Obama was right: Another hateful, bigoted attack from … the New Yorker?
posted at 7:52 pm on July 13, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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Remember when Barack Obama told a Jacksonville, Florida audience this?
“We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run. They’re going to try to make you afraid.
“They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?”
Once again, Barack Obama has been proved right … but once again, not by Republicans. The New Yorker could never be confused with National Review or the Weekly Standard, but its cover looks like a MoveOn conception of both:
The Obama campaign is condemning as “tasteless and offensive” a New Yorker magazine cover that depicts Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in a turban, fist-bumping his gun-slinging wife.
An American flag burns in their fireplace.
The New Yorker says it’s satire. It certainly will be candy for cable news.
The Obama campaign quickly condemned the rendering. Spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement: “The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama’s right-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree.”
So Republicans must be thrilled with the New Yorker, right? Well, not exactly:
McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds quickly e-mailed: “We completely agree with the Obama campaign, it’s tasteless and offensive.”
Here’s the cover:
Obviously, the New Yorker wanted to go for satire, poking fun at what they see as the image of the Obamas among conservatives. Just as obviously, the editors of the New Yorker showed very poor judgment in approving this cover. A satirical cartoon on the inside would have been more appropriate, but having this on the cover shouldn’t just offend the Obamas, but also conservatives who have a number of substantial issues with Barack Obama.
This makes the third bigoted attack from the Left on Obama. Two weeks ago, it was Ralph Nader acting as the arbiter of black authenticity, and last week it was Jesse Jackson wanting to castrate Obama. One side in this cycle certainly seems obsessed by identity politics, but so far it isn’t the Republicans.
Update: “Third bigoted attack” was tongue in cheek, people. Get a clue. The New Yorker is attacking conservatives, but Obama’s the one taking offense (and for good reason). Obama warned that the Republicans would obsess over his ethnicity, but so far only the mainstream Left has made it an issue.
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Funny watching the Left eat its own. I am starting to feel a tad more optimistic about November. The New Yorker is an execrable magazine.
Hilts on July 13, 2008 at 7:56 PM
Is that a portrait of UBL above the fireplace in the Oval Office? Yes, that is bad taste.
Zorro on July 13, 2008 at 7:58 PM
I think the New Yorker is poking fun at the fantasies of the rabid right…
To be skewered and not even notice it takes a deft blade.
alphie on July 13, 2008 at 7:59 PM
Michelle has that Angela Davis look.
mred on July 13, 2008 at 7:59 PM
Is that magazine still in print?
My collie says:
CyberCipher on July 13, 2008 at 8:00 PM
As satire, it might be slightly more effective (but still offensive) if the right were making racial attacks.
But they’re not. And this entirely justifies McCain’s pointed rejection of attacks even tangentially related to race, such as condemnations of Rev. Wright.
If the left wants to smear themselves with this tar, that’s their business, but they need to be the only ones doing the smearing.
NeighborhoodCatLady on July 13, 2008 at 8:00 PM
We have the McCain campaign’s comment but what about the other Irishman in the race. What does McKinney have to say about all this? Now there’s an authentic progressive. The Obama mania was fun while it lasted but the Left has a new champion.
D0WNT0WN on July 13, 2008 at 8:01 PM
My collie says:
CyberCipher on July 13, 2008 at 8:01 PM
I love collies!
Zorro on July 13, 2008 at 8:02 PM
Meltdown x 10:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/13/yikes-controversial-emnew_n_112429.html
WisCon on July 13, 2008 at 8:03 PM
Overpriced copy of The New Yorker – $4.50
Shipping cost – $2.24
Picture of fist bumping anti-American first couple – Priceless
Now that GW is on the way out, all that hate seems to be turning inward for these folks.
Right on!!! (fist bump).
Hening on July 13, 2008 at 8:03 PM
I’ve been posting about the racist campaign from the Left since January. The Clinton campaign began very early launching racial shots at Obama, masquerading as a concern about “what the Republicans would say.”
