matt Rexroad, a Sacramento Republican consultant who operates a blog called Cal Races, criticized Kaloogian for inaccurately listing an endorsement from the California Pro-Life Council.
Rexroad once worked for state Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside, who is running for the same 50th District seat.
Kaloogian, in an interview, admitted that the California Pro-Life Council had not endorsed him and he removed the endorsement listing.
Rexroad, who served in the Army in Iraq, also blasted Kaloogian, saying he announced his candidacy on the road from Baghdad to Kuwait City.
“As someone that has driven that highway many times – the last thing you need to be doing along that stretch of Iraq is announcing your candidacy for Congress. Keep your eyes open and your head on a swivel. The military personnel protecting him weren't there as security for his little mobile press conference,” Rexroad wrote.
Kaloogian said he announced his candidacy from his hotel.
So I guess he has an incompetent webmaster and he does not check the content of his own website for accuracy.
Does not say much for his leadership qualities.
oops....
That's going to leave a mark, but hey, he's not in my district.
Go Howard!
sleasebag? ha!
Pain Guys.
Check his voting record before judging him on the content of a website.
It probably was his webmaster or some crony political marketing type. I doubt he did it purposely because of the unnecessary nature of it but it still looks horrible and the last thing the left needs is raw meat and the last thing Republicans need is a candidate parading around like a vegetarian steak.
The picture had been up for weeks? I thought for sure an e-mail I got from him earlier this week (before this 'scandal')stated that he had just put them up. I didn't read it closely so I may have misunderstood.
Looks like he managed to get his website put on the map. Smart guy.
If your name is on the website (or anything else) it is your reputation that is at stake, you had better make sure personally what is there is accurate.
Your right, this hurt all Republicans not just this slacker.
report him to the FPPC or FEC or GOP if you think harm has been done to all republicans and just sit back and wait for their prompt .. yawwwn,, response.
it's all al gore's fault for inventing the internet would be my defense. ;-)
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