A Term Is Coined: Kaloogian

Josh Marshall links to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle about the Kaloogian photo bufoonery. The Chron alerts readers new to the tale that the photo's caption declared that "we took this photo of downtown Baghdad while we were in Iraq'' which is "much more calm and stable than what many people believe it to be. But, each day the news media finds any violence occurring in the country and screams and shouts about it -- in part because many journalists are opposed to the U.S. effort to fight terrorism.'' --- The story goes on to report that "Kaloogian and his campaign strategist, Sal Russo, confirmed Wednesday what the bloggers alleged -- that the photo was taken in Turkey -- though they insisted it was an honest mistake." --- The Chron story also quotes Kaloogian saying the mistake "doesn't change my message … that good things are happening in Baghdad that you're not reading about in the daily papers.'' (insert drumroll here, as buildup for punchline) Kaloogian was then further quoted saying, "the military asked us to use our discretion and put things on the Internet that were nondescriptive … (because) if we posted something that was easily identifiable, it could be a target." --- In other words, Kaloogian's explicit reason for selecting the particular photo(s) used completely negates the explicit premise he gives - in the caption - for why the photo was posted in the first place. (rimshot) ---- Wikipedia documents the coinage of the term Kaloogian (n): A term that describes a false or out-of-context image used in order to advance an agenda.