acrossthepond 901 Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7505953.stm Obama team decries cartoon image New Yorker cartoon depicting Mr Obama as a Muslim and his wife as a terrorist The magazine said the cartoon "combines... fantastical images" Barack Obama's team has decried The New Yorker magazine for a cartoon cover depicting him in traditional Muslim garb and his wife as a terrorist. The magazine says the cartoon is intended as a satirical comment about some of the distorted right-wing attacks on the Democratic senator. An Obama campaign spokesman said the cartoon was "tasteless and offensive". A spokesman for John McCain, Mr Obama's Republican rival in the presidential election, also criticised the cartoon. The image, drawn by Barry Blitt and featured on the front cover of this week's New Yorker, shows Mr Obama wearing traditional Muslim dress, while his wife, Michelle, is dressed in combat trousers and carrying a machine-gun. The couple are shown standing in the Oval Office, greeting one another with a "fist bump", with an American flag burning in the fireplace, and a portrait of Osama Bin Laden on the wall. In a statement, The New Yorker magazine said the cartoon "combines a number of fantastical images about the Obamas and shows them for the obvious distortions they are." The New Yorker said the cover, called "The Politics of Fear", was a critique of unfounded allegations that have tried to portray Mr Obama, a Christian, as a closet radical Muslim. "The burning flag, the nationalist-radical and Islamic outfits, the fist-bump, the portrait on the wall? All of them echo one attack or another. Satire is part of what we do, and it is meant to bring things out into the open, to hold up a mirror to prejudice, the hateful, and the absurd. And that's the spirit of this cover," the statement said. The portrayal of the Obamas "fist-bumping" one another was a reference to a campaign rally in St Paul, Minnesota, back in June, at which the couple were seen to "fist-bump", an action described by one Fox News commentator as a "terrorist fist-jab". The presenter - E D Hill who subsequently lost her Fox News show - later apologised for the comments, and insisted that they had not been meant seriously. The New Yorker said that this week's edition carried two "very serious" articles about Mr Obama. But Obama spokesman Bill Burton dismissed the cartoon, saying: "The New Yorker may think... 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." 1 in 10 Americans still thinks he's a Muslim. Even without going into the issue of how calling someone a Muslim is able to single-handedly wreck them, I feel sorry for him. I mean, what does he have to do? He's already been publicly to church services, denounced the rumors a hundred times, but the Middle America paranoids are still ready to fire John McBush into the presidency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fop 1 Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 (edited) Isn't that cartoon supposed to be an ironic caricature OF his detractors (not actually a dig at him)? Although I'm fairly sure any American presidential candidate would worship Satan/eat children (in Hilary's case Satan would worship her ) if they thought it would get them the job. So it's all just par for the course with US politics isn't it? His wife's behaviour was a bit iffy though, till they went on massive positive publicity crusade with her. Even without going into the issue of how calling someone a Muslim is able to single-handedly wreck them That does completely suck, however in fairness there's vast amounts of the world where you'd never get elected if you were non-muslim, so that's hardly an American or Western only issue. Edited July 15, 2008 by Fop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 15873 Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 Isn't that cartoon supposed to be an ironic caricature OF his detractors (not actually a dig at him)? So they claim, yes, but they knew full well how it would play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fop 1 Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 Isn't that cartoon supposed to be an ironic caricature OF his detractors (not actually a dig at him)? So they claim, yes, but they knew full well how it would play. I thought they were pro-Democrat (even positively endorsing Kerry)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 15873 Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 Isn't that cartoon supposed to be an ironic caricature OF his detractors (not actually a dig at him)? So they claim, yes, but they knew full well how it would play. I thought they were pro-Democrat (even positively endorsing Kerry)? I was thinking more in terms of getting publicity at all costs (even if that means damaging a Dem's campaign). Media whores, the lot of 'em. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 11098 Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 I can understand the New Yorker's defence, their trouble arrived when the images were picked up by the national press who's audience aren't as honed to the subtle art of satire as their own readers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fop 1 Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 I can understand the New Yorker's defence, their trouble arrived when the images were picked up by the national press who's audience aren't as honed to the subtle art of satire as their own readers. I predict a...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 Whatever happens he's going to win, they might as well get used to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 11098 Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 I'm not so sure, Senator Oven Chips seems to be striking a chord with conservative democrats and more middle ground republicans too. He'll have the white male vote on the whole, he's certainly more appealing to the white south in general. I don't think Obama's got it sewn up at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 15873 Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 The media portrayal of Obama as a "flip-flopper" has already started - with some justification, as his move towards the middle ground has been a bit cack-handed, but you're always going to have to jettison a few party-friendly policies as you try to appeal to a broad majority. Meanwhile, McCain's own blunders go largely unreported. Now you could argue that's because nobody cares about McCain, but it's the flip-flop badge that did for Kerry in the end, and I'm sure it's a tactic the right will be only too happy to pursue again this time (alongside the OMG Muslim/black man/sounds-like-Osama cards, natch). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 Ironic that they think Americans will grasp the irony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acrossthepond 901 Posted July 15, 2008 Author Share Posted July 15, 2008 Over here it's not a question of Obama having it sewn up, it's a question of McCain having it sewn up. The general sentiment is that he's the heir apparent. Even where I live (New York), there's a general feeling of desperation about Obama's chances. He is the better candidate by far, largely because McCain has no personality and no grasp of world issues, but there's so much baggage surrounding Obama that it seems a foregone conclusion. I fully believe the New Yorker ran it in satire of Obama's opponents. It'd be a cold day in hell when the New Yorker abandons its liberal leanings. That said, there was no explanation for it, no tagline, nothing that might explain it to those less-prepared to grasp its meaning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 Obama will win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyluke 2 Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 The ultra-conservative Americans I met seemed certain that Obama would win. They were quite upset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acrossthepond 901 Posted July 16, 2008 Author Share Posted July 16, 2008 Obama will win. Right, as soon as I get done shagging Adriana Lima and head over to SJP for the FA cup presentation ceremony like Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 11098 Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 Just curious, and tell me to mind my own if it's too personal a question, which way will you be voting ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acrossthepond 901 Posted July 16, 2008 Author Share Posted July 16, 2008 Just curious, and tell me to mind my own if it's too personal a question, which way will you be voting ? Not a citizen if I could, it'd be Obama, although I really don't think he has any sort of a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 15873 Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 I've got a tenner on McCain to win at 2/1, anyway, so it's all good either way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 I've got a tenner on McCain to win at 2/1, anyway, so it's all good either way. Either the American led path to bringing the earth to the brink of destruction will be ended, or you'll be thirty quid up. Clearly a win win scenario. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 15873 Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 I've got a tenner on McCain to win at 2/1, anyway, so it's all good either way. Either the American led path to bringing the earth to the brink of destruction will be ended, or you'll be thirty quid up. Clearly a win win scenario. Exactly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 I've got a tenner on McCain to win at 2/1, anyway, so it's all good either way. How could you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 15873 Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 I've got a tenner on McCain to win at 2/1, anyway, so it's all good either way. How could you? Pssht. I never win anything at the bookies, it's the best endorsement Obama could have hoped for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 I've got a tenner on McCain to win at 2/1, anyway, so it's all good either way. Either the American led path to bringing the earth to the brink of destruction will be ended, or you'll be thirty quid up. Clearly a win win scenario. Well, £20 up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 I've got a tenner on McCain to win at 2/1, anyway, so it's all good either way. Either the American led path to bringing the earth to the brink of destruction will be ended, or you'll be thirty quid up. Clearly a win win scenario. Well, £20 up It's long away enough that it'll feel like winning £30 right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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