It helps for the Democrats to remind each other what utter racists they’re opposing; it’s how they continue to justify their righteous self-image. The problem is, all the racist talk is coming from the Democratic party.
philwynk on July 13, 2008 at 8:03 PM
Hey Obama and Osama have the same hat.
Chuck Schick on July 13, 2008 at 8:04 PM
And the flag burning in the fireplace? (Hint of Ayres, anyone? Obama’s problems with flag pins?)
Wethal on July 13, 2008 at 8:04 PM
is that arugula growing on the mantle?
becki51758 on July 13, 2008 at 8:08 PM
It’s going to be a loooooong, hot, summer.
Nothing offends any more, and the media have made it so.
No, they can’t blame the people, on the left, nor on the right, for it.
In a very interesting psychological analysis, the media, who so desperately wish for Obama to win, are helping to further his ruin.
He, of course, was/is an empty board. They put fancy clothes on the naked emperor and they are undressing him too. They are really enjoying it too.
Entelechy on July 13, 2008 at 8:09 PM
mred on July 13, 2008 at 8:09 PM
Since you are a “rightie”, as you claimed, did you do your mea culpas yet?
Entelechy on July 13, 2008 at 8:10 PM
One man’s satire is another man’s absolute truth. Are you really that sure O! is gonna win this thing, Allah? I’m seeing an awful lot of anti-O! in the media. I think he’s toast.
Anyone have marshmallows?
ahem on July 13, 2008 at 8:10 PM
Read the story. Some interesting stuff in there.
It’s long.
JammieWearingFool on July 13, 2008 at 8:10 PM
Ummm,I’m not a rocket scientist,but I think the liberals/
New Yorker mag has outdone themselves,and I think anyone
to the right would love to daydream that picture of Obama
and Omama!
But my lord,what the hell are they thinking in la la Liberal
land,oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh this is going to be an out of control verbal brushfire on the Leftsphere
blogging world!
And the UNITY TRAIN to Denver just keeps on a rolling,accept
for the delays at railroad crossings due to the Obama bus’s,
getting caught up under the train wheels leading to their
Utopian convention!
canopfor on July 13, 2008 at 8:11 PM
And highly collectible – especially if they pull it! Is it actually out yet?
CK MacLeod on July 13, 2008 at 8:11 PM
Oh, and McCain shouldn’t be such a righteous douche. He should just savor the moment and shut up.
ahem on July 13, 2008 at 8:11 PM
I’m getting very very very tired of the word “bigot”.
And the word “racist”.
To the point where I turn off and tune out immediately when I hear either of them.
Definition of a racist is what you call the other guy when he’s winning the argument. Same for bigot. Find another umbrella for your hurted feelings, Obama, because this one is getting really tattered from overuse.
I had thought of Michelle as more of a Lady MacBeth type, but must say that the Angela Davis look becomes her.
NahnCee on July 13, 2008 at 8:11 PM
All the characteristics portrayed by the New Yorker was brought to you by the left.
Obama’s turban – Hillary’s camp sent the pic to Drudge.
Clinging to guns – Obama via Huffington Post
Embarrassed by Americans/ First time proud of USA – Obama and Michelle.
Don’t wear a flag pin – Obama
jencab on July 13, 2008 at 8:12 PM
So Alphie sees this as satire. Pretty keen sense of the obvious there. That being said, I bet this comes back to bite Conservatives. Don’t forget, the left isn’t capable of this sort of thing, they are the party of goodness and light. Why can’t I just not want to vote for Senator Obama because he is a liberal, he’s twelve years old and he has been in the Senate for 143 days?
Cindy Munford on July 13, 2008 at 8:12 PM
I hope the New Yorker defends this as just more “edgy” satirical commentary, wchih lefties are supposed to love.
After all it was the magazine (under Tina Brown’s editorship) that had a cover in 1991 or so with an Hasidic man kissing a black woman after the Crown Heights tensions. (She did turn down a Christmas cover of a urinating Santa once, though).
