A lot of people were asking tonight: what the hell was that mansion up behind John McCain tonight during the first part of the speech? As I noted below, the TV close-ups only showed McCain's head against the grass in the picture, which made it look like he was reprising his famed green screen performance. And when they panned out, it looked like McCain was showing off one of his mansions.
Well, several readers have written in to tell me that the building is actually the main building on the campus of the Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood, California. And sure enough, this page on the school's website makes it pretty clear that they're correct.
You can compare below ... So it's not a mansion, but a middle school. But that still doesn't answer the question of why they picked this picture to have him standing in front of -- when I would imagine that 99.9% of the US population would have no idea what they were looking at.
(ed.note: Thanks to TPM Readers JR and EK for cluing us in.)
Late Update: I'm surprised this hadn't occurred to me. But several readers have suggested that perhaps one of the tech geeks charged with setting up the audio/visual bells and whistles for the evening was tasked with getting pictures of Walter Reed Army Medical Center but goofed and got this instead. At first I thought, No, that's ridiculous. This is a major political party with big time professionals putting this together. Nothing is left to chance. I mean, is this the RNC or a scene out Spinal Tap or Waiting for Guffman? I still have a bit of a hard time believing they're quite that incompetent. But when you figure in what appears to be the utter lack of any logic for this school being behind McCain and the fact that it has 'Walter Reed' in its name, I'm really not sure you can discount this possibility.
Here's what was seen behind McCain:
Walter Reed Middle School. As opposed to Walter Reed Hospital:
If only McCain's people were a little better with "the google."
The story gets stranger, it turns out that school background was also used as the background for the announcement of a fictional presidential candidate Santos on The West Wing.
Joined: Wed Aug 02, 2006 12:45 pm Posts: 37162 Location: The Graveyard
Re: The Republican Convention
Quote:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A record 38.9 million U.S. TV viewers watched John McCain accept the Republican nomination for president on Thursday, slightly more than the 38.3 million people who tuned in for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's speech, Nielsen Media Research reported.
McCain's tally was also higher than the 37.2 million Americans who tuned in to hear Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's address, Nielsen said on Friday.
“Gods are great ... but the heart is greater. For it is from our hearts they come, and to our hearts they shall return.” “We were like gods at the dawning of the world, & our joy was so bright we could see nothing else but the other.” “There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.” “You have to pretend you get an endgame. You have to carry on like you will; otherwise, you can't carry on at all.” "Paper is dead without words / Ink idle without a poem / All the world dead without stories."
Last edited by Corpse on Fri Sep 05, 2008 3:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Fri Sep 05, 2008 3:30 pm
Caius
A very honest-hearted fellow
Joined: Mon Oct 11, 2004 8:02 pm Posts: 4767
Re: The Republican Convention
I still think McCain loses and that the rating means nothing (Democrats can say the NFL game was a good lead-on on NBC) but...
Fri Sep 05, 2008 3:33 pm
neo_wolf
Extraordinary
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 10:19 pm Posts: 11028
Re: The Republican Convention
Funny, but every political analyst on cnn last night said that McCain's speech would not even aproach Palin's numbers, looks like they were wrong.
Fri Sep 05, 2008 3:44 pm
A. G.
Draughty
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:23 am Posts: 13347
Re: The Republican Convention
I wish everyone in America saw McCain's speech. He looked like a dying man giving a last goodbye.
Fri Sep 05, 2008 3:59 pm
snack
Extraordinary
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 9:18 pm Posts: 12159
Re: The Republican Convention
Well, keep in mind that Palin, McCain and Obama's ratings were all in the margin of error for TV estimates from each other...it's essentially the same number for all of them.
Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:03 pm
neo_wolf
Extraordinary
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 10:19 pm Posts: 11028
Re: The Republican Convention
Watched a democrat PA say on cnn that Obama's camp is regretting not picking Clinton for VP now.
Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:05 pm
A. G.
Draughty
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:23 am Posts: 13347
Re: The Republican Convention
neo_wolf wrote:
Watched a democrat PA say on cnn that Obama's camp is regretting not picking Clinton for VP now.
