Arizona GOP Runs Doctored Cigarette Photo of President Obama

3 years ago

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The Arizona Republican Party has come across a new, potent propaganda weapon in the war against health care reform. It is an image of President Obama, looking somewhat haggard, a cigarette dangling from his lips.

Printed on the cover of last week's AZGOP News, the picture ran with the following caption:

Broken promises, rampant government spending, and Chicago-style politics have marred the first 200 days of the Obama Presidency according to Arizona Republican Chairman Randy Pullen.

As the saying goes, the picture seems to speak louder that any boilerplate, partisan PR wording ever could. What better instance of hypocrisy than to catch the president red-handed, smoking while promoting a new relationship between patients and doctors?

As it turns out, however, the image itself seems to have undergone a bit of doctoring. Kwame Ross took the original photo back on Aug. 3, 2004, as Obama was campaigning for the Senate in Illinois. Here's how it looked before its computer touch-up:

Though Obama has been trying to kick his nicotine addiction, he has admitted to sneaking a few puffs over the past few months, but this picture does not document one of those instances.

Filed Under: Republicans, Barack Obama, Health Care, Obama Administration

Tagged: azgop, azgop news, AzgopNews, breakingnews, doctored, kwame ross, KwameRoss, randy pullen, RandyPullen, smoking, top stories, TopStories

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