The blogosphere and mainstream media were all abuzz today over the controversial cover on the latest issue of The New Yorker. Illustrator Barry Blitt has done a number of provocative covers for the magazine, but his latest shows Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in the Oval Office, adorned in Muslim attire, a photo of Ossama Bin Laden on the wall and a burning American flag in the fire place, giving a “terrorist fist bump” to wife Michelle, herself decked out like a ’60s-era Black militant.
The picture has drawn stiff criticism from the Obama camp and even condemnation from Republican presidential hopeful John McCain, but the magazine is defending its decision, saying it is just another example of the type of satire Blitt is famous for.
The picture is satire, designed to draw attention to many of the ridiculous rumors that have swirled around Obama since he announced his candidacy. No one with any intelligence would take it seriously. But America is full of people lacking in basic intelligence or the ability to discern the truth from concocted lies and deliberate distortions. Many are just gullible enough to believe every single one of these and other rumors. And they vote.
The New Yorker article does go into great detail about the calculated rise of Barack Obama.
While that controversy brews, another flew in under the radar. This past weekend, syndicated television commentator John McLaughlin of The McLaughlin Group, asserted that Obama “fits the stereotype blacks once labeled as an Oreo — a black on the outside, a white on the inside.”
The watchdog group, Media Matters, wants McLaughlin to publicly apologize and has created a campaign to raise public awareness.
Finally, David Simon, executive producer of the critically acclaimed television series The Wire may be off on his next great adventure. Simon, who already produces the HBO miniseries Generation Kill, set during the Iraq War, has just gotten the greenlight from that network to produce a pilot about life in post-Katrina New Orleans. “Treme,” named after the New Orleans neighborhood where many musicians live, will film its first episode sometime later this year. The show promises to take a critical look at life in the city itself and if it gets picked up, production could start in 2009. Former “Wire” star and New Orleans native Wendell Pierce is one of the first names attached to the project.
Do you know where John McCain stands on women’s health issues? Planned Parenthood asked people on the street if they knew how his position on protecting women’s health differed from that of George Bush.
The Republican Party is made up of disreputable, highly unethical individuals who will completely fabricate lies, distort information, play upon the fears of a naïve public, and smear an opponent’s reputation if it will help them gain an edge in the election. That’s not an opinion but a statement of fact easily proven by reviewing their behavior during the last eight years and at least the past two presidential elections. I defy anyone to disprove those statements.
Knowing this will be their modus operandi, the Barack Obama campaign is attempting to fight lies with the truth and get ahead of the curve. Much like the Internet sites that debunk urban legends and hoaxes, they have created a new website to quickly respond to the rumors, lies and innuendo generated by the GOP disinformation machine. Fight the Smears was announced Thursday as a way to prevent a repeat of the kind of “swift boat” campaign of lies that derailed John Kerry’s race for the presidency in 2004.
“The Obama campaign isn’t going to let dishonest smears spread across the Internet unanswered,” spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement. “It’s not enough to just know the truth. We have to be proactive and fight back.”
So next time you hear some fanciful tail concerning Obama bandied about, know a) you can fact check it on this new site, and b) it was probably created by associates of a party incapable of debating the real issues of this campaign, who have to resort to the underhanded tactics they do best.
That is the big question now that she has bowed out of the race for the Democratic Party nomination for President. Some commentators are weighing in on the real motivations behind her supporters’ lack of party unity and the ramifications for Democrats this November.
Tim Wise, a White man who calls Whites to task on their racism, pulls no punches in his open letter to Hillary supporters, Your Whiteness is Showing.
Meanwhile some key female Clinton backers are also calling for people to think before jumping on the McCain bandwagon. They point out that a vote for McCain is a vote against women’s issues.
