Democrat congresswoman salutes the Luftwaffe

It’s a silly mistake, but a rather telling silly mistake: when staffers for Democrat Julia Brownley of California’s 26th Congressional District sent out a flyer, they grabbed some stock images of smiling constituents to illustrate how the representative is “Reaching Across the Aisle FOR REAL RESULTS,” and picked one of a young lady they presumably thought was a Navy officer.  Instead, she’s wearing some sort of uniform mock-up that includes the symbol of the German air force, the Bundeswehr Luftwaffe, on her cap.

What’s weird about this particular gaffe is that it’s rather obvious that symbol is not from the U.S. military.  It sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb.  It’s rather surprising that everyone who prepared and approved this flyer missed it.  That’s especially uncomfortable given that Brownley sits on the House Committee for veteran Affairs, and her district includes a large naval base.

And what’s this flying doing with a taxpayer-funded stamp on it, anyway?  As the Daily Caller notes, free congressional mail or “franking” is not supposed to cover “overtly political messaging.”  This flyer is nothing but; there’s not even the thinnest pretense of “informing constituents” about anything other than how much the incumbent candidate cares, and how she’s good at reaching across the aisle, apparently all the way to Germany – that is, when she’s not raising funds by dishonestly accusing her Republican opponent, Jeff Gorell, of trying to impeach Barack Obama.  Other than raising money by slandering her opponent with a crackpot conspiracy theory, she’s all about bipartisanship, I guess.