On Monday, on a conservative radio talk show, Harris,
now a congresswoman from Longboat Key running for the U.S. Senate, hit
back, blaming newspapers for the criticism and charging that some -
without saying which - altered her photographs.
“I’m actually
very sensitive about those things, and it’s personally painful,'’
Harris said when host Sean Hannity asked about her image problems from
2000.
“But they’re outrageously false, No. 1, and No. 2, you
know, whenever they made fun of my makeup, it was because the
newspapers colorized my photograph,'’ Harris said.
She didn’t explain what she meant by “colorized.'’
Asked Tuesday to point to an altered photograph, Harris and her staff could not.
Her
response to the question, said spokesman Adam Goodman, was, “I haven’t
worn blue eye shadow since the seventh grade when I was in the Girl
Scouts.'’ She didn’t name a newspaper that showed blue eye shadow.
……
Most newspapers, including the Tribune, forbid changing photographic images.
“Manipulating
an image in any form is not allowed'’ by The Associated Press, which
distributes photos to newspapers nationwide, said David Ake, AP
national deputy photography director. “We’re pretty adamant about that.
We have terminated people for it.'’
Ake was AP photo editor in Florida during the 2000 recount, “and I can tell you we did no manipulation whatever,'’ he said.
Some
political experts say Harris’ charge makes little sense because most
Americans got their visual image of Harris from television.
At
least two Harris news conferences in November 2000, detailing her
decision to enforce a deadline and forbid recount results, got national
TV coverage.
“Of course it wasn’t newspapers, it was
television,'’ said Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the
University of Virginia. “I can remember watching her and thinking she
learned all the wrong makeup lessons from Al Gore in the debates.'’
Beauty is skin deep, but rabid wingnuttery goes all the way to the bone.
