Another Empty Suit

Another fun story that’s made even more fun by seeing the photos involved:

Another Empty Suit

Dean Hrbacek, the former mayor of Sugar Land, Texas, and now running for the U.S. House of Representatives, mailed a campaign brochure to voters. Those who looked closely could see that in the photo of the candidate, his head didn’t quite fit on the body, which is noticeably slimmer than Hrbacek’s. Campaign officials admitted the Republican’s photo was faked — they had a nice head shot of Hrbacek, but not a full-length photo needed for the brochure, so they pasted his head on someone else’s body. (Houston Chronicle) …Voters are well used to politicians who don’t have their heads on straight.

And here are the photos:

The Brochure

Just a typical campaign piece — but my, doesn’t he look slim and trim?

Insert Tab A

Here’s Hrbacek’s mug shot from his campaign web site. Looks pretty familiar …except that’s not the jacket and tie he’s wearing in the full-length shot.

Into Slot B

Here’s a close-up scan of the sloppy job of putting the candidate’s face on someone else’s body. Note that the trimmed neck actually overlaps the shirt on the left side. Oops!

March Update

Hrbacek failed in the Republican primary, coming in fifth. He apparently returned to his law practice.

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15 Comments on “Another Empty Suit

  1. LOL. I’m in Sugarland but I hadn’t even heard of that man until I saw the signs up all over town the other day.

    Very typical of politicians to lie to voters over the most asinine things.

    All I can say is at least it’s not Delay…

    Reply
  2. I’ve been saying for decades that, when they get into office, democrats and republicans just end up being a different face wearing the same suit. Now we have proof.

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  3. It would have been so difficult to get the man in a studio and take a few full-length photos? That’s just dumb!

    Actually, the first word that came to mind for me was “lazy” — just the kind of guy you want to elect to represent you, eh? -rc

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  4. Sheesh. Everybody knows that if you’re going to do a doctored photo, you have to know how to properly use the photo editor!

    Reply
  5. This story really doesn’t get any better. Not only does he want to go to congress, in place of Tom Delay, when I googled his name, the first entry shows his nickname. “Mayor Osama”.

    Good grief.

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  6. Looks like they did more than just body work – wouldn’t you say his hair was a bit more gray in the “real” picture than it is in the brochure, too? After all, if they were going to take off pounds, they might as well take off years while they’re at it.

    Reply
  7. I think this deception is symptomatic of Washington, and I wouldn’t vote for the guy. But one of your comments seems a bit harsh.

    You say, “Looks pretty familiar …except that’s not the jacket and tie he’s wearing in the full-length shot.” So? On what basis do you assume they should be the same? Perhaps he owns more than one suit, and maybe someone gave him a second tie for Christmas.

    You’re overreacting, Jim. It’s clearly the same photo, but the jacket and tie don’t match — an INSTANT indication that something is going on. In other words, the chances that they’d get away with such deception are low even if they did a clean paste job (which, of course, they didn’t). The point is to show the trail of evidence, not to critique his fashion sense. -rc

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  8. Why would they need a full length body shot to begin with? It adds nothing to the brochure, except take away space for real messaging… unless he/they didn’t have much to say in the first place. Many other photos could’ve been used, like photos of his accomplishments. Isn’t that the point? Duh.

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  9. The real crime is that they did such a bad job of it. Doesn’t anybody in his his brochure group know how to use photoshop?

    I don’t really think this is a big deal, except that it’s so obvious. If they used photoshop to touch up a pimple I wouldn’t care. If they used a picture from 5 years ago before put on weight, I wouldn’t care. There is no crime here. He’s not covering up anything. Someone in his PR department cut some corners when making a brochure.

    With all the scum in politics today (starting in the white house), this is only worthy of a laugh at their crappy photo editing skills and that’s it.

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  10. I go along with the fact that a head shot is more appropriate as it gives more space for the message (if there actually IS one).

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  11. I’m an idiot. I, like most folks (I hope, or maybe I don’t hope), didn’t see the problem until the close up. And I like to think of myself as “savvy”. We’re all idiots in one way or the other – be careful out there.

    I doubt you’re an idiot. If you had the actual printed item in front of you, I’m sure it would be more obvious. It’s a bit hard to see in a scanned image. -rc

    Reply
  12. Anyway…that’s what the photoshop era is about…nothing is real anymore.

    Not that many politicians ever were. -rc

    Reply

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