Mika: New Yorker Obama Cartoon 'Dangerous'

Mika: New Yorker Obama Cartoon 'Dangerous'

By Mark Finkelstein (Bio | Archive)
July 14, 2008 - 06:21 ET

Look for Mika Brzezinski outside the Danish embassy. True, the Danes had nothing to do with the New Yorker's publication of the Obama cover. But what more time-honored locale to protest an irreverent cartoon of a figure adulated with religious fervor?

Mika has condemned the New Yorker cover as "dangerous." Why dangerous? Mika doesn't quite say. But by darkly musing about unspoken perils that derive from the mocking of Obama, she would apparently place irony about her candidate off limits. Mika sounded the alarm on today's Morning Joe.

View video here.

Story Continues Below Ad ↓

JOE SCARBOROUGH: There are a lot of people shocked and stunned and deeply saddened that the New Yorker would actually employ a device --

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Look at this!

SCARBOROUGH: -- as subversive as irony. How could they use irony? How could they?

BRZEZINSKI: Well . . .

SCARBOROUGH: Because nobody will know from the burning American flag in the fireplace and the picture of Osama Bin Laden on the White House walls that this is all a joke, and everybody's whining "how dare they?" They're shocked and stunned.

BRZEZINSKI: N-o-o-o. It's a dangerous joke. It's dangerous, I think.

WILLIE GEIST [incredulously]: How is it dangerous?

BRZEZINSKI: We'll talk about it.

A bit later, they did, but Mika shed very little light on just what was dangerous about the cartoon.

SCARBOROUGH: Here's the New Yorker. And I'm sure the Obamas are upset at this.

BRZEZINSKI: I'm a little upset at it. And I'm not in the tank. [N.B.--the Mika doth protest too much.]

SCARBOROUGH: Mika says this is dangerous.

After Willie read the reactions from the Obama camp and the New Yorker, Mika continued her murky exposition of the dangers of the cartoon.

SCARBOROUGH: Alright, so, Mika, tell me, why do you think this is dangerous?

BRZEZINSKI: I just think this is the whole discussion we've been having for a year about Barack Obama as a potential nominee, which he is now, and that it is dangerous to go after him. There are different dimensions and layers of danger, revolving around race and . . .

SCARBOROUGH: Religion.

BRZEZINSKI: Religion, and frankly, you know, I think that every time something like this happens, there's potentially more fallout then with another candidate.

Reading between the lines, I'm guessing Mika was suggesting that criticism of Obama could provoke violence against him. If so, why not spell it out rather than drop inchoate hints? But when Mika says "it is dangerous to go after him," it's as if Brzezinski would place irony about Obama out of bounds.

Let's see if we understand the ground rules. Accusing McCain of promoting an Iraq war by which, as the bumper sticker says, "thousands died": no problem. Joking about Obama: dangerous and off limits. As Mika would say: O-k-a-a-y.

Note: For reaction to the cartoon from the Obama campaign and the netroots, see Noel Sheppard's item here.

—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.

Comments Policy

All comments are owned by whoever posted them and are subject to our terms of use. They should not be assumed to represent the views of NewsBusters.

really

July 14, 2008 - 06:24 ET by Catherwood

It's odd. When I first saw that cover, the first thing that came to mind was that I do not see Obama that way but i do see Michelle that way. hmmmmmmmm.

I first thought that Michelle was Angela Davis.

Images

July 14, 2008 - 06:40 ET by allanf

The New Yorker is a left wing publication. Obama's campaign realizes that images are all important. They believe people don't look at the fine print, they just look at the pictures.

The New Yorker has created a bad picture for the Obama folks. They will be livid.

The New Yorker's punishment will be seven Hail Baracks and four halo photos.

So Mika's point is that

July 14, 2008 - 06:47 ET by motherbelt

So Mika's point is that because Obama is black, we have to be veerrry careful with what is said about him?

Because you know, there are all those God-and-gun-clinging ignorant right-wingers out there who just might take this as a "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest!" moment?

I wonder if Mika saw this cover and had a problem with it. (scroll down)

Don't remember any brouhaha over that.

Shoot 'em all; let God sort 'em out! - Marge Simpson

I wonder if Mika saw this

July 14, 2008 - 07:04 ET by DontFeedTheTrolls

I wonder if Mika saw this cover and had a problem with it. (scroll down)

And (as I posted elsewhere) was there any outrage over the many depictions of President Bush as a chimp/Hitler??

Keep the ILLEGALS out, join NumbersUSA to send free faxes to your reps.

I presme that is a rhetorical question ;-)

July 14, 2008 - 07:27 ET by Free Stinker

I presme that is a rhetorical question ;-) since the MSM hates Bush.

