I dont have a dog in this fight as I reject the advances of both the Stupid Party AND the Evil Party, but as far as Obama is concerned, the picture is "real" in that it has not been Photoshopped®. Unless you believe the NYT is wedded to knowingly publishing Photoshopped® images....
If you DO believe the NYT is cavalier about publishing "doctered" images, I can cite you some cases whereby staff and wire-service photographers have been fired for doing exactly that. They take photographic authenticity VERY seriously at The Times. Furthermore, it's pretty difficult for an amateur to "doctor" a video, at least to the extent the one on Snopes.com would need to be "doctored." So, while Patrick can be chided for accidently spamming the list with a photo with content that some find objectionable, he cannot be criticized for sending out a FAKE photograph or as someone suggested, perpetuating a lie, as for better or worse, the photo has not been altered....it is authentic. This is the rare case in which the people who are spreading the rumor the photo is FAKE...are actually...dare I say it..........lying. yours in solidarity, --tf
