Outrage, outrage, outrage

The American blogosphere has been aghast at the recent New Yorker cover. So, I figured this site is way too important (sarcasm alert) not to display that now infamous magazine cover here as well.

So, what are people saying?

Michelle Malkin suggests that Obama should "grow a pair" and not whine about the cover. One could hardly disagree with that. Politicians are fair game, and sometimes cartoons will be fair, and sometimes not so nice. Crying about it doesn't help; it'll only make it worse.

McCain Blogs sums it up in one, er, four words: Evil, racist, bigoted and smear! (Quoting from Democratic sources)

Ed Morrissey has noticed that this is already the third attack on Obama from the left – with friends like these ... .

The Blue Girl in the Red State is mad as hell, saying this is "not even remotely funny".

AmericaBlog.com has an interesting take on the story:

Okay, what do we do about this? I want suggestions. This is what we have to deal with in America, as Democrats. A liberal media that bends over so far backwards to be "fair" that it becomes just as bad as FOX News.

What? Why should only conservative media allowed to be edgy and provocative?

Besides, what's the big deal here?

The cover cartoon only incorporates all the various criticisms lobbed at Obama so far: not patriotic enough, not showing the flag, not wearing the pin, his wife "not being proud of America", his name that evokes images of Osama, etc. In a way it could be seen as a clever satire of all those who have attacked Obama so far.

Comments

[Warren Street]

"In a way it could be seen as a clever satire of all those who have attacked Obama so far. "

Except that it isn't, since the satire itself is presented without context.

The satire as presented represented taking smears perpetrated by various right wing organizations and individuals--and, admittedly, in one photo released by the Clinton campaign during the primaries--and presenting them without context--as in, "this is how the right wing sees the Obamas" and "this is how McCain would like you to see his opponents, isn't it ridiculous?"

It was a lazy smear, one that, if used against John McCain, would have caused the hypocritical uproar so often seen from that side.

Ironically, the McCain campaign agrees--it was not funny and in bad taste. That has considerably cooled the jets of many on the right to have had their guy pull the rug out from under them.

[ScruffyDan]

The 'big deal' isn't that Obama should grow a pair, or that it wasn't funny (personally I got a chuckle out of if), the big deal is that far to many American Voters actually believe that Obama is a Muslim/terrorist.

[The Commentator]

So what? The New Yorker, in all its glorious smugness, is free to be distasteful. We can't create an environment where everyone thinks twice for fear of reprisal before printing something. I'm not suggesting you don't think about what you write but sometimes you have to just...well, do it.