Vanity Fair Spoofs New Yorker Cover

We here at Vanity Fair maintain a kind of affectionate rivalry with our downstairs neighbors at The New Yorker. We play softball every year, compete for some of the same stories, and share an elevator bank. (You can tell the ones who are headed to the 20th floor by their Brooklyn pallor and dog-eared paperbacks.)

And heaven knows we've published our share of scandalous images, on the cover and otherwise. So we've been watching the kerfuffle over last week's New Yorker cover with a mixture of empathy and better-you-than-us relief.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[Bulbul]

Does anyone really takes Vanity fair seriously ? I think, it is just a page turner, while, New Yorker is a widely read Journal. The satires are funny , but we are getting away from the real issues by paying too much emphasis on the cover pictures or such...
A week ago, travelling from Nashville to Cincinnati , stayed in Holiday Inn there, only one, we found would take pets. The Inn is mostly used for overnight stays for people travelling or are in transition. So, folks from all over the country, one would see. One car sticker , belong to a young woman, caught my attention, may be, I found it shocking and repulsive.
Says..Defeat...Obama, Osama, Chelsea`s Mama...
My point being, being in political arena, Obama and McCain has to swallow all kinds of jokes and insults and should ignore them and rise above it and try to convince us the Voters, why we should vote for them.

[HuffyChick]

That's funny!

[Bendersky]

Well done! Satirizing the alleged satire. If the VF cover had stood alone (sans New Yorker blunder)with McCaine and his "walker," it would have been equally inept. Again, nicely done.

[nastyvirus]

The artist missed a perfect opportunity to have McCain's left foot stepping on the throat of the eagle.

[rudyinbama]

This is toothless - and all true.
To be equivalent, there should be a plaque from the Viet Cong for his achievement in radio broadcasting, a diploma recognizing his 3rd from the bottom graduation from Annapolis, souvenir photos of the planes he crashed, and, of course, a framed photo of Charles Keating signed "Thanks for your personal service" .

[feo]

Excellent. And that's why I contend the only job he is qualified for is as Ambassador to Vietnam.

[AurigaRa]

leave it to Vanity Fair, one of the few really good magazines out there, to do the right thing
Will definitely renew my subscription

[Skippy3000]

Mocking older people is "doing the right thing"?

You need help.

[Brainspore]

Once again, people have missed the target of a satirical cover.

[Skippy3000]

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/21129038/full_metal_mccain

Check out Rolling Stone's satire of McCain from a few months back. That picture was far more offensive than any of these covers.

There was no outrage of course, because it was a Republican being attacked.

[Brainspore]

It's not attacking McCain any more than the New Yorker was attacking Obama. Both covers are satirizing the caricatures of the candidates spread by others, and both were brilliant in my book.

[stepintothelight]

The masses are usually silent when engaged in the ongoing struggle against evil!!!

[Phil123]

Just browse the Huff Post to see the level of evil and hatred on the left. I don't ever see this level of hate in right blogs. Liberals are so convinced of their righteousness, that they are blind to their own level of hatred.

[campaignman]

Did you happen to notice that Bush, Barack and Hillary are also depicted in an outlandish way in the Rolling Stone cover?

Did you also notice that all the depiction of McCain reminds one of is the fact that he was a tortured prisoner in Vietnam?

In the New Yorker cover of the Obama's, depicted were some of the slimy falsehoods that many believe are true and, in some cases, don't even wish to know aren't true.

[Skippy3000]

Liberals hated the New Yorker cover but love the Vanity Fair cover???

Why am I not surprised????

[TovSquirrel]

While I rarely give either the New Yorker or Vanity Fair any thought or time, I found them BOTH to be very funny (honestly, the New Yorker was a tad bit funnier for being first).

The Rolling Stone issue? Never saw it, but then I stopped reading that when 'Gonzo Journalism' faded away. Outraged? No. It was funny, just not as funny as the New Yorker's cover which is why it was probably lost in the haze.

