Kratovil Effigy Picture Burning up Blogs

Mix a partisan health care debate, a little misinformation -- and, oh, a picture of a Democratic Congressman hanging in effigy -- and apparently you can light up the blogosphere.

A snapshot taken by Eastern Shore blogger Joe Albero on Monday during a sparsely attended anti-health care protest -- showing a cardboard cut-out of U.S. Rep. Frank M. Kratovil, Jr. (D) dangling by a noose -- has taken on a life of its own in cyberspace in the past few hours.

Politico and some of Kratovil's opponents picked up the picture and labeled it part of a "rally" attended by members of the fiscally conservative Americans for Prosperity who were meeting in Salisbury on health care reform.

Politico has since updated its post with a comment by AFP noting it had nothing to do with organizing the event:

"We held an event the previous night, where this man passed out flyers asking people to join him the next day at the office for a protest. That is how some AFP members ended up coming, but they were disgusted by his behavior. I repeat, this gathering WAS NOT an AFP event or sponsored by us in any way," writes AFP [spokeswoman] Amy Menefee."

For his part Albero, who leans right in his posts, said a few AFP members stopped by the one-man show and quickly left.

"What this guy did was despicable, and Democrats have completely just turned it around to be something it wasn't. This guy was way out of line," Albero said.