Terry, you need only read any of the “news stories” about the Governor’s personal Christmas card to know that he met the girl. It’s been reported in nearly every “news story.”

Pay attention.

By brittney on 12.19.06 4:37 pm

Brittney, I KNOW he said he met her in a small village. It’s on his website. But where is the proof? The pictures are too similar.

Did she sit there for a live portrait…or did he have a picture made by Bredesen or staff?

Personally, I think he copied National G. cover. He may have indeed met a girl, but it’s kind of odd that she is posed and looks just like the girl on Nat’l Geographic.

I don’t need to “pay attention,” you just need to stop feeding me your pablum on behalf of the Bredesen administration. Try asking some questions for a change.

By Terry on 12.19.06 4:51 pm

OMG, so you are questioning the Governor’s own story? On his personal Christmas card?

Wow, you need a hobby.

By brittney on 12.19.06 4:56 pm

Yes, Brittney I am. Just like I question many “stories” that originate from his office. He says he’s “protecting victims,” I say he’s covering up sexual harrassment cases by paper shredding. He says he’s got the Highway Patrol under control— I say he’s received donations for promotions, etc.

It’s typical of you to personally attack as well. I say typical, because so often when you run out of facts you start slandering.

Facts are important, Brittney. I’m sorry you don’t see it that way.

By Terry on 12.19.06 5:08 pm

Facts are important when it comes to stuff that matters. His card? It doesn’t matter.

P.S. In the future, please refer to me as Ms. Gilbert, not Miss.

By brittney on 12.19.06 5:11 pm

When people don’t tell the truth…it ALWAYS matters.

And are you saying as a representative for WKRN News that facts AREN’T important on little things? Or is this a personal opinion?

By Terry on 12.19.06 5:23 pm

Here’s what I’m saying: You seem to be looking for an excuse to be outraged. Bredesen owes you NOTHING in the way of an explanation. No one does. The card was not for you, therefore you don’t get to demand proof.

Let me be clear here: All I am saying is that of all the injustices in the world, this is so far from being one that I can’t believe I have wasted this much energy here. What I am saying is that your demand for proof is entitlement like I have rarely seen, and you look foolish in the process.

That’s all! I’m out.

By brittney on 12.19.06 5:27 pm

No Brittney, I haven’t asked for an explanation on why he chose the girl. I’m not looking for an excuse to be outraged.

You are transferring your own personality traits upon me.

I’m simply asking if he copied the National Geographic photo. If he did and lied about it, it’s a character problem.

By Terry on 12.19.06 5:30 pm

*Kind of interesting to hear an employee of a news station say that facts only matter for BIG stuff. That’s comforting.*

And my personal blog has a tagline that says, “All lying, all the time.” And yet, that is the blog which got me my media job. Crazy, crazy world.

You never know what you can believe, ain’t that right, Miss Terry?

By brittney on 12.19.06 5:41 pm

This is bizarre. Governor Bredesen is entitled to send out any personal correspondence with any message he so chooses.

Terry, the election is over. I think it’s about time you face the fact that he was re-elected. Get over yourself and get a life.

By Judy Morrison on 12.19.06 5:47 pm

Brittney long ago made it clear she doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the truth, only about the liberal version of the truth.

Citing “news stories” in The Tennessean makes her argument even weaker given that paper’s recent record of distorting the truth (See: Story on Lee Camp. Also see: Story on Mark Norris and the gas tax).

Brittney wasn’t hired to be an objective journalist, she was hired to stir things up and draw a crowd.

And, yes, Brittney, it does matter if the governor lied about the girl he painted. (Though it not unlikely that he met an Afghani girl, and his memory recall of her general appearance – long dark hair and a headcovering, typical of Afghani women – merged with a subconscious memory of the National Geo photo, one of the most famous National Geo covers in history.

In the scheme of things, does it matter as much if Bredesen lied about this as it does, say, his lying about corruption in the THP? No. But it would still be an interesting window into his soul.

By Bill Hobbs on 12.19.06 6:33 pm

Petty and infantile at the same time. And journalists wonder why the average person doesn’t trust them!

By Larry Patty on 12.19.06 6:36 pm

Is it too much to ask for internal consistency in your point of view? If facts are so important, then seek them out in all cases. For example, it is interesting that one should need “proof” and hard facts for the painting on the governor’s christmas card but one takes at face value and passes judgment based solely on a singular Tennessean article concerning the theology of a professor at Lipscomb.

The only consistency I see is a bias toward the controversial or sensational. Write me off as “ad hominem” if you will, but you lack in your “reporting” what you seek from others.

