The Independent
reported today on the fake photo.
Highlights:
They have been at work ever since, as was seen this week with the fake snap of John Kerry which caused a stir in the United States. It purported to show him associating in the 1970s with the film star Jane Fonda, who is still widely reviled in the US for her visit to the enemy capital, Hanoi, during the Vietnam war. Many still see it as the act of a traitor. This was not the kind of publicity the Democrats' leading presidential candidate needed. It was, we now know, doctored. But it fooled many US citizens and some British newspapers.
Notice how they fail to differentiate between the legitimate photo of Fonda with Kerry and the fake created by Registered. It lends uncertainty to the authentic photos.
Which means that Senator Kerry can comfort himself with one thought. The faked photos of him and Ms Fonda show that he must have got the Bush camp really worried.
Notice how they want to pin this on the "Bush camp" and not the act of an lone Internet photoshopper.
Here's the NY Times story and link:
Conservatives Shine Spotlight on Kerry's Antiwar Record
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: February 13, 2004
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 — Ted Sampley, a retired Green Beret who runs a Web site for veterans devoted to defeating John Kerry, says he spent months looking for a photograph of Mr. Kerry and Jane Fonda, the actress whose antiwar protests still evoke bitter memories. Then, last week, a message from a stranger arrived by e-mail, telling him precisely where he could find one.
For $179, he bought the image and posted it on his site. By Wednesday it was popping up all over the Internet and on television. Mr. Sampley, of Kinston, N.C., says he does not know who tipped him off to the photograph, and he does not care. "I'm going to use it as much as possible," he said.
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He is not the only one. With Mr. Bush answering questions about his National Guard service, conservatives are working hard to shine an unflattering spotlight on Mr. Kerry's antiwar activities and his record on military and intelligence matters in the Senate.
Commentators, including Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, have been talking up the Fonda photograph. National Review has a cover article entitled "The Senator's Other War Record." It says Mr. Kerry, who returned from Vietnam a highly decorated veteran and then led protests against the war, "helped to slander a generation of soldiers who had done their duty with honor and restraint." The Weekly Standard is highlighting a 1971 book co-written by Mr. Kerry, "The New Soldier," which commemorated a march on Washington by Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
And on Thursday, a new photograph of the senator and the actress began circulating via e-mail. Unlike the image Mr. Sampley bought, which shows Mr. Kerry seated several rows behind Ms. Fonda, this picture — its origins are unclear — shows them side by side, Ms. Fonda behind a microphone and Mr. Kerry, holding a notebook, to her right.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/13/politics/campaign/13VETS.html