Vanity Fair has released a cartoon cover online in response to the New Yorker’s swipe at the media coverage of the Obamas. The fake Vanity Fair cover shows John McCain, in a walker with a bandaged head and Cindy with a bundle of pills giving her hubby a fist-jab. A portrait of George W. Bush hangs over the mantle-piece; the Constitution is burning in the grate.
Some are finding it funny. I’d say not so much. Worse, it’s all wrong. If Vanity Fair’s cartoonist wanted to flip the New Yorker cover on the GOP, they’d have to portray the media’s lies about the candidate. Not the true stuff.
Sure, she’s no drug addict, but the candidate’s wife has been forced to admit that she was once addicted to prescription drugs. She even stole the drugs from her own nonprofit medical relief outfit. And while McCain doesn’t use a walker, it’s not as if the media misrepresent his age. Those aren’t the media’s wrongs where the McCains are concerned. It’s not her looks, it’s her wealth themedia understate, and it’s not his physique, it’s his politics.
To do the media hit job fairly, Vanity Fair should have taken aim at the media’s lies: pundits pretend McCain’s a maverick. He’s not. He’s voted with Bush 95 percent of the time. The equivalent to the lie about Obama being a muslim is the lie about McCain breaking with the Bush pack. The equivalent to the lie about Michelle being dangerous — is the lie about Cindy being one of us. She’s a $100 million aristocrat–who stands to win big from her husband’s tax plans.
For all the flips and flops of the McCain campaign so far, the one thing that’s true is that the Constitution might as well be burning in the grate. And if McCain ever wins the Oval office, you can be sure GW’s policies, if not his portrait will be on display. Again, that’s not satire. Satire, sadly, would be the Constitution safe and GW banished.
Funny it’s not. We can only hope that this sales-boosting silly season’s over.
The F Word is a daily commentary by Laura Flanders
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I liked the New Yorker cover and I like this one as well….Both are at least amusing.
A picture of McCain as a steer being branded by Bush?
As usual, Ms. Flanders, you are right on the mark.
Wanted to take this opportunity to tell you that I enjoy your programs immensely, and to thank you.
Thank you, Laura, for clearly documenting exactly why Vanity Fair has completely missed the boat. I guess elitist New York publications can’t commit satire on other elitist New York publications very well. All the things about the McCains are/were true:
1. He’s old (so the walker is an exaggeration of a characteristic, not a false rumor)
2. He did have his head bandaged a coupla weeks ago (so that’s true)
3. His face is lopsided from his cancer surgery (so that’s true)
4. She was a pill-popper (so that’s based in truth, not a false rumor)
5. He’s said no one supported George Bush more than he does/did (so that’s true)
6. The Constitution IS on fire, for fuck’s sake!
The point of the New Yorker “satire,” without which it has no point, is that the cartoon mocks all the false and malicious rumors. There are no malicious rumors portrayed in the Vanity Fair send-up.
Swing and a miss.
At first glance I thought the big spot on the floor was due to McCain forgetting his depends.. Maybe not.
Amen Teddy…. and thank you Laura…. as McBush is my Senator…. it is about time the FACTS are out on these two…..
Just like conservatives can’t do comedy, the Establishment can’t do satire.
To do the media hit job fairly, Vanity Fair should have taken aim at the media’s lies: pundits pretend McCain’s a maverick. He’s not. He’s voted with Bush 95 percent of the time. The equivalent to the lie about Obama being a muslim is the lie about McCain breaking with the Bush pack. The equivalent to the lie about Michelle being dangerous — is the lie about Cindy being one of us. She’s a $100 million aristocrat–who stands to win big from her husband’s tax plans.
And these things would be visually depicted how, exactly?
Spot on Laura. Thank you.
But where’s the drool cup? maybe their hands are full.
Why your obvious point is missed is the worry.
Please forgive the o/t but the individual(s) at the wapoo responsible for selecting this pic of novak must *really* hate his guts:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..eheadlines
Clarabelle (sp?) the Clown, anyone? *G*
I thought Vanity Fair was satirizing the Post.
There would be no point satirizing misconceptions about McCain.
Me I got a chuckle, because in this case most of the stuff is true.
Much as I get a chuckle from the Onion.
The reason the Post cover was a failure was that it wasn’t true and it wasn’t funny. The reason Stephen Colbert is funny is because he is spot on.
If the post had a cabal of witches (perhaps with a caracature of MoDo) brewing up the lies about Obama and the same drawing in the smoke above the cauldron – *that* would be funny.
The failure was in leaving us to figure the withches part out on our own.
Philosophy should require active involvement – humor is a spectator sport.
They’ve missed the boat alright. What they put on the cover is the truth about the McTeleprompters. The New Yorker wasn’t truth about the Obamas…at all.
Good on ya Laura. “Old” is a multifaceted condition. Yeah. VF missed the point. Badly. Sure they were satirizing the Post, but their cover should have added info, not detracted from the heart of the subject matter.
s’cuse, Post + New Yorker
Why would the corporate status quo media want to discuss politics, other than the “horserace”, when they are so better skilled at talking about “character.” You know, where Obama is risky and McSame, ever the maverick, is a known and trusted commodity. America’s corporate media hates the “people” and loves their position of priviledge, fame and fortune ergo, vote Republican.
The truth is a liberal bias, so therefore, the ROM (republican owned media) refuses to allow the liberals airtime. Why? Scares them…the truth that is.
People on the “internets” know that America’s corporate media is a sham. Nothing but pampered, preening airheads that have no historical perspective let alone any memory of anything that happened 2 weeks ago. Until the vast majority of the American public has an alternative from this sham we are stuck in the same disastorous loop. A political version of “Groundhog Day.”
Absolutely bang on. The VF cover spoof is all true, not just the perspective of liberals. Exactly the opposite of what was intended by the creator of the cover spoofed.
Both publications at one time had as their managing editor, Tina Brown, who apparently attempted to do a makeover of The NYer in the likeness of her Vanity Fair.
Condé Nast Publications is of course a property of SI Newhouse’s Advance Pubplications which owns the newspapers in Alabama that made a tidy living smearing Don Siegelman.
The fact that McCain is old is very much the point in my mind. The man has absolutely no command of the facts. That does affect his politics.
What can one show and exagerate visually? age.
BTW, I’m not ageist. If the candidate were another old guy with a steel trap memory and scintillating intellect in a wheelchair, I might vote for him (or her). But McCain’s age is specifically and definitely affecting his ability to govern, manage, be a decider.