Ya can't make
it up
The New Yorker says it’s satire. It
certainly will be candy for cable news.
At a press availability Sunday afternoon
in San Diego, Senator Obama was asked, according to the diligent Maria Gavrilovic of CBS News: “The upcoming issue of
the New Yorker, the July 21st issue, has a picture of you, depicting you and your wife on the cover. Have you seen it? If
not, I can show it to you on my computer. It shows your wife Michelle with an Afro and an AK 47 and the two of you doing the
fist bump with you in a sort of turban-type thing on top. I wondered if you’ve seen it or if you want to see it or if
you have a response to it?”
Obama (shrugs incredulously): “I
have no response to that.”
Priceless stage direction by Maria.
The magazine explains at the start of its
news release previewing the issue: “On the cover of the July 21, 2008, issue of the The New Yorker, in ‘The Politics
of Fear,’ artist Barry Blitt satirizes the use of scare tactics and misinformation in the Presidential election to derail
Barack Obama’s campaign.”
I’m sure Senator Obama is oh-so appreciative
for The New Yorker’s help.
UPDATE -- Obama campaign spokesman Bill
Burton says: “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."
UPDATE to the UPDATE -- McCain spokesman
Tucker "Outward" Bounds quickly e-mailed: "We completely agree with the Obama campaign, it’s tasteless and offensive.”