ABC - Anti Bush Channel
NBC - Nuke Bush Channel
CBS - Clobber Bush Channel
MSNBC - Major, Severe, Nastiness and Bush Clobbering
PBS - Pummel Bush Stations
NPR - Negative Propaganda against Rebublicans

DontFeedTheTrolls

July 14, 2008 - 09:06 ET by NH Dad

...makes a good, but obvious point. The MSM has created this environment of "anything goes" in the name a satire during their eight years of Bush Bashing. Now that the tables are turned watch out for the MSM to call for a new "civility" in the name of all that is good. Spare me. In the words of Obama's mentor and racist preacher, 'it looks like the chickens are coming home'

Mika, a racist?

July 14, 2008 - 08:17 ET by ChuckM from PA

When I heard Mika's comments, I thought, what a racist thing to say. Because of who Obama is, this kind of cartoon is dangerous. Why; because it will stir up the __________ (fill in the blank with whatever group of people who will be offended by it) to react in dangerous ways because of it. To me, that sounds like a racist thing to say.

Let's rise above this kind of fear and retoric. While I think what The New Yorker did was in very poor taste and of bad humor, let's move beyond the point where we can't use sarcasm and humor in our lives.

what she (and the MSM)

July 14, 2008 - 16:06 ET by TruthMonger

what she (and the MSM) always mean is that the truth is dangerous

it is - for libbies

Sarcasm alert

July 14, 2008 - 08:25 ET by KC Mulville

But you're overlooking the fact that until Obama's campaign, we never had to worry about any whack jobs out there who wanted to kill the president. Every previous president has always been perfectly safe from threats.

By the way, who are those Men in Black types who surround the president all the time? Can't we ask them to stop making cell phone calls on their Dick Tracy wristwatches, and for crying out loud, take off those unfashionable sunglasses! Who invited them along, anyway?

I agree with everything you said MB but...

July 14, 2008 - 10:06 ET by HeavyChevy

I belive it has more to do with the Muslim thing than the black thing. I figured the press would panic that some crazy Jihadist would blow themselves up infront of thier building or something in protest. Remember the cartoon overseas?

"9 out of 10 doctors agree that flag burning is the number one killer of liberals."

Muslims hate cartoons.

July 14, 2008 - 06:55 ET by Red Jeep

Muslims hate critical cartoons about themselves. Somewhere Hillary is cackling with joy.

fear

July 14, 2008 - 07:17 ET by cocodrie

Guess they don't remember the cartoon about sec. Rice. I have to go cling to my bible and keep watch over my guns. They know I'm bitter and they are conspiring against me.

Obama and the rest of the

July 14, 2008 - 07:23 ET by gopsteve

Obama and the rest of the Libs have the thinnest skin (I hope that is not somehow racist to mention his skin!).

Look what Bush has been through...been called every name, even had a movie put out where the president being assassinated looked like him.

What's Obama going to to when protesters in other countries are calling him the Great Satan, or burning his likenesses, that even happened to Clinton, though as we hear it, EVERYONE loved him.

There is going to be an

July 14, 2008 - 09:31 ET by kg

There is going to be an awful lot of whining about this one.

"Forget change, I want improvement!"

New Yorker too clever

July 14, 2008 - 07:30 ET by VinceP1974

The Lefties were probably having a ball creating this cartoon. I bet they really believed that the picture was goign to make "right-wing critics" look stupid.

But instead they created a political cartoon that many reasonable people can interpret as a valid comment on who Michelle and Obama really are politically.

And that is why it is dangerous.

Michelle Malkin has a

July 14, 2008 - 07:32 ET by motherbelt

Michelle Malkin has a roundup of a few of the more disgusting ones aimed at President Bush and those in his administration.

Selective outrage..

Oh, excuse me, I forgot, the ones against Bush, Rice and Powell are OK, because they're "speaking truth to power."

<sarc>

Shoot 'em all; let God sort 'em out! - Marge Simpson

Do you think we'll see a tv

July 14, 2008 - 07:40 ET by cocodrie

Do you think we'll see a tv cartoon called Lil Hussein?

Around the same time we see

July 14, 2008 - 07:44 ET by Free Stinker

Around the same time we see a TV show called That's My Obama!

good one cocodrie

July 14, 2008 - 09:08 ET by TWOTIMETUNA

Democrats are either Parasites or Parasite Enablers

Mika's daddy, Zbigniew

July 14, 2008 - 07:46 ET by celator

Mika's daddy, Zbigniew Brzezinski, is Obama's buddy and foreign policy advisor. Could it be that he saw the cartoon and telephoned his little girl and told her to denounce it on her MSM platform? Not hard to believe, is it?

Obama in Pakistan in 1981? Why?

July 14, 2008 - 07:46 ET by Jack Bauer

Rather than wondering what Mr Obama thinks of a cartoon....

I'd prfer he explains why he went first to Indonesia and then to Pakistan in 1981, during a time of huge Islamo-fundamentalist fervor in that unstable country.

(Pakistan has always been right in the middle of uncontrollable savage Muslim violence since its birth in 1948. )

Especially as he's been complaining that he couldn't travel abroad when younger because he was broke.

Wouldn't you love to see his passport stamps?

Vote 4 change. Vote 4 anything. See Jack & Mr Shy's first campaign ad for the ONLY viable 3rd party candidate.

