The Green Screen Explained

Hilarious. Mr. Beale and I were wondering what the hell that lawn was. Turns out it was the lawn of Walter Reed -- Middle School in North Hollywood, CA, that is:

Last night's creepy Edward Scissorhands backdrop for McCain's speech confused more than a few people last night. It seems like Josh Marshall and co. may be onto a HUGE p.r. disaster for the G.O.P...

The picture behind McCain was Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood, CA. Yes, that's right. Hollywood.


And yes, that would be "Walter Reed."

The "noun, verb, P.O.W., sleeping pill" speech of McCain was given with the ironic backdrop of clueless G.O.P operatives screwing up an attempt to show the REAL WALTER REED HOSPITAL.

As is so often the case during the Bush reign, the symbolism exceeds the conceits of the most fantastic fiction.

They don't know about computers, or Google, or the internets, but they're telling us to "catch up to history." They preach about P.O.W.'s, but they don't know, or don't bother too long to find out, what Walter Reed looks like.

And now they play the blame game.

Cripes. They can’t handle the most basic thing: putting up a backdrop for the candidate's speech. And we’re supposed to trust you with running the entire country? No. Fucking. Way.

Zombie Lies

As Atrios likes to say, zombie lies never die. Well, someone better kill this zombie lie before it takes root.

Conservative blogs like Redstate are all over the myth that Sarah Palin winged her speech last night because the teleprompter malfunctioned.

Do a Google search. I dare you. It’s becoming part of the national mythology, like how hippies spit on Vietnam veterans and Al Gore said he invented the internet.

Well, guess what folks. This zombie lie ain’t true, either:

Because of the positioning of the PJTV booth, I had a clear view of the teleprompter as well, and it never conked out. On the other hand, I also noticed that Palin's hilarious "What's the difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom" line--and she may have been the only person on the planet to successfully sell such a joke--was an improv; it wasn't on the teleprompter.

Driscoll isn’t the only one who saw a perfectly-operating teleprompter, either.

U.S. News & World Report also debunks the myth.

Ditto Politico.

Just sayin’ ....

Shameful

Memo To Stuart Shepard: I Told You So

Remember when Focus on the Family’s Stuart Shepard asked a question?

Would it be wrong to ask people to pray for “rain of Biblical proportions” to descend on Mile High Stadium to ruin Barack Obama’s acceptance speech?

Not just rain, he clarifies, but “abundant rain! Torrential rain! Urban and small stream flood advisory rain!”

Hey, Pastor Shepard: a hurricane has forced the Republican National Convention to scale back its opening days and prompted the media to shift its coverage away from the convention to the Gulf Coast. So that might be an answer for you.

(h/t, GoldnI).