More Bright Ideas from the New Yorker

The Huffington Post ran an interview with New Yorker editor David Remnick about his magazine's recent cover, which features a Muslim-garbed Barack Obama burning the American flag in a fireplace as his gun-toting, Black Panther-styled wife looks on.

His defense of the illustration:

Obviously I wouldn't have run a cover just to get attention — I ran the cover because I thought it had something to say. What I think it does is hold up a mirror to the prejudice and dark imaginings about Barack Obama's — both Obamas' — past, and their politics. I can't speak for anyone else's interpretations, all I can say is that it combines a number of images that have been propagated, not by everyone on the right but by some, about Obama's supposed "lack of patriotism" or his being "soft on terrorism" or the idiotic notion that somehow Michelle Obama is the second coming of the Weathermen or most violent Black Panthers.

Thinking Americans look forward to future thought-provoking New Yorker covers and Remnick's impassioned defenses thereof.

New Yorker cover, 07/28/08: JEW DIVES INTO DUMPSTER FOR PENNY

Oh, well, not a big deal. Yes, the Jew has a big nose, and is joined by several swarthy-looking, overweight Jew friends as they dive into a garbage-filled dumpster in search of a penny that has fallen from a bag on a nearby fire escape clearly labeled "pennies." The great thing about this illustration is that it gets you into the head of an anti-Semite, and says: "Look how ridiculous this is." Nobody would jump into a dumpster these days for just a penny.

New Yorker cover, 08/11/08: AMERICAN INDIAN PASSED OUT IN GUTTER AS WELL-DRESSED WHITE PEOPLE LOOK ON AND ENJOY A HEARTY LAUGH

Well, everybody knows the historical tragedy that American Indians have struggled with alcoholism. What this cover says is that, wow, how insensitive can you be to just laugh at someone in that position? It's clearly wrong. You're sympathetic to the American Indian, and at the same time you're aware that alcoholism has really been brought under control on the reservation in recent years.

New Yorker cover, 08/18/08: MEXICANS SWIM ACROSS THE RIO GRANDE RIVER ALONGSIDE A BUNCH OF RATS SWIMMING ACROSS THE RIVER

How preposterous! There are anti-immigration nuts out there who will do anything to dehumanize people who come to this country in search of a better lifestyle, and this illustration just says: Don't compare them to rats. That's obviously just sick and wrong.

New Yorker cover, 09/08/08: JOE LIEBERMAN AND JOHN MCCAIN, DRESSED AS WWII SOLDIERS, MAN A TRENCH AGAINST NAZI-INSIGNIA WEARING HIPPIES WHO ARE TRYING TO DESTROY AMERICA WHILE THE TWIN TOWERS COLLAPSE IN THE BACKGROUND AND THE CLOUD OF SMOKE IS LABELED "LIBERAL INDIFFERENCE"

Look, obviously the New Yorker isn't trying to say that Republicans and their allies are more patriotic than the Left. It's pointing out the common fallacy that if you're John McCain, or his friends, you're a lot more patriotic than a bunch of hippie-dippie "peace"-loving surrenderniks. This is satire, not rocket science.

New Yorker cover, 11/03/08: BARACK OBAMA IS MUGGING SOMEONE LABELED "AMERICAN VOTER" AND TAKING A WALLET LABELED "OUR CHILDRENS' FUTURE"; THE "GUN" OBAMA HOLDS LOOKS LIKE A LITTLE BALLOT BOX

Hey, if seeing this sort of thing makes you vote for McCain, you were going to vote for McCain anyway. We have nothing to apologize for.