Dogpile on Kaloogian! Or, Anatomy of a Dumbass

Feel free to substitute monkey pile, hog pile, or whatever variant suits your region. As Howard Kaloogian's campaign tries to come up with a satisfactory explanation of why a year-old photo of Istanbul appeared with a caption stating that it was a recent picture from Baghdad that demonstrated the stability and peacefulness of Iraq, other outlandish examples of his incompetence keep turning up.

To sum up several posts I've seen, Kaloogian's campaign has dealt with the story as follows:

1. The staff replaced the 9 month-old Istanbul photo with a 9-month-old picture of Baghdad-- and the exact same fiery rhetoric of traitorous reporters lying about the peace and stability of the city. This is the picture:

As you can see, the citizens of Baghdad are going about their business in an everyday fashion. And look at all the clean water and electrical power!

2. It was announced that Kaloogian would take no more calls and make no more comments about the story. The site, overwhelmed by curious visitors, featured a message that announced 'technical difficulties,' but pointed out that the donation page was unaffected. Heh. (He's the real victim here, so show your support.)

3. Bloggers had a field day (here and here) ridiculing Kalooogian's self-righteous indignance. And it was very, very funny, so you should follow the links.

4. The San Francisco Chronicle printed the (final?) official-- and most laughable-- response to the photo debacle: The candidate said he hadn't recognized the error because "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." You've got to love Kaloogian's straight-faced assertion that the top brass is concerned about what might happen if his hugely popular campagin site fell into (cue scary music)... the wrong hands.

5. Inquisitive blogger uncovers a brand new, and totally unrelated, example of the Kaloogian campaign attempting to bullshit the public. California State Senator Tom McClintock (R), in a statement issued today: "It has come to my attention that a campaign mailing on behalf of Howard Kaloogian includes a picture and quote from me that suggests that I have endorsed his candidacy for U. S. Congress. I have not."

The Democrat in the race is Francine Busby, and she looks to do pretty well in the April 11th special election to fill Randy Cunningham's seat.