This seems to me like the lying emails that went out in the first place. Maliciously intended to smear. Rather than address his [winning] arguments, better you should smear him so everyone isolates him. At least keep him on the defensive. Sure it's satire, but of what or who? The smearers! Who gets that? Who's laughing as Obama again is publicly smeared and asked his reaction? The smearers are loving it. Who's made to feel uncomfortable by having their features and qualities caricatured? The victim of the smearers. My daughter thinks the New Yorker readers are all smart enough to "get it." My view is not everyone understands the malice behind the smear campaign, and this doesn't expose anything. I think the media isn't giving Obama a level playing field, and this is another pretty egregious example. Would they ridicule a Jew in this way for slanderous things (or even truthful criticism) said against them? No way. It's entitled the politics of fear. Is it Rove's and Cheney's fear-mongering that is referred to? or the fear felt by Zionists that you write about? Or does it have one meaning for Zionists and another for the rest? It's pretty subtle, I'll give you that. But I think it crosses the line. What does the Black community think about it? Doesn't the title recall the fear used to oppress the Black race for centuries. That's not very funny or appropriate. What does the American Muslim community think about it? What about their fear that they will be locked up and tortured because some anonymous someone doesn't like them and drops a dime. It's the smearers who should be satirized, and this doesn't touch them.

Doppler

Great post, Doppler.

Tonight I took my laptop to the bar and threw the cover up to see what the people at the bar thought. None had seen it. None knew anything about the issue.

Everyone, EVERY ONE, 'got' it in a way that the New Yorker did not intend. Latino, Black, Blue Collar, Construction Worker . . . every single one including the bartender did not pick up that this was a satire about smears against Obama.

Everyone, EVERY ONE, said it was a shocking racist cartoon. I am not engaging in hyperbole when I say their jaws dropped. Almost in cartoon. They stared at me. And dropped their jaws. "You're kidding me, right?" "Unbelievable." "This is disgusting." "They can get away with this in New York?"

We're not talking PhDs here. We're talking regular folk who have to be at work at 7 AM to punch in.
______________________________________________________________________________________

PHIL . . . DID YOU CATCH THIS?

"Republican Jewish Official Spends Day Lying To Reporters About Obama" by Sam Stein
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2008/07/14/new-yorker-cover-could-serve-obama-in-the-end.html#comment-56383 <p><a href="http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2008/07/the-new-yorker-cover-is-genius.html#comment-122340250" rel="nofollow"><i>New Yorker</i> Covers linked here</a> as well as the Bush as Nero cover look more like charicatures to express a truth about the President and VP.</p> <p>By the same logic, the Obama cover would be a charicature meant to express a truth about Barack and Michelle.</p> New Yorker Covers linked here as well as the Bush as Nero cover look more like charicatures to express a truth about the President and VP.

By the same logic, the Obama cover would be a charicature meant to express a truth about Barack and Michelle.

Wow. The Jew Yorker better hope Obama doesn’t win the presidency, because they’ve bet the farm on this one.

That in and of itself should bring on the complete dismantling of all Israeli settlements in the West Bank, if a President Obama has any retaliatory balls–something the Jew Yorker seems to seriously doubt.

Just how much kosher abuse are these limp-wristed liberals willing to take? I guess we're going to find out.

opportunism

Main Entry: op·por·tun·ism
Pronunciation: \-ˈtü-ˌni-zəm, -ˈtyü-\
Function: noun
Date: 1870
: the art, policy, or practice of taking advantage of opportunities or circumstances often with little regard for principles or consequences.

But Obama need not worry. Despite the fact that he has thrown all the Rev Wright and Antiwar folks under the bus, he still has strong support from the "left wing" of the Lobby,by way of his connection to Rham Emmanuel. On the other hand they just might stand back and watch him take the fall…
knowing McCain has the support of the Rothschilds…

Its proposals, law, manner of implementation that counts.

As far as a free press…well only within certain boundaries.

In a way that proves Phil's point, MRW.

The cartoon is a very simple visualization of the rumor contents. The reaction shows in this simple shape it isn't taken.

Has anyone read the article. Concerning the "Phd's" or the the New Yorker's readers generally. What image arises from the combination?

And I would like to know how many not regular readers the cover attracts, compared to other cover related stories.