Wethal on July 13, 2008 at 8:13 PM
At the Huffpoo, even though a liberal paper did this
Entelechy on July 13, 2008 at 8:13 PM
Is that a half-moon muslim symbol in the left window?
SouthernGent on July 13, 2008 at 8:14 PM
Well…duh.
Bob's Kid on July 13, 2008 at 8:14 PM
First the New Yorker kicks Brian Griffin off its writing staff because he was a few credits shy of graduating from Brown, and now this!
Best exchange from that episode:
Brian: (Being shown the restroom, which contains sinks but no commodes) Uhh… where are the toilets?
Editor: Oh, no one at the New Yorker has a rectum!
radjah shelduck on July 13, 2008 at 8:16 PM
That must be arugula on the mantle…
Yeah, at first glance I said “This is the New Yorker?”
But then finding out what their intentions were, it kinda makes sense, but yes…either way, it’s in bad taste.
(Of course I’ll have to get a copy first thing in the morning, ’cause if they pull it, I’ll make some quick cash on ebay)
JetBoy on July 13, 2008 at 8:16 PM
I’m disappointed, that’s not the New Yorker that I knew….
Dale in Atlanta on July 13, 2008 at 8:17 PM
The New Yorker went to far with this one, but political correctness in general will be the death of satire, yet.
irishspy on July 13, 2008 at 8:17 PM
This is waaaaaaaaaaaay cool! This year, the circular firing squad is manned by Democrats.
I’ve got the popcorn popping and the recliner is cleared for action.
Should be an interesting 4 months.
least1 on July 13, 2008 at 8:18 PM
PS:
“The Obama campaign is condemning as “tasteless and offensive” a New Yorker magazine cover that depicts Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in a turban, fist-bumping his gun-slinging wife.
An American flag burns in their fireplace.”
It is still “satire”, if it just so happens to be 100% TRUE?????
Dale in Atlanta on July 13, 2008 at 8:18 PM
Chalk it up to more evidence that liberals think that conservatives are stupid.
The fact of the matter is that the Democratic nominee is far too vacuous to be seriously viewed in the manner portrayed on the cover of The New Yorker. In order to convince me that Obama was truly THIS kind of threat, they’d have to FIRST convince me that he is somehow more COMPETENT than a 13-year-old boy that builds cardboard Halo body armor and weapons. Sorry — but BHO just ISN’T that competent.
My collie says:
CyberCipher on July 13, 2008 at 8:18 PM
I think the New Yorker…..
alphie on July 13,2008 at 7:59PM.
alphie: News Flash,Republicans wouldn’t be this stupid!
And,sssshhhhhh don’t tell anyone,but that cartoon
depiction,has been done by the Left!
And,alphie,this is the best part,the Left has a
picture in the picure of OBL! Now thats nasty!
Oh,and one more tidbit,ssshhhhhhhhhhhh be very
very quiet,there’s a Presidential election on the
go!
canopfor on July 13, 2008 at 8:19 PM
Since, the Obamas never complain when derogatory cartoons are published about black conservatives, they should just suck it up.
Blake on July 13, 2008 at 8:19 PM
Time for the New Yorker to be thrown under that bus!
becki51758 on July 13, 2008 at 8:20 PM
Great scott,I missed the American Flag
in the harth,getting warm,oh boy!
canopfor on July 13, 2008 at 8:20 PM
Anyone think the American legal in the carpet looks unhappy?
Wethal on July 13, 2008 at 8:23 PM
legal=eagle. My bad.
Wethal on July 13, 2008 at 8:23 PM
Yes, I hear Jesse Jackson’s a big fan of the “Talk of Hymietown” column.
CK MacLeod on July 13, 2008 at 8:23 PM
Wethal on July 13, 2008 at 8:23 PM
It looks like a tear is running down his cheek.
becki51758 on July 13, 2008 at 8:24 PM
Anyone think the American legal in the carpet looks unhappy?
