What. The. Hell.

(EDIT: Greetings, visitors from Feministe. Thanks to Jill for the link, and to you for coming by. By all means, have a look around).

Seriously?

There's just no explanation, available, that would make this "ok."

It's not witty, satirical, or anything else. There's simply nothing there to debunk or ridicule the patently offensive smears that this graphic so helpfully encapsulates.

Burning flag? Check.

Faux News' "Terrorist fist bump?" Check.

Michelle as a Pam Grier caricature? Check.

A visual Osama/Obama "slip?" Check.

I can only assume that the graphics department made an executive decision that trying to shoehorn in Rev. Wright would've made the cover look too "cluttered."

Can you even imagine a national publication--any national publication, save, perhaps, for Mad magazine--going a similar route with John McCain? For example, a cartoon of Johnny Mac drooling in a wheelchair while Cindy snarfs down a fistful of Percocets and Joe Lieberman hits the 'bomb Iran' button in the background?

We saw what happened when Wesley Clark dared to ask completely legitimate and respectful questions regarding St. McCain's qualifications for the presidency. He was jumped on, with both feet, for defaming the man's military service, despite having done no such thing.

Doing to McCain what is being done to the Obamas would prompt a pundit-led media firestorm that would not be allowed to end without someone, and, most likely, several someones, losing their jobs. In this case, however, the best Obama can hope for is some choice words from the John Stewarts and the Keith Olbermanns of the world, which won't even come close to unringing this ugly bell.

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