Why, because Hillary supporters might defect? Hey it's democracy, that's their choice. And if they put McCain over the top to win then they will have no right to complain about the justices he appoints.
Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:09 pm
snack
Extraordinary
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 9:18 pm Posts: 12159
Re: The Republican Convention
It wouldn't make much of a difference. The vast majority of Hillary voters will not buy into the McCain/Palin ticket. Might have been better for the Dems in terms of keeping up with the Republican's newfound celebrity image though.
Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:18 pm
Excel
Superfreak
Joined: Sat Aug 20, 2005 12:54 am Posts: 22182 Location: Places
Re: The Republican Convention
Corpse wrote:
Quote:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A record 38.9 million U.S. TV viewers watched John McCain accept the Republican nomination for president on Thursday, slightly more than the 38.3 million people who tuned in for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's speech, Nielsen Media Research reported.
McCain's tally was also higher than the 37.2 million Americans who tuned in to hear Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's address, Nielsen said on Friday.
Well, I didn't expect him to come close to Obama or Palin, but...he beat them somehow.
So,
McCain - 38.9M Obama - 38.3M Palin - 37.2M H. Clinton - 26M B. Clinton and Biden - 24M
With that speech he gave last night, he should want the number who saw ti to be as small as possible.
_________________
Ari Emmanuel wrote:
I'd rather marry lindsay Lohan than represent Mel Gibson.
Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:58 pm
Excel
Superfreak
Joined: Sat Aug 20, 2005 12:54 am Posts: 22182 Location: Places
Re: The Republican Convention
Double post.
btw hilldog n oprah ON THE ATTACK OH BIH!
_________________
Ari Emmanuel wrote:
I'd rather marry lindsay Lohan than represent Mel Gibson.
Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:58 pm
xiayun
Extraordinary
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 3:41 pm Posts: 25109 Location: San Mateo, CA
Re: The Republican Convention
Alpa Chino wrote:
Corpse wrote:
Quote:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A record 38.9 million U.S. TV viewers watched John McCain accept the Republican nomination for president on Thursday, slightly more than the 38.3 million people who tuned in for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's speech, Nielsen Media Research reported.
McCain's tally was also higher than the 37.2 million Americans who tuned in to hear Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's address, Nielsen said on Friday.
Looks like Clinton wont go after Palin, this might be a big F-U to Obama.
I think the emerging Obama strategy is going to be it ignore Palin and focus on McCain.
It'll make Obama look a little soft but it's the smartest thing to do really. Obama hasn't been known to go on the offensive so it probably won't be good for him to start now.
If Hillary did go head to head with Palin though, everyone would tear her (Hillary) yet another new asshole.
Fri Sep 05, 2008 5:14 pm
Beeblebrox
All Star Poster
Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2004 9:40 pm Posts: 4679
Re: The Republican Convention
Another McCain-Palin meme turns out not to be true.
McCain: ""You know what i enjoyed the most? She took the luxury jet that was acquired by her predecessor and sold it on eBay -- made a profit."
Nope. The plane failed to sell on eBay. The govt ended up selling it to a private owner at a huge loss.
Btw if you count the estimated 8.7 million who watched Obama accept it on BET and UNIVISION, he really won the viewers battle
Yeah it was 40 some million for him counting that and PBS. We don't know how many watched on C-Span. About attacking McCain, I have said this before the VP doesn't matter, people vote for the top of the ticket. That has been the way it has been every election except maybe one and that was where Texas only voted for JFK because of Johnson.
Fri Sep 05, 2008 8:27 pm
Caius
A very honest-hearted fellow
Joined: Mon Oct 11, 2004 8:02 pm Posts: 4767
Re: The Republican Convention
Alpa Chino wrote:
Btw if you count the estimated 8.7 million who watched Obama accept it on BET and UNIVISION, he really won the viewers battle
Why would we have an estimate of people who watched via BET and Univision but then not count them towards the ratings? BET and Univision didn't carry the McCain speech.
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