The whole issue points out the fact that American political humor is dying a slow death.
Can't make fun of Senator Obama (or his wife) for fear that the Obama-maniacs will blow a gasket and make the mole hill into Everest--and then you will have the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons to deal with (if it serves their self-interests to get involved). Can't make fun of Senator McCain for fear of impugning his military record and "hero" status because then the red, white and blue fascists will become more unhinged than they already are.

Lighten up America. Life is too important to take all this BS as seriously as many do.

[marignymitch]

'Liberals hated the New Yorker cover but love the Vanity Fair cover???'

How can you possibly believe this absurdity? Or as many on this blog say "Prove it. Send me a link.'

My friends generally are progressives (in possession of their senses of humor) and they like both covers just fine.

[GHO]

Disgusting, and so was the Obama cover. What I really love though is all the posters on this site saying how great it is after complaining about the Obama cover. It's not as though McCain had anything to do with the Obama cover - that was a pitifully blown attempt at satire by the liberal rag The New Yorker. Yet somehow, VF feels they need to get even by attacking McCain???

So on liberal rag insults Obama and another one insults McCain to even the score??? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Both covers are disgusting, plain and simple.

[EinChicago]

Lighten up. Both covers are satire. I'm a dem voter and even I could see the NY cover for what it was; satire. This one is also satire, albeit funnier because it is satoire of a satire, making it a double joke. if candidates didn't want to be insulted or have their feelings hurt they shouldn't be candidtaes. It comes with the job.

[IowaKid]

I agree..... We all need to laugh and lighten up a little.

[AurigaRa]

it's satire, its a joke
Get it???

What's good for the goose....

[GHO]

It's hypocrisy, get it? The political left screamed from the roof tops about the Obama cover, but the McCain cover is somehow ok with them.

"Good for the goose?" That would be fine if McCain had any part in the Obama cover, but he didn't. "Good for the goose" would be if VF had actually satirized The New Yorker itself, rather than McCain, with a cover.

[elcojonu]

The one I'm waiting for is MAD magazine's( CHEAP ).

[mergina]

I like this one much better.
http://mikk2.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/vanity-fair-mccain-lieberman-graham3.jpg

[TLV]

That's good too.

[nellie]

Now that's New Yorker style satire.

[AurigaRa]

now THAT's a good cover (where McConnell?)

[TovSquirrel]

Very funny.

[pixy242a]

Instead of the fist jab, Cindy should be poking Mc in the back!

[nellie]

Always the kid gloves with Mc Cain. This "spoof" is pretty harmless. Kind of boring, if truth be told.

[mergina]

really. why don't they show what he would act and look like without a suitcase full of medication he totes around with him?

[Soulsurfer]

Yes, they are Katie........and you're a major contributor to the demise. Go back to "Today", or whatever show it was that you were on. And do some charity work, as penance for being a corporate shill.

[samweb]

Unlike the New Yorker horror, this is not based on lies and innuendos about the candidate and his wife, but documented truths. This is not a parallel situation.

[nellie]

Exactly. There is no parallel situation, because there is no parallel hostility or parallel history. The people who don't "get" this are just bone heads. And by trying to defend TNY, they're making it worse. Drop it and let it go. You're just digging the hole deeper.

[Schallvain]

I disagree. I have never seen him walk with a walker, I have never seen him great his wife in the manner portrayed, and I doubt very highly that he would ever put a picture of Bush up (to the contrary of most biased portrayals of McCain, he and Bush have seen eye-to-eye on very little, and he also has not been a big supporter of Bush and many of his policies.). Also, showing the perscription drug bottles in Mrs. McCain's hands would contrary to Obama doing Cocaine. It may not be to the same degree but these are both issues that have occurred in the past that both parties have admitted too. I think many of the statements here in this blog show the double standards that most people apply to Obama and McCain.