LOL.  Literally.

Whie watching, my wife commented, "is that one of his houses?"  

Whie watching, my wife commented, "is that one of his houses?"  

It's funny but when I first saw the long view last night I assumed that it was the front lawn of the White House. As I noted elsewhere, the fact that Camp McCain allowed this to happen again after the hew and cry last time shows a stunning lack of coordination and discipline.

I was wondering if that was one of McCain's houses too!  I also noticed that when McCain turned and saw the photo he had a WTF look on his face with a smile.  I could have sworn he was about to say, "That's not one of my houses!!!"  It would have been hilarious if he had done so and would have helped him out immensely by easing his jitters and putting everyone in a humorous mood.  All in all it would have deflated the whole houses issue quite a bit.  Chalk it up to opportunity missed.

John McCain: Reporting for recess!

So not only can McCain not find Iraq or Afghanistan on a map, he can't find Walter Reed, either? No wonder he thinks the wars are going so well, and that veterans don't deserve better benefits.

FWIW, I can confirm it is indeed a pic of Walter Reed (formerly NOrth Hollywood Junior High), since it was my school. I walked to classes (can you believe, in Los Angeles, but it was only a few blocks from my house).  Not long ago my partner and I drove slowly along the front side of the school for a nostalgia visit (it fronts on a residential street, while the back side and athletic field are on the street that also takes you past North Hollywood High). Other than the main building shown, classes are held in rows of "temporary" bungalow style buildings (WWII period)  on the south end of campus.

When I attended Reed, for reasons I know not why, classes were co-ed but recesses and lunch hour were sex segregated (except for the cafeteria...?) , boys and girls congregated in separate marked zones. Even more peculiar, however, was a split lunch period. A regular class bell would sound at the half way point, and boys and girls could then commingle in another yard set aside, kept under a watchful eye by "lunch monitors" and a teacher. Some kind of social engineering thing I guess, Reed was the only middle school that followed this - what else can I call it - rubric.

I am enjoying imagining the poor person on the staff who had to explain this to McCain if in fact he noticed and figured out they'd got the wrong photo.  His temper is legendary, and most civilians would rather die than be reamed out by a military expert on dressings down.

I Googled a picture of Walter Reed Medical Center (how hard was that?), and the main building turns out to be a lovely Federal-style structure, that would have worked perfectly with McCain's speech. What a flub. Like the "General Petreaus" misfire, if the Democrats had done that, Republicans would be screaming bloody murder.

We've had a lot to say about John McCain's speech last night. A roundup of TNR's analysis

Those darn internets...

I assumed they were looking for a photo of a facade that was vaguely White House-ish, but not so much so that they could be accused of presumptuously putting McCain in front of a picture of the White House.

Moral: never schedule a political convention to conflict with a hurricane; the hurricane will win out every damn time. If Obama and Biden win in November, I will enshrine photos and memorabilia of Gustav in my kitchen, where they will acquire a patina of grease and spilt sugar that will last and last. (What am I saying??)

gchernack, someone I was watching with also was curious if that's what the story was. It would be a great way to make him seem out of touch if we started a rumor saying it was one of his houses . . .

According to TPM, this same backdrop was used in Jimmy Smits' acceptance speech on the West Wing. This is getting to subliminal for me.

For long-time Talk-Backers: What I, and the rest of the blogosphere really must know, is what is the turning radius of a Walter Reed Junior High School?

This was not incompetence.  Don’t you understand that the Republican strategists leave nothing to chance and are playing at a level we cannot even comprehend?  The use of that middle school as a backdrop was a dog whistle to get the support of the crucial swing vote of waiters and waitresses who have given up on trying to break into the film industry as actors or even make-up artists, key grips and stage hands.  The Junior Roves know that these folks now all resent the “Hollywood elite” and may therefore back a Republican out of spite.  Most live in the suburb of Studio City and its environs, the neighborhoods that feed into Walter Reed Middle School of North Hollywood.  They are simply brilliant.  You underestimate them at your peril.