Just when you thought the New Yorker Obama cover controversy had started to die down, along comes Governor David Paterson to fan the American flag-fueled flames. At an NAACP gathering earlier today, Paterson strongly condemned the illustration, calling it "one of the most malignant, vicious covers of a magazine I have ever seen… They knew it would hurt people; it was designed to do that and also to feed the prurient interest of bigoted, prejudiced people in this society.” Not to be outdone, the NAACP released a statement decrying the illustration as "tasteless, Islam-a-phobic, mean spirited and racially offensive."





oh please already, every politician needs to get some news coverage over their feigned outrage over this. if you were dumb enough to think the new yorker would be anything but pro-obama you probably wouldnt be looking at the magazine in the first place.
i'm sure any one of its readers knew what they were getting out without having to be spoon-fed.
come on, mr. patterson. did you really see the cover?
of course I register a misspelling when i'm trying to slam someone. DAMN ME!
it's all hearsay, to him.
Haha. You guys are too cruel...
"of course I register a misspelling when i'm trying to slam someone."
it's ok BMMDan, Paterson didn't see your mistake either.
I am outraged that he and others are "outraged."
The illustration was a mockery of the ridiculous lies and innuendo that have been spread about Obama. For example, that he's a "secret Muslim." It sounds ridiculous because it is!
Why didn't Paterson come out against Fox News for teasing a segment covering the Obamas' potential "terrorist fist jab." (By the way, we call it a "pound" or "fist bump" in the real world, and rarely do it.)
Because people like Paterson failed to come out strong against all these lies, they have been allowed to linger. The New Yorker should be praised for forcefully mocking and ridiculing them and putting these issues directly in the public eye where they belong.
Expressions of public disapproval like Paterson's, and the news media's entertaining such public disapproval, is the worst possible thing that rational people can do, as it counters the efforts of this illustration.
Either Paterson (and others) think the public is extremely stupid and are pandering to the extreme, or he/they are extremely stupid themselves to not understand this illustration! Either way -- sucks!
The illustration was a mockery of the ridiculous lies and innuendo that have been spread about Obama. For example, that he's a "secret Muslim." It sounds ridiculous because it is!
yeah but the average joe doesn't know that which is a shame. paterson is just catering to their ignorance.
You know it's possible to get the joke and still think it's fucking stupid and offensive...
The Obama crowd are the biggest bunch of crybabies around.
Governor, would you like some cheese with your whine?
I'm disappointed. I thought Paterson was smarter than that. Another klutz. Sigh....
The only way I can see being offended by the cartoon while getting it is if you are one of the knuckledraggers it makes fun of.
Someone may have already suggested this, but I think that maybe, just maybe, The New Yorker did this to boost sales.
Just sayin'. Stranger things have taken place and worked.
Every time they interview someone OUTRAGED! on the news, my husband looks over and says, "Head of marketing."
Mr. Magoo, thought you had a better sense of humor than that!
Re: 9
You know it's possible to get the joke and still think it's fucking stupid and offensive...
No, actually, it isn't. This is like somebody standing up to Jonathan Swift and shrilly screaming "You want the Irish to eat their own babies? You are SICK! That's no modest proposal!"
The cover ATTACKS these fucking stupid and offensive images of Obama that are spun by the right. I can't believe people are outraged at all.
Attention everybody: WoodenTaco reads!!
What I think is at the core of this outrage is, as usual, New Yorkers assuming they are smarter than "the rest of America" and assuming that other people WON'T get the joke. Which, of course, is idiotic.
Every week Obama has to be outraged or sorry about something!! This is leadership? The New Yorker has done nothing wrong. We have a free press in this country for a reason and it is up to free people to make up their own free minds!
Please, we all know that none of these politicians is truly outraged. They're just doing what they think is politically correct. I cannot imagine Obama looking at this cover and feeling outraged. I really can't.
It's a joke, it's silly, it pokes fun at Islamophobia and the lies being spread about Obama, and people just don't know how to take irony in this country. The very people who should be laughin (okay, maybe not guffawing, but at least a temperate chuckle) are the ones pretending to be outraged.
And it's no wonder people are up in arms, when the slightest wavering from message is greeted with the four year old's "liar!" or "flip flopper" reaction. What is this country coming to when every body acts like a four year old, and takes every little thing literally?
We're getting dangerously naive here. The comparison to the Jonathan Swift proposal is perfect.
Well, New Yorkers ARE smarter. It's true. And if you don't agree, go read LAist or something!
:)
LAist is proofread.
Actually the worst part about the "outrage" is that unscrupulous characters such as pub28, trying to tap into the 'whining PC liberal' stereotype, ascribe the outcry to Obama. In reality, Obama brushed the whole thing off and has barely said anything about it.
Imagine how outraged he'd be if he could actually see it.