Actually

July 14, 2008 - 08:15 ET by 10ksnooker

I thought 'chimpy' Bush was far more disrespectful and dangerous than bringing up who Obama really is. It disrespected the office of the President and in the process likely got plenty of our soldiers needlessly killed. Encouraging the terrorist, that's dangerous, that's what the drive by media do everyday, as if it's some sort of game.

Portraying the Obamas who they really are, that's funny. I guess if the Obama's don't like it, they could have done some things different in their lives.

The drive by media don't see themselves very well.

I'm with Catherwood

July 14, 2008 - 08:27 ET by SAM-OH

I laughed about Obama's depiction. But I think the depiction of his wife is dead on. That image will stay with many people. So much for all the money they spent on the makeover campaign.

What was not reported in this entry was The New Yorker rep's (Hertzberg's) insistence on the show that Obama has changed his position on, at most, two issues during this campaign. Is he listening, watching, and reading the same material that we are? I have no idea what Obama stands for anymore. He stands for everything and nothing.

Send him packing. Five months to the convention. I hope that fourth night in open-air Invesco Field turns into a rainy fiasco. And what happens if, after all this, the DNC turns into a bitter floor fight between his delegates and Hillary's delegates. I think that they're getting angrier by the day.

Humor

July 14, 2008 - 08:31 ET by Copperhead Ridge

All good pieces of humor have an element of truth in them.

I laughed out loud when I saw this cover. Yeah, it was probably done as a satire, but there's an element of truth in the artwork. That element is what the voting public will see.

Thank you, thank you, New Yorker. Your talent for satire matched with young voters calling each other Hussein will continue to define Obama for the people who actually think about the office when they cast their votes.

Now, we just need the candidate to continue to talk down to the voters and the election will be in the bag. I don't think we have to worry too much about him talking down to the voters because BHO is so condescending he's going to talk is way out of the presidency.

Gore, Kerry, Obama -- I mean the Democrats really reveal themselves with their candidates.

I ran into a group of Japanese tourists in Louisville one afternoon. They said, "O-hi-o." I said, "naw, y'all fokes are in KEN-TUH-KEE."

Who's bilingual there?

You got a love the way

July 14, 2008 - 08:36 ET by Blazer

You got a love the way liberals bring up a "hypothetical" issue and then project the blame on Republicans, just like with the whole Michelle O' "whitey tape" rumor, that was started by Larry Johnson and spread by the left but conservatives ended up with the blame.

Identity politics with these people is like playing hot potato with a hand grenade. The folks in the MSM are setting up a scenario that if their messiah loses it wont' be because of all chinks in his armor or the dis-enfranchised folks in their own party who refuse to buy into his cult of personality or are p.o.'d Hillary supporters, it will be because of all the white racist conservative Nazi's.

.....and to any liberals who may read this "chinks" was in no way meant to be derogatory towards Asians.

"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "

- Ben Kenobi on Liberals, and the MSM.

" The Cake is a lie."

Whitey?

July 14, 2008 - 09:44 ET by Copperhead Ridge

What does Michelle have against Whitey? He was always one of my favorites on Leave it to Beaver.

HINT to MIKA

July 14, 2008 - 09:32 ET by Delsa

GROW A PAIR!!!!

This is YOUR MAN and his DANGEROUS WIFE!!

I couldn't help to

July 14, 2008 - 09:38 ET by Blazer

I couldn't help to notice, but doesn't that look like Mookie Al-Sadr hanging above the fireplace ? LOL !

"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "

- Ben Kenobi on Liberals, and the MSM.

" The Cake is a lie."

Blazer...

July 14, 2008 - 10:28 ET by Clear thinker

Actually, my first thought was Bobby Brown.

45 Communist Goals for America http://www.nationmakers.com/com_goals.htm

However, I must point out

July 14, 2008 - 10:46 ET by Blazer

However, I must point out that Bobby's carrer opportunities and life expectancy are looking alot brighter than Mooks, and that aint' sayin' much at all.

"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "

- Ben Kenobi on Liberals, and the MSM.

" The Cake is a lie."

Clear choice

July 14, 2008 - 10:20 ET by iveseenitall

No matter what its motivation, the New Yorker has made the choice clear: vote for the indocrinated children of the 60's radicals or for a man who almost died in defense of his country.

NEVER, NEVER trust a "liberal"

I tried to contact the New Yorker..

July 14, 2008 - 10:27 ET by zachlind

I tried to contact the New Yorker magazine to thank them for their timely cover but could not get any of the contact pages to display. I bet they had to disable these pages or have their servers crash. Wow, just when you need some action the left steps up to the plate. Is this a great country or what?

I was hoping Mika would

July 14, 2008 - 11:04 ET by marpel

I was hoping Mika would take 2 wks off instead of 1. No such luck...Because Obama's her candidate, she fears for him. She's a shill, what else can you say? She's so in the tank that she doesn't even try to hide her preferences anymore. Or she's too stupid to hide them.

I wander if she thought all the disrespectful cartoons made about Bush were "dangerous" too...I think not.