I usually like to avoid "what if the other side had done this?" formulations... but ferreals, can you imagine if Barack Obama had given the most important speech of his campaign in front of an image that he thought was Walter Reed Medical Center and it turned out to be Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood? The right-wing echo chamber would eat him alive, with able assistance by the mainstream media.
It's another example of how wedded the media is to its narratives. This gaffe in Obama's hands would supposedly highlight his inexperience in military matters. Since McCain's experience is taken for granted, it's less likely to get the same kind of traction (though in fact there's a strong case to be made for McCain's profound ignorance on important national security matters).
But there is a negative narrative about McCain that this fuck up might feed into nicely: his ineptitude. As one TPM reader puts it: did anyone vet this image?
At a minimum, it's another green screen for the Colbert Nation.
