Team Romney

Team Romney was going to reveal this logo before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games but decided not to release it.

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Scott Brown’s America filmed Abroad

Yesterday I wrote about a clip in Scott Brown’s “Let America be America” video about American small business actually being stock footage of a butcher in Dublin, Ireland. It turns out that two more clips in the video are also stock footage of small businesses in other countries. A scene, at the 0:32 mark, with what looks like a produce wholesaler was also shot in Dublin, Ireland. Another scene with a chef, at the 0:48 mark, was shot in Barcelona, Spain.

The clips can be found at Getty Images. They are clearly identified with locations and the keywords “Non US Location”.

close up PORTRAIT man standing with arms crossed in front of truck loaded with boxes of food / Dublin, Ireland

Keywords:

Pride, T-Shirt, Industry, Looking At Camera, Outdoors, Europe, Close-up, Caucasian Ethnicity, Occupation, Manual Worker, Republic of Ireland, Irish Culture, Horizon, Day, Gray Hair, Dublin – Republic of Ireland, One Person, Mature Adult, Arms Crossed, Color Image, Real Time, Cinematography, Film, One Mature Man Only, One Man Only, Portrait, Capital Cities, 10 Seconds or Greater, Adults Only, Horizon Over Land, Non US Location, HD Format

close up PORTRAIT chef smiling + talking / people in background / Barcelona, Spain

Keywords:

City, Uniform, Small Business, Looking At Camera, Indoors, Europe, Human Body Part, Close-up, Human Face, Latin American and Hispanic Ethnicity, Occupation, Chef, Smiling, Talking, Cooking, Spain, Restaurant, Barcelona, One Person, Adult, Color Image, Real Time, Cinematography, Film, One Man Only, Portrait, Chef’s Whites, 10 Seconds or Greater, Adults Only, Non US Location, HD Format

The Irish man stands resolute while the voice of Lyndon B Johnson talks about “our men”. The Spanish chef smiles while the voice of Gerald Ford talks about remarkable progress in the United States. Stock footage is par for the course in political ads but if Scott Brown really wants to “Let America to be America Again” it’s more likely to happen on the streets of Boston, not Dublin or Barcelona.

Scott Brown uses butcher in Ireland to say let America be America

The latest Republican pile-on in response to Barack Obama’s comments about small business is a 2-1/2 minute video from Senator Scott Brown that uses stock footage of American presidents and American entrepreneurship set to heroic music asking to Let America be America Again. In one scene, at the 1:05 mark, a butcher stands in front of his store, O’Connor’s, a family butcher and local produce store, while the voice of Ronald Reagan says “like the owners of stores down the street”. Except that it’s not down the street. It isn’t even in the country. It’s a butcher shop in Dublin, Ireland that appears in stock footage from Getty Images. The clip information specifically says “Non US Location”.

Here’s the full list of keywords:

Food and Drink, Built Structure, Food, Pride, Individuality, Meat, Window Display, Retail, Small Business, Looking At Camera, Outdoors, Europe, Caucasian Ethnicity, Occupation, Standing, Republic of Ireland, Store, Irish Culture, Day, Dublin – Republic of Ireland, Owner, Apron, One Person, Doorway, Adult, Arms Crossed, Color Image, Butcher, Butcher’s Shop, Real Time, Cinematography, Film, One Man Only, Portrait, Food And Drink Industry, Capital Cities, Less than 10 Seconds, Adults Only, Non US Location, HD Format, Entrepreneur.

The video had 325,246 views when I first came across it. Comments had been disabled. Simple observation reveals the wording of a sign reflected in the store window: “Solicitors”, the term for attorneys in Great Britain and Ireland. The name “O’Connor’s” is obviously Irish and the street scene would present some familiarity to anyone who had travelled in Great Britain or Ireland. An image search of a screen shot went directly to Getty Images where the clip was described as one of five depicting: “PORTRAIT male butcher standing with arms crossed in doorway of “O’Connor’s” butcher shop / Dublin”.

Can’t Scott Brown just let Ireland be Ireland?

Gurley Men With a Dash of Tedesco

With a week to go to the Republican primary runoff election for NC Lieutenant Governor and early voting underway a small custom super PAC, “A True Direction Committee“, better described as a micro PAC, popped up to support Tony Gurley in his race against Dan Forest. The committee was organized June 28th by Daniel Spuller, political consultant and, fundraiser for Wake Tech Community College. There are two modest initial contributions to the committee, a $38 in-kind contribution from Spuller and $2,500 from Gurley’s Medical Supply LLC in Durham, a company recently set up by Tony Gurley’s brother and often business partner Danny Gurley. Because of the closeness of the election the full extent of contributions and spending will likely not be known until after the election.