Alone? Hiding? Diminished?
You may have seen the original Trump campaign ad:
Deep in the heart of Delaware, Joe Biden sits in his basement.
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) August 5, 2020
Alone. Hiding. Diminished. pic.twitter.com/0QVsbp2iis
The original Biden pictures in this ad have been altered and a number of news sources have written about it. Here is the headline on yesterday’s Associated Press analysis (which was not in this morning’s Wheeling Intelligencer):
Trump campaign ad used altered photos to make Biden appear to be ‘alone’ when he wasn’t
Here is the AP’s conclusion:
CLAIM: Photos that appear in a campaign ad for President Donald Trump show that former Vice President Joe Biden is “alone” and “hiding” in “his basement.”
AP’S ASSESSMENT: At least two of the photos were taken long before the coronavirus outbreak, at events where Biden was with many other people, and were altered to remove people and objects and make him appear to be “alone” and “hiding.”
THE FACTS: President Donald Trump’s campaign released an ad on social media containing multiple doctored photos of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in an attempt to cast Biden in a light that he is alone and hiding out.
Is doctoring a photo a Republican thing? Especially in West Virginia?
In the 2018 West Virginia Republican senatorial primary, a commercial from the Evan Jenkins camp purported to show his opponent, Patrick Morrisey, shaking hands with Hillary Clinton. As was discovered, it never happened. Later that year, local Republican state senator Ryan Ferns’ campaign doctored two photos of his opponent, William Ihlenfeld, to put him in pictures with Hillary Clinton and President Obama. (I wrote about both of these examples here).
Are there are any examples of WV Democrat’s using similar unethical practices? I haven’t seen any.
Off-topic – Great American Outdoors Act update
An editorial in this morning’s Wheeling Intelligencer praised the passage of the Act. In particular, it noted the work done by WV Senator Joe Manchin. However, local representative (and Ogden favorite) David McKinley and his “no” vote were not mentioned in the editorial.
