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Notes Photo April 6, 2011

Wrestling with the Apocalypse

If anything comes out of the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear meltdown at all, it's a deeper understanding of how stereotypically the world relates to the Japanese.

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Notes Photo January 8, 2011

The Giffords Shooting and the Palin Graphic: Almost Predictable

The most troubling image I saw regarding the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords occurred in the interview she gave to MSNBC back in March actually demonstrating with her hands how Palin has targeted her district with the crosshairs of a gun site.

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Notes Photo January 5, 2011

Inauguration Watch: Next-Gen GOP Already "Having a Ball"

Not that Jerry didn't have a little event inside following the swearing in and before the wiener. But then, try comparing that to the multi-day, budget-blowing, rolling Rick-fest.

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Notes Photo January 4, 2011

GOP '11: Corporate Stalking Horses Disguised as "Average Joes"

Whereas Pat Toomey (Sen- PA) and Scott Walker (WI - Gov) are both arch-conservatives supporting an unabashed "free market" (i.e. corporate) agenda, they are being framed and photographed in a way that perpetuates the most populist, modest, John Q. Public personas.

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Notes Photo November 17, 2010

Same Old (Not Much) Song and Dance

What we're seeing in these faces, as the parties dig in for a session of deck chair rearrangement, is the stress of the gridlock and abject pettiness as a picture broadcast to the American people.

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Notes Photo November 11, 2010

Fore Sale: Boehner's Day One

John Boehner set the early symbolic tone for the new Congress by showing up for his first Capitol Hill press conference as Speaker yesterday not just wearing a sweater, but a country club sweater. ...But it gets even better.

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Notes Photo November 9, 2010

Your Turn: The Boehner-Obama Bump

BagReaders weigh in on Barry Blitt's new New Yorker Obama - Boehner Oval Office fist bump cover. (...Or, is it the Blitt Obama fist bump do over?)

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Notes Photo November 5, 2010

Burying the Hatchet. (Yeah, Right.)

If these regional rituals of post-election comity convey the quaintness and innocence of a kinder-and-gentler America, there is also a deeply bitter irony to them in light of the coming battle royale.

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GOP Solidarity Dead on Arrival. (Love the Hats!)

If Boehner, McConnell and the corporate Republicans thought they could safely co-opt those Tea Party-branded folk, the fun has already begun. Here, for example, is Team Abortion actually delivering the baby to Mr. Boehner's Chief-of-Staff (love the hats!) with half the D.C. photo corps on hand.

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Notes Photo November 3, 2010

MIDTERMS + 1: Sucking, Or Sucking it Up?

Today's "day after mid-terms" wallpaper symbolizes a perfect collusion between an all-too-generic interpretation (guy takes hit, guy chastened) and the conservative one (President reeling from policy slap-down from the American people). The only thing is, both readings are wrong.

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MIDTERM Diagnostics

In shooting down Angle, Paladino, O'Donnell and McMahon, it seems the American people -- consistently underestimated by the punditocracy -- showed they know the difference between ideology, on the one hand, and character (or psychopathology) on the other.

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Notes Photo November 2, 2010

MIDTERMS: Oh, Mercy

Proud tears from the son of a barkeep, but...

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When Politicians (Not Just Pictures) Actually Spoke To Two Americas

The scene of this man kneeling in front of Obama's limo is suggestive of the awesome gap between the have and increasingly-despairing have nots in this country ... a problem, during this election, we heard next-to-nothing about.

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Election Day Quick Tour

In plumbing the newswires for the broader themes of Campaign 2010, I came across this shot from a Connecticut Tea Party rally yesterday.  I’m not sure what to make of the Dunkin Donuts cup, but the other item is a story.  This red sweater clutching the book not only...

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Notes Photo November 1, 2010

Final Optics of Campaign 2010

After all the drama and battling, the mid-terms boiled down to this NYT composition leading today's front page.

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Notes Photo October 31, 2010

GOP Bait-and-Switch

Can they govern? Yeah, they can govern the menu at the next Jim DeMint BBQ party.

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Final Election '10 Obama Portrait

With one day to go before this critical mid-term election, who could think of a greater threat both to these mid-term elections and to this deep thinking President than reason and intellect?

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Notes Photo October 30, 2010

Another Take on Sanity: Alan Chin from DC

Yes, there was a lot of silliness. But the idea was mostly to stave off the enthusiasm gap. It was Liberal Democrats on a nice day, coming out and saying we're going to have a good time.

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