Wethal on July 13, 2008 at 8:23 PM
Actually, that’s not the Presidential Seal; it’s the Obama Great Seal….
Dale in Atlanta on July 13, 2008 at 8:25 PM
The article is 15 pages long?? yikes! What all did he do in Chicago? It’s not like he was in office that long.
becki51758 on July 13, 2008 at 8:28 PM
I’m very offended by having my right wing characterizations of Obama satirized by that drawing and demand an apology. Even the Obama people think it was unfair to me, apparently.
Buddahpundit on July 13, 2008 at 8:28 PM
\
woahhhh hold on. It’s crystal clear this wasn’t an attack on Obama, it was a satire of attacks on Obama. You’re being willfully dishonest.
This I can agree with. It would have been a funny political cartoon inside the magazine. But calling it an “attack on Obama” is ridiculous.
and from the headlines thread…
kind of validates the New Yorker’s satire doesn’t it?
crr6 on July 13, 2008 at 8:28 PM
Read for comprehension much?
Ed Morrissey on July 13, 2008 at 8:29 PM
Wow, they truly are exercised over at HuffPo. What do you think is the precentage of folks who post there that are medicated? Or need to be. I don’t go there normally, are they always this unhinged?
Cindy Munford on July 13, 2008 at 8:29 PM
What a riot! The New Yorker shoots. . .
Obambi in the foot!
MrLynn on July 13, 2008 at 8:30 PM
Good point Cindy. This is becoming a habit from the left. The benefits of this stuff could very well accrue to Obama, not McCain.
JonRoss on July 13, 2008 at 8:31 PM
Funny stuff from Ace of Spades HQ on what is actually in the article:
Wethal on July 13, 2008 at 8:32 PM
This is satire, could have fooled me.
Engrpat on July 13, 2008 at 7:57 PM
kind of validates the New Yorker’s satire doesn’t it?
crr6 on July 13, 2008 at 8:28 PM
Actually, you’re wrong!
I was raised during the Liberal Anti-American/PC 60’s & 70’s, I know the drill!
A “joke” (or “satire” is only a “joke”, when both parties think/KNOW it’s a “joke”.
The Obama campaign do not obviously think it is a “joke” or “satire”, they’re already responding/attacking/complaining back….ergo…it is NOT a “joke” or “satire”.
Hence, it IS an “attack”, from the Left, just as Capt Ed says; sorry, I know the “game”, Capt Ed is right on this, you are wrong!
Dale in Atlanta on July 13, 2008 at 8:35 PM
So how exactly did the New Yorker’s cover constitute a “bigoted attack” on Obama if it was just satire?
crr6 on July 13, 2008 at 8:36 PM
The Far Left would eat it’s young if allowed….
AprilOrit on July 13, 2008 at 8:37 PM
They know it was a joke. They just think the joke was in poor taste. That doesn’t make it an “attack”. If anyone was attacked by that cover it was conservatives.
crr6 on July 13, 2008 at 8:38 PM
Just wait until the Obama campaign blames the GOP for this, like they blamed conservative bloggers for Larry Johnson’s rumormongering. Sigh.
Seixon on July 13, 2008 at 8:38 PM
My inlaws are going to *love* this cover.
bnelson44 on July 13, 2008 at 8:39 PM
Well, my prediction is that a copy of it will be hanging on 1,000 conservative’s refrigerators by morning.
bnelson44 on July 13, 2008 at 8:40 PM
Apparently, you only credit the New Yorker with satire. That was tongue in cheek, pointing out that the mainstream Left is obsessing over Obama’s ethnicity, not mainstream conservatives.
Ed Morrissey on July 13, 2008 at 8:42 PM
Blasphemy! How dare they mock Barack!(pbuh)
CP on July 13, 2008 at 8:42 PM
Who cares. It is the cover people will remember
bnelson44 on July 13, 2008 at 8:43 PM
HuffPo commenter said that the New Yorker readers are “sophisticated” enough to get it as satire.
