Fake Romney picture circulates on Twitter

A potentially embarrassing but fake picture of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney hit the Web on Monday, lighting up Twitter with comments and retractions.

In the picture, Romney is arranging a group of children, each wearing a T-shirt with one letter of his last name.

In the real picture the children are lined up to properly spell his name, but in the fake version they’re aligned to spell “R-money,” a dig at Romney’s considerable wealth and his time as an executive at Bain Capital, for which his critics have accused him of engaging in “vulture capitalism.”

Influential conservative blogger Erick Erickson of Red State retweeted a link of the picture that said, “why oh why did Mitt Romney pose for this picture.”

Shortly after, Erickson tweeted:

“The Romney photo was photo-shopped but it speaks volumes that so many on the right weren’t surprised assuming it was real.”

---