By Llama1776 on 12.19.06 6:46 pm

*Brittney long ago made it clear she doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the truth, only about the liberal version of the truth.*

Funny, I would say much the same about you, B-Ho. ‘Cept you are only interested in the neocon truth.

Bill, of course, I care about the truth. I worded the comment that Terry chose to highlight pretty poorly. I only meant that it is PLUM STUPID to question the Governor about something so insignificant. And to go so far as to think that he is copying a world famous magazine cover and lying about it is even more moronic.

By brittney on 12.19.06 7:10 pm

No, Brittney, I didn’t highlight your comment “poorly.” Here is your comment again, in its entirety:

“Facts are important when it comes to stuff that matters. His card? It doesn’t matter.”

I then offered you an oppportunity to clarify by asking you:

And are you saying as a representative for WKRN News that facts AREN’T important on little things? Or is this a personal opinion?

You didn’t answer…you just let it stand. You even dug your heels in on the position and bragged that you were hired with the tagline “all lying all the time.”

Mr. Hobbs is correct.

By Terry on 12.19.06 9:07 pm

Llama1776–we will just have to disagree on Professor Camp. The story I watched on WKRN didn’t say that the Professor was misquoted. Camp didn’t blame the Tennessean either for the feedback…he said it was a “complex” issue and therefore it was difficult to understand. There was no retraction by the Tennessean. That is a fact.

As far as consistency, I put up a link to the Professor’s reply and his explanation. You can do a search on my site. I noted that I didn’t think his explanation really explained anything, although I certainly gave him the forum.
With regard to theology, I think it’s fair judgment to say that all the “facts” aren’t in. There is no final verdict on theology and from reading Camp’s reply I think I understand his theological viewpoint–and I stated such on my site.

In that regard, there are differences of opinion.

By Terry on 12.19.06 9:19 pm

Terry, you misunderstand me. I said that *I* worded my comment poorly.

I said: “I worded the comment that Terry chose to highlight pretty poorly.”

Should I have put ‘that Terry chose to highlight’ in commas or parentheses? I don’t know, it’s been a long day.

And, *of course* I think facts matter. I just didn’t feel the need to defend myself on such a ridiculous charge. But since you say I’ve “dug in my heels,” I again repeat: I worded my comment, the one that you chose to highlight on the front page, poorly. It was not my intent to say that facts don’t matter, but to say that this conversation is the most impossibly ridiculous one I’ve been a part of in some time.

Good night all. Sorry for any misplaced invective. The holidays, I mean Christmas time, is a stressful time for me, as it is many others. Best to you and yours.

By brittney on 12.19.06 9:20 pm

Brittney–it wasn’t a ridiculous “charge.” You said it–I, nor anyone else, made an accusation. You then went further with the “all lying, all the time” remark that seemed to really buttress your previous statement.

I’m glad to hear that you don’t really believe that…that you just got carried away. I’m hopeful that the “all lying, all the time” doesn’t apply to your clarifications and that you are indeed sincere.

Get some rest. And Merry Christmas.

By Terry on 12.19.06 9:30 pm

State Rep. Stacey Campfield has some comic relief over at his site. Hilarious!!

click here.

By Terry on 12.19.06 9:34 pm

Brittney, I take great pains to document every thing I state as fact on my blog. Do I make mistakes? Occasionally, but my blog is more founded on fact than most.

I’m a journalist, college-trained and with far more experience at it than you have. I understand what facts are and why they are important.

I started my blog five years ago in order to publicize more facts and more detailed facts than were being publicized by the media on key issues I care about, and have never wavered from that purpose.

By Bill Hobbs on 12.19.06 9:36 pm

Bill, for you to claim objectivity in your reporting is funnier than Bill Clinton claiming abstinence. You are a partisan hack. And you have been for 5 years.

By Jackson on 12.19.06 11:31 pm

Just in case this duel of wits is open to an unarmed participant, I’ll weigh in with the possibility that the Governor might have met SHARBAT GULA (ye, she has a name just like an American would) and painted her from his memory of that meeting. And it’s also true that this just might be another Afghan lady, it’s not as though the painting is of identification clarity, is it? It IS enough of a similarity that people who want to think the Governor is dishonest will take this as evidence, but te similarity is not that strong to my eye.

It takes a barrel full of courage to put one’s own artistic efforts out for the world to see.

Governor Bredesen and I disagree about plenty of things, but my hat is off to him for his bravery.

And Rep. Campfield’s take is as usual hilarious.

By staghounds on 12.20.06 8:24 am

Here is her story by the way, illustrated with current pictures-

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/afghangirl/

By staghounds on 12.20.06 8:27 am

Jackson – You need to learn the difference between “factualness” and “objectivity.”

