[Building on a post from The Man of GOP and the City, which you should read (it's short & mostly visual) to get the full effect.]

MoveOn.org has a new ad out, which includes a shot of "American troops stuck in Iraq".

Trouble is, they used a picture of British troops in the video, one of whom is wearing shorts (which are not part of the American uniform).

Normally I'd just say "buncha dumbasses" and ignore it, but as we all know, it's not the lie, it's the cover-up that'll bring you down.

In the sidebar picture, they show Mr. Shorts wearing pants.

But not just ANY pants - the same exact pants as the guy standing next to him.

This presents some problems, since they're not standing at the same angle, but they hoped no one would notice.

Sorry guys, it's just not your day.

Links to some VERY big pictures follow, so it might take a while on dial-up, but I wanted you to have the full effect.

First, a screenshot of the MO.O site, so you can see the pictures side-by-side (and as proof that it actually happened, in case they take it down - remember: ALWAYS GET A SCREENSHOT).

Second, greatly enlarged side-by-side comparison of the fake pic (left) and the real pic (right). In the fake pic, notice that the camoflage pattern - right down to the wrinkles and reflection of the sunlight - is EXACTLY the same on both pairs (with allowances for distortion due to photoshopping).

Yet if you look at their feet, you'll see that they're standing at different angles. Which makes for a VERY strange effect for the left soldier: although his right foot is slightly behind him, and you should see the butt-crack of his pants (as you do in the shorts pic), you actually see the front of his pants, which made me think of Escher's "Belvedere" and thus the title of this post.

Anyway, I suggest that MO.O remove the ad, apologize for misleading the American people, and fire the guy who came up with the idea for posting the fake picture.

UPDATE: Tiny thumbnails of very large pictures:

First:

Second:

Posted by: Harvey at 08:35 AM | Comments (18) | Add Comment
Post contains 345 words, total size 3 kb.

1 Are you trying to say someone with a political agenda is trying to decieve me? I don't believe it!

Posted by: Contagion at November 30, 2005 08:37 AM (e8b4J)

2 Ha! Too funny. At least they tried.

Posted by: Oddybobo at November 30, 2005 09:27 AM (6Gm0j)

3 Why you! How dare you get a Malkinlance to something you posted on your own website!

Posted by: Frank J. at November 30, 2005 09:54 AM (NkZSk)

4 I looked and looked but I could see no butt cracks. You teasing me?

Posted by: Machelle at November 30, 2005 10:22 AM (ZAyoW)

5 Why demand an apology from idiots? It's not like that will make them any less idiotic.

Posted by: Bugz at November 30, 2005 11:00 AM (uKuUC)

6 Machelle - Well... a cloth-covered butt crack... Bugz - True, but I'm trying to be kind by suggesting the course a responsible adult would take after being caught exercising bad judgment. Not that I expect them to go that direction :-)

Posted by: Harvey at November 30, 2005 01:14 PM (ubhj8)

7 http://www.actionforum.com/forum/scores.html?comment_id=270466 lets see what they do.

Posted by: z at November 30, 2005 01:50 PM (ii/Tg)

8 Kinda off-topic, but I LOVE M.C. Escher's drawings! :-)

Posted by: dustbunny101 at November 30, 2005 06:56 PM (a+Mxr)

9 Naughty MoveOn.org. You would think that they would have learned a lesson from Air America that you can't fool the public anymore!

Posted by: SeanS at December 01, 2005 04:10 AM (cEjQ0)

10 And? Seems to me this is small taters compared to the cherrypicked WMD evidence, the Scooter Libby/Karl Rove lies, and the biggest lie--"Mission Accomplished."

Posted by: paul at December 01, 2005 07:36 AM (oseFw)

11 Paul - Granted, it's very small. I just found it ironically amusing that MO.O would doctor a photograph on a web page designed to accuse Bush of misleading people. It was mostly petty schadenfreude on my part. As for the rest of your comment... I'll just say that I disagree with your evaluation of Bush's job performance and leave it at that.

Posted by: Harvey at December 01, 2005 08:34 AM (ubhj8)

12 Shocking! Only evil libs could do such a dastardly thing: http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/145/1296/640/whatever-med.jpg

Posted by: circlethewagons at December 01, 2005 10:49 AM (7Fqgx)

13 Dude, did you know you've been linked to by PJM / OSM? http://www.osm.org/site/story/20051130moveonfraud?currow=9 Congrats!

Posted by: _Jon at December 01, 2005 01:29 PM (g9Y9+)

14 Cool! And the Philly Inquirer Blog: http://blogs.philly.com/blinq/2005/11/moving_right_al.html Still waiting on the Puppy Blender. Meanwhile, it looks like MO.O has pulled the doctored photo. See? THIS is why I always say GET A SCREENSHOT! I feel SO incredibly smug now :-)

Posted by: Harvey at December 01, 2005 02:02 PM (ubhj8)

15 Yeah, well just don't look in your shorts - I'm told that for you it's a view that will deflate any pride.

Posted by: _Jon at December 01, 2005 02:08 PM (g9Y9+)

16 I'm so proud of you grandpappy!

Posted by: vw bug at December 02, 2005 07:01 AM (BAHyt)

17 What's really funny to me is that they took the guy that is in line behind the shorts guy and put his pants on the shorts guy... check it out... that's REALLY weak - even I could do better than that... FYI - I understand they've taken that image down now

Posted by: Madfish Willie at December 02, 2005 09:03 AM (dcX0a)

18 Wow! Now getting caught with your pants up around your knee's is a novel occurence. Only the folks who had no problem championing a President with his pants around his ankles would see no ethical problem with "tweaking" the photos.

Posted by: NOTR at December 09, 2005 05:32 PM (izx0t)

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