Presumably though, the knuckle-dragging, gun-and-Bible-clinging racists will just have their prejudices reinforced.
Must pop into DU and Kos to see if they’re upset. Probably not, since he’s tossed them under the bus with his flip-flops on FISA and suchlike.
Wethal on July 13, 2008 at 8:43 PM
Wethal on July 13, 2008 at 8:32 PM
Evil thugs? Lack of empathy?? He wanted us to take into account the “innocent civilians abroad? ugh!
I am now offended by his remarks about 9/11! I will definitely be reading this article.
becki51758 on July 13, 2008 at 8:43 PM
You’d be a brilliant political strategist.
Yes, McCain should publicly enjoy the race-baiting conservative-haters at New Yorker. That’ll win him lots of respect.
jgapinoy on July 13, 2008 at 8:45 PM
bnelson44 on July 13, 2008 at 8:43 PM
I may save it for my desktop background…just kidding!
becki51758 on July 13, 2008 at 8:45 PM
What? No cries of freedom of speech and freedom of expression from the left? Or, does that only apply when Condoleeza Rice is caricatured as a “house negro?”
For over three decades I have been told that I fought in Viet Nam in part to give others the right to free speech, even when offensive. I have been told to just “buck it up” when President Bush is portrayed a bumpkin or a chimpanzee.
Sorry, but for all those who condoned all the vitriol printed at Bush have no right to express outrage now at this.
It is a two way street!!!!
LewWaters on July 13, 2008 at 8:50 PM
Looks like the Obamas resent a true picture of who they are. After all, the rifle Michelle is carrying is representative of revolution and B. Hussein was BORN a Muslim. How many Christians attended madrassa’s? Want to bet T. Rezko is counting on Obama winning so he can get pardoned?
Zelsdorf Ragshaft on July 13, 2008 at 8:51 PM
Not to mention just plain stupid.
I must not be a “real” conservative because I don’t get why they depicted Michelle in fatigues and carrying a rifle.
4shoes on July 13, 2008 at 8:51 PM
It’s either a “bigoted attack from the Left on Obama” or it’s satire aimed at the Rapture Republicans, ed.
It can’t be both…
alphie on July 13, 2008 at 8:52 PM
… With Michelle Obama as ‘Cleopatra Jones’
DaveC on July 13, 2008 at 8:52 PM
Ahhhh ok. Clown nose on, clown nose off. Are your two other examples (Jackson and Nader’s comments) “satirical” as well? I’m guessing you see those as genuinely bigoted attacks. Then why include them with your “tongue in cheek example”? I have a feeling you’re backpedaling but if you were attempting satire I wasn’t the only one thrown off….
crr6 on July 13, 2008 at 8:53 PM
Thier perception of how the right views Obama is just as ignorant as the cartoon. I don’t see him and his as this depiction. I see a shallow intellecual fraud who will do any low thing imaginable to win an election.
Beto Ochoa on July 13, 2008 at 8:53 PM
Does the left consider The New Yorker a conservative magazine?
Kini on July 13, 2008 at 8:55 PM
They know it was a joke. They just think the joke was in poor taste. That doesn’t make it an “attack”. If anyone was attacked by that cover it was conservatives.
crr6 on July 13, 2008 at 8:38 PM
Your dedicated Anti-American/Pro-Jihadi Leftist Democratic Nutbag (TM) roots are showing…
No surprise, actually…
Dale in Atlanta on July 13, 2008 at 8:55 PM
New keyboard enhances typo joy.
Beto Ochoa on July 13, 2008 at 8:56 PM
Both Obama and McCain say the same prayer at night.
“Oh dear God, I can handle my enemies, but please protect me from my friends”.
MB4 on July 13, 2008 at 8:56 PM
Angela Davis
davidk on July 13, 2008 at 8:56 PM
I don’t think so. I think they consider it “mainstream”
bnelson44 on July 13, 2008 at 8:56 PM
Obama should just be happy that it’s such a poor drawing and hardly worth keeping a gaze on for more than a few seconds. Can you imagine what someone with the skills of Michael Ramirez could have drawn? THAT would have been damage.
