Do Republicans Not Take Photographs?

A lot of people seem to feel the mainstream media favor one candidate over the other. I'm not going to make that judgment call, but it occurred to me to find out what one of the more democratic new media might have to tell us. Flickr is a popular photo site where anyone can upload their photographs for public consumption so I thought it would be interesting to see how the candidates are represented there. So you type in their names and here's what happens.

Barack Obama has 38,568 tagged photographs.

Hillary Clinton has 22,666 tagged photographs.

I say tagged because thats how the search works. The photographer adds tags so that flickr can search for pictures that match those tags.

John McCain has 2,462 tagged photographs. Less than 10 per cent of the others.

Its the same story over on Photobucket and Smug Mug, two other photo sharing sites. Lots of Hillary and Barack and much, much lower numbers for McCain.

Do Republicans not take photographs? Or are they old and don't want to trade their trusty film cameras in for those new fangled digital things?

Or is photography Democratic by nature?

Comments

[danceswithyids]

Much like other ancients, the republicans believe that having their picture taken will result in the taking of their soul, and they highly value what little they have remaining.

[Canukistani]

Republicans are usually involved in activities that they'd rather not have eviden...u­hh I mean pictures of.

[Durango]

Photography has a well known liberal bias.

[MajorKong]

Republicans are a sneaky bunch. They're good at covering their tracks.

[MerlinJames]

...because image is a priority issue with the Dems. Pretty people make great Dems. Substance rates farther down the list. Obama is young, handsome and articulate­....has he said anything of substance? Besides broad brush stroke statements, he has not been specific on very much at all.....bu­t he is photogenic.

And as far as using the internet more...or less, folks on the right don't rely on random neural firings put to keyboard like the left has to do to reinforce their intelligence. Confidence is a wonderful thing.

[ProfessorDuh]

Oh, yes. All that right-wing "substance" — people like Bush, you mean.

[MerlinJames]

Determined to be viewed as substantive, Mr. Obama kept his head down, declining Sunday talk show invitations for his first year, and consulted Senate elders for advice. He was cautious — even on the Iraq war, which he had opposed as a Senate candidate. He voted against the withdrawal of troops and proposed legislation calling for a draw down only after he was running for president and polls showed voters favoring it.

Obama in Senate: Star Power, Minor Role, NY Times....M­arch 9th

[dwillisno1]

I do not tend to vote for a candidate just because they look good, but when I see a bad combover and clenched teeth and a tendency to laugh at the wrong time when giving a speech, I get a little suspicious. Republicans prefer to have their image determined by overweight talkshow hosts or radio hosts with bad wigs and funny sportcoats or fringe area religious leaders. Then they pick and choose which views those supporters hold that they accept for their campaign. Republicans hate pictures because they too often find themselves in the same picture with Foreign Dictators who we now condemn or with disgraced lobbyists currently serving jail time.

[MajorKong]

As I recall, Bush was sold to us as "the guy you'd most like to have a beer with". The GOP set the bar pretty darn low on substance with that one.

[Colmore]

Name ONE thing of substance that your hero Georgie has said in the last 7 years? I mean something he said, not something he said that had to be interpreted by an intelligent person. "putting food on your family" "is our children learning" The list goes on. There is also the classy dance he did on the WH steps, so much "substance" there, right??? He has confidence, but then again, a lot of low mentallity people do. I submit to you that the Bush clan have no substance, intelligence or CLASS. Just money, albeit ill-gotten.

[Colmore]

Tell us anything of substance your hero Georgie has said in 7 years? "put food on your family" "is our children learning" "fool me once, er, fool me again er " Forget it, name one intelligent statement this moron has made. He makes a complete ASS of himself (ala Boris Yeltsin) dancing on the WH steps. Yeltsin was drunk, is Georgie??? McCain said that Georgie ordered a hot dog for lunch, so he did too. Is Georgie unable to use knives and forks? Seems to have b-b-q's for visiting dignitaries on a regular basis. Democratic voters appreciate candidates who can articulate the issues, not smirk and joke around to make up for ignorance.

[ProfessorDuh]

Republicans do not believe in sharing any information with the public. They believe in keeping information secret so they can use it for their financial advantage and/or generally to cheat and mislead people.

[aaron530]

ProfessorDuh, did you want me to brush that chip off your shoulder for you or are you going to let it sit there for the rest of your life...

[ThreeCentsWorth]

Even more interesting when you think how long Clinton and McCain have been newsmakers.

[Stax]

flickr is an information depository for Islamofascist sleeper cells. Duh.

[PioneerKing]

Sadly most of the republican canidates are not very photogenic.

[Quaoar]

Not showing up in photographs? Perhaps they're vampires who lost their innate fear of crucifixes. Ah well, there's still garlic to keep them at bay.

[clarras]

It 's gotta be digital democrats v old school film republicans.

Interesting little factoid.

[Baglenthal]

Hmmm
Maybe they're just not using the Internets as much.

[Shaddup]

Photography is reality based, and therefore not republican. Besides McInsane uses a stone tablet and a chisel.