When using stock photos, check the provenance

 We all use stock photos in campaign mail. For background or to illustrate a point, but we usually don't use them for the main character in an ad. But that's just what the Republicans have done in their "we are all Republicans" video campaign. In this video, said to be backfiring spectacularly, a series of supposedly normal looking people illustrate text that reads "Republicans drive Priuses" "Republicans have tattoos" "Republicans read the New York Times" and the best one of all "Republicans are black."

Hope this woman gets some royalties for all the work her photo is doing!

Well, yes, probably some Republicans do, and are, all these things. So what? What is interesting and most telling about this is, at least in the case of the attractive black women representing your average black Republican, the photograph used is a stock photo found all over the web advertising such things as Christan counseling, payday loans, the Georgia women attorneys bar,  and a rehab center.

As an article in the Daily Banter puts it "The woman in this photo may or may not be a Republican, but she’s certainly been busy. "

So what about all those other people posing as Republicans? Anyone want to run a Google image search on them? In the meantime, check the #IamaRepublican Twitter feed for a good laugh.

Dems, don't jinx the race

How many articles have I read opining that the Dems are in trouble in the mid-terms? Most say this is because people are disillusioned with Obama. He's too tough, not tough enough, too warlike, too peacelike, too confused.

All that may be true. But hey Dems, shut up and vote, I say. Stop the gloom and doom and scare tactics that just might backfire and keep people at home on Election Day, coming sooner than you think.

Ramp up the positives. The good you have done and will do for the American people, the State, the County, the Town. Trash the Reps, don't trash your own chances.

Or am I being overly pessimistic myself?