That's Not Stock Photo Keyword Searching We Can Believe In!
Josh Micah Marshall on the most unbelievable visual demonstration of McCain campaign total incompetence ever:
Talking Points Memo | Mystery Solved!: 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.... [T]he building is actually the main building on the campus of the Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood, California.... 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... [it was supposed to be] Walter Reed Army Medical Center.... 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?...