Proofread your videos

So, I'm watching TV, and of course there are a lot of political ads bombarding us. By now, you probably have figured out that I'm a conservative Republican, and really don't have a lot of use for liberal democrats. Anyway, Elizabeth Dole is running for re-election to the US Senate for the State of North Carolina, and she has a commercial being aired that has supposed North Carolinians lamenting about how the Federal Government nearly bankrupted all of the tobacco farmers and how the BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) was threatening North Carolina jobs by the potential closing of military bases. Naturally, the ad mentions in a semi-twisted way to lead you to believe that Elizabeth Dole single-handedly took the lead and fixed these issues. Well, when it mentioned that she saved the bases and created new base jobs, the ad shows a video of an aircraft flying overhead. This is what caught my attention. From the first time I saw the video, something subconscious told me that it was incorrect, but I never really cared enough to follow through with my hunch, since I tend to just ignore political ads. But this evening I noticed the ad coming on, so I decided to pay attention. Yup, there was something genuinely wrong with the airplane shown (bear with me. I'm getting to my point).

So I went Elizabeth Dole's website and pulled up the same video and freeze framed the airplane. See the picture below:



Got it? The airplane in the middle of the screen capture. This is the airplane that is used to graphically demonstrate the efforts Liz has made to save jobs and keep the bases of the United States Armed Forces open in North Carolina. There is only one problem: The airplane is not American!

I'm an airplane nut, and I immediately had my hunch, so I pulled up some Google pics of what I believed the airplane to be and included one below:





This particular aircraft is a naval aircraft, which is apropos, since MCAS-New River and MCAS-Cherry Point both operate naval aircraft. But neither base operates the Dassault-Breguet Super Etendard! The Super Etendard is an older French aircraft that has either been withdrawn from active service or is getting ready to be withdrawn now that more modern aircraft have been introduced into the French armed forces.

You would think that a political ad that targets our military and military support would at least show an American aircraft!