The Digital Journalist
Sometimes pictures really do lie. This picture of George H.W. Bush standing by a cash register at a grocers' convention in New Orleans was at least party responsible for his re-election defeat in 1992. Bush was being shown some new technology in scanner design when a reporter in the press pool cracked, 'Look! He's never been in a supermarket!' That line made it into the pool report, and was picked up by newspapers along with the photograph, becoming an example to many people of how out of touch the president had become with the American public. It wasn't fair, but then who said politics was fair, anyway?