Buddahpundit on July 13, 2008 at 8:57 PM
It would have worked if they’d added a caption saying something like “The Right Goes After Obama”.
Farmer_Joe on July 13, 2008 at 8:57 PM
Brilliant
Beto Ochoa on July 13, 2008 at 8:58 PM
The only thing that image of the Obama’s in the whitehouse oval office, victorious from their win over McCain, Barack wearing muslim garb with a photo of Osama on the wall on the right and an American flag in the fireplace is a photo of Che Guevara on the wall on the left.
Well, the Che Guevara flag that was at the Houston Obama campaign office was real.
wise_man on July 13, 2008 at 9:00 PM
Me thinks CAIR would be outraged,
followed by the Femanazi’s,and I bet
Code Pinko,having anything to do with
Michelle Barack(In, your mommy* wears
army* boots)in the picture is about to
turn into a Code Pink sh-t storm!
*(canopfor does not imply,or besmirch,any women in the
entire US Armed Forces who wear combat boots,only what
the left implies!):)
canopfor on July 13, 2008 at 9:00 PM
Holy Cow!
Micheal on July 13, 2008 at 9:01 PM
Well, gee, what do you think? Do you think I was arguing that Ralph Nader and Jesse Jackson are white supremacists? Or do you think I was poking satirical jabs at the Left for obsessing over race while accusing Republicans for doing the same?
Take your time … there’s no time limit on this quiz.
Ed Morrissey on July 13, 2008 at 9:01 PM
If so, then they had their battery laid 3200 mils out.
For “you civilians”, that means 180 degrees out.
MB4 on July 13, 2008 at 9:02 PM
He’s throwing satire under the bus.
Nonfactor on July 13, 2008 at 9:03 PM
Heres a thought!
Is it possible,election and all,that the Libs might
be doing this on purpose to start the appearance of,
say,how the rightsphere is reacting to this,and pundits?
And then three days later,some idiot comes out with
a so-called poll to see how blank and blank the right
have treated this?
canopfor on July 13, 2008 at 9:07 PM
I don’t know, maybe Obama should just laugh this one off. Then again, he does seem to take a lot of things very personally.
bnelson44 on July 13, 2008 at 9:07 PM
Looks like Angela Davis and Jim Brown (football player/community activist). Good likenesses of the Obamas. Even includes Michelle’s ironic head tilt. Hateful and bigoted? I dunno. Maybe it’s just a satire of the mind of the right-winger, like the show Archie Bunker, or the brilliant skit by Kristen Wiig on SNL of Pelosi a year or two ago, showing her left-wing values. Again, if the parody is of the right-wing mind, then isn’t the joke meant to be on us?
Paul-Cincy on July 13, 2008 at 9:11 PM
Best thing I’ve seen all week.
The illustrator captured something very real about those two.
Urban Infidel on July 13, 2008 at 9:11 PM
What a terrible thing to have lost one’s mind. Or not to have a mind at all. How true that is.
- Dan Quayle
MB4 on July 13, 2008 at 9:12 PM
http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/124999_l.jpg
bnelson44 on July 13, 2008 at 9:14 PM
It’s not like President Bush hasnt been pictured in an unflattering light a time or two…on TV, magazines, etc. In an election, you should expect anything.
If they are doing this to make conservatives look bad, I dont think it worked.
becki51758 on July 13, 2008 at 9:14 PM
That’s not The New Yorker that Barack knew.
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on July 13, 2008 at 9:15 PM
And another thing….
It can’t be good for Michelle’s children.
There. I think all of the gaffe’s have been said.
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on July 13, 2008 at 9:15 PM
Why a five year old child would have understood that this would backfire on them. Someone at the New Yorker should have had the foresight to have sent for a child of five [updated].
- Groucho
MB4 on July 13, 2008 at 9:16 PM
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