Objectivity and factual accuracy are not the same thing. I can write factually about the state budget, for example, and make the case than an income tax would be bad for the state’s economy, or that it violates the state constitution. I can write factually about the state budget and still make the case that the sales tax is not the cause of the state’s occasional revenue deficits.

If I wrote a story saying the violent crime rate is “UP 10 percent” in the city and used that “fact” to suggest the solution was to fire the police chief, the “fact” is either true or false, regardless of the non-objectivity of the piece.

What I have always tried to do with my blog on public policy questions is to dig for and publicize facts to buttress my commentary.

The problem with Big Journalism today is that it pretends to be objective even at times when it isn’t being very factual.

By Bill Hobbs on 12.20.06 11:00 am

As for the gov’s painting, I’m guessing he met some Afghani girl with long dark hair and a scarve, and that his painting was influenced by subconscious memory of the National Geo painting.

If he lied, well, it wouldn’t be the first time – and the republic won’t fall.

By Bill Hobbs on 12.20.06 11:02 am

I’m glad someone posted the link to the original National Geographic picture, because it shows that Rev. Stuart altered the color of her scarf so it more closely matches the Governors picture.

Anyway… worst “controversy” ever.

By Darrin on 12.20.06 11:36 am

Were any tax dollars spent to make and mail the governor’s Christmas card?

By Donna Locke on 12.20.06 11:22 pm

Good question, Donna. Steve Gill made a reference to it.

By Terry on 12.21.06 7:20 am

I knew as soon as I saw that painting that it was ripped off from the Nat. Geo. cover. The photo was also on the cover of the 1994 coffee-table book
National Geographic: The Photographs and the recently published National Geographic: 100 Best Pictures. There was a special on MSNBC about “Finding the Afghan Girl” in 2003; click
for an article about the photo and the search for the woman.

By Todd Mecklem on 12.21.06 2:06 pm

Sorry. Click HERE for an article about the photo and the search for the woman.

By Todd Mecklem on 12.21.06 2:10 pm

Oh, and WATE in Knoxville had a story about the controversy on their TV news broadcast yesterday. The governor’s staff says he has a photo of the woman he met, but they can’t produce it at the moment. We’ll see…

By Todd Mecklem on 12.21.06 4:12 pm

Hi Darrin,

I just ‘reversed” the image using Microsoft Paint. I didn’t touch any of the colors – I wouldn’t know where to begin with that. Perhaps someone should get a professional art critic to look at the card and the painting. The shading and highlighting on both is very similar.

By John Stuart on 12.21.06 5:01 pm

Yes! A professional art critic should definitely be called in to be sure that the Governor’s personal Christmas card came about precisely as he said it did.

By brittney on 12.21.06 5:48 pm

[...] Conservative Nashville blogger Bill Hobbs mentions it and points his readers toward the commentary over at Captain’s Quarters. You can also read about it on Ramblings, on Brian Hornback’s blog and that of Terry Frank, who talks about the resemblance of the painting to that of a famous National Geographic cover shot from many years ago. [...]

By Tennessean.com Blogs » Blog Archive » All in the (Christmas) cards on 12.21.06 7:02 pm

Brittney, a lot of people are remarking on the similarities. I think we already get by the number of your comments that you don’t agree. Try playing the flip side of your record.

By Terry on 12.21.06 7:43 pm

Terry-
You might not want to call in a professional art critic on this one. Napoleon Dynamite might be a better judge of this pathetic attempt at “art”. Perhaps for Easter the governor will send out his picture of a “liger”. It’s fair to say my two-year old has better efforts hanging on the fridge.

My two cents
Malcolm

By Malcolm Tent on 12.24.06 8:44 pm

[...] (National Geographic photo reversed on left, Governor’s “original” on right.  Background on card here.) [...]

By terryfrank.net » National Geographic: the official magazine of the Bredesen administration? on 02.22.07 6:09 am

Terry, Thanks for allowing me some time on “LET’s Talk Frank” this evening. I would also like to invite you and Lee to call into Car Concerns anytime you think that my audience will be interested.

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That is why I have created the “AMERICAN MOTORIST VOTE CAMPAIGN” which can empower and give the millions upon millions of American Motorist an undeniable voice.

If you can offer any assistence in this mission, it would be appreciated. I know how well connected you are in Political Circles.

Please read my Mission Statement for the AMERICAN MOTORIST VOTE CAMPAIGN at: http://www.carconcerns.com

Thanks For All That You Do!

Harry
Car Concerns

By Harry Douglas/Car Concerns on 07.09.08 8:20 pm