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Last thought on the New Yorker cover

14 Jul 2008 05:43 pm

David Remnick flatters himself when he claims that the Obama cover is "Colber in print." Heh, you wish brother. That said, people who are canceling subscriptions are ridiculous. I am obviously biased, but seriously--I'll take Jane Mayer over Wolf Blitzer any day.

Comments (4)

TC, To put it simply, the failure of the New Yorker cover is that you needed to know that it was the New Yorker (and with that, know the New Yorker's agenda and history) in order to find it funny. Satire should be self-evident and not depend on reading the editor's mind. Point in case: John Stewart and Stephen Colbert would be funny on any channel; as a matter of fact, outside the US, The Daily Show is shown on CNN International and its still as funny as ever.

Posted by damolite | July 15, 2008 12:52 AM

This was such a missed opportunity to do the same cover, only with Cindy wearing the gun and sporting a blond Afro and John McCain wearing the Afghani garb while "terrorist fist-jabbing" with a picture of binLaden hanging over his shoulder. That would have been much more thought-provoking and smart. No matter the context it was in, the viewer wouldn't have been able to draw easy conclusions from it.

They could have then done a companion cover with Michele and Barack subbed in for Cindy and John hyperbole (something like Michele as a Stepford wife lighting a cigarette with a rolled up $100 bill and Barack as a doddering old grampa with a tin hearing piece).

Posted by Breukelyne | July 15, 2008 12:03 PM

Breukelyne, here's the companion McCain cartoon if the National Review is taking suggestions:

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/07/15/mccain_cartoon/index.html

Posted by JT (Chicago) | July 15, 2008 1:15 PM

I wholeheartedly agree. As a long time subscriber to the New Yorker, I have to say Jane Mayer and George Packer are two of my favorite journalists, particularly in the magazine world. I mean hated the cover art of this weeks issue and I do wish Remnick had a much more diverse collection of writers on staff, but I just dig the magazine too much to kill my subscription.

Posted by Kut | July 15, 2008 10:40 PM