Virginia Republicans spent Monday in damage control after the state party was forced to condemn an email sent around to some of its supporters featuring a zombie collage that depicted President Barack Obama shot in the head.
In what’s clearly a Halloween-themed mailer, an image of a zombie hoard from The Walking Dead comic books, several other pieces of zombie art including a photo of Obama supporters and a jack-o-lantern are spaced apart by the defaced portraits of President Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
Obama’s render, a modification of his campaign’s famous “Hope” poster by artist Shepard Fairey, is seen zombified, making him appear severely wounded. There’s a bullet hole in his forehead, and his brain is exposed.
Let me just say that I am a huge fan of the Walking Dead series, but that in no way excuses the depiction of the President with a bullet hole in his head.
Have these people no sense of history? Have they never heard of John F. Kennedy, or Martin Luther King Jr.? I mean for God's sake this man is BOTH a symbol for black Americans like MLK, AND a progressive President like Kennedy. showing an illustration with a bullet in his head is the unbelievably insensitive!
In my opinion it appears that they used the zombie motif, and the excuse of Halloween, to depict an image that secretly pleases them, hoping they could hide behind the zombification of his image and the holiday to hide their intent.
"In my opinion it appears that they used the zombie motif, and the excuse of the Halloween, to depict an image that secretly pleases them, hoping they could hide behind the zombification of his image and holiday to hide their intent."
ReplyDeleteYa think?
Tea people are insane. Full of hate and racism.
ReplyDeleteThough I'm a liberal and didn't like President Bush nor his other minions, never would I have thought of creating similar images of him or anyone in the GOP, nor passing them around like the tea does now.
Indeed, every day is for the tea, another day of tea halloween.
I really don't care if the GOP depicts Democrats as zombies, in fact I think it's both smart and edgy. However you DON'T show a political leader with a bullet hole in his or her head! There are just some things you don't do and depicting a democratically elected leader with a bullet hole in the head is one of them. Remember what happened with SP and the crosshairs on the map?
ReplyDeleteWhat could these people be thinking?
ReplyDeleteHow could they be possibly surprised that they're in "damage control" now?
Democrats cannot let the country forget that this is what they vote for when they cast their ballot for Republicans.
@WestWingReport tweeted a photo of JFK at Halloween 1963, three weeks before he was assassinated. Heartbreaking:
White House Halloween of yesteryear. (Photo/Kennedy Library) http://pic.twitter.com/joiA5Idw
Tweet URL:
http://twitter.com/#!/WestWingReport/status/131098762247544833
In my opinion it appears that they used the zombie motif, and the excuse of Halloween, to depict an image that secretly pleases them, hoping they could hide behind the zombification of his image and the holiday to hide their intent.
ReplyDeleteBingo. And they were so pleased with themselves, and so gleeful at how much this would piss off Dems, that the inevitable INDEPENDENT backlash never occurred to them.
This is Sarah Palin's cue to change her FB description back to Republican from Conservative. Ths proves how much Repugs are truly HER kind of people. Plain ol' conservatives just aren't foul enough.
We must all remember to hoard our zombies so that, when the time is right, we can let loose a horde of them.
ReplyDeleteSeriously?! And these people wonder why they've lost so much support over the last few years. Remember when there were as many Republicans as Democrats? And I expect they'll say "we're sorry that YOU were offended". GOP...run by drunken frat boys since 198X.
ReplyDeleteThese people are disgusting.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I loathed GWB I would never feel that depicting him like that would be acceptable at all.
These are the "real Americans" that cheer executions-& executioners-& boo our military people.
Completely disgusting.
Wiscogal
This will be on Worst Person Of The World on Countdown... any bets?
ReplyDeleteJust another example of these thugs using suggestive imagery as a "dog whistle" to their deranged followers. Then, when the unspeakable happens, like it did with the tragic shooting of Rep Giffords and others, they will spin, dissemble, and otherwise attempt to distance themselves from their reprehensible suggestions.
ReplyDeleteSurveyor's marks, indeed.
Oh. My. God. These people knew exactly what they were doing.
ReplyDeleteDespicable.
I should think it would merit an investigation, as it is likely illegal. I am not kidding. This is the President of the United States we are talking about.
I don't care about Halloween references here. There is no way anyone in the Democratic party could do such a thing without consequence.
Politics aside, this kind of image is completely unacceptable on any level. Have we forgotten Gabby Giffords so soon?
And they think just because they were spoofing on the hope and change poster, it's ok? Nice try at distraction. Not.
There should be a massive outcry.
You really do have some disgusting people in America.
ReplyDeleteMakes me ashamed to admit that I was once a republican!
ReplyDeletechurch-going, right-to-life-ing, war-mongering, ... people jest having their little bit o' fun, doncha know!
ReplyDelete(And, shudder, they pass their "values" on to their children.)
Ugh, how embarrassing for my state. The worst part is these are Loudon County Republicans...one of the wealthiest counties in the state, and country.
ReplyDeleteWell, they said their sorry, so it's all good right?Not.
http://www.leesburg2day.com/news/article_04d18cac-0400-11e1-968d-001cc4c002e0.html
At least our Governor put out a statement condemning it.
Truly reprehensible. Why I was never, and will never be a Republican.
ReplyDeleteThey say the image was just swiped from the internet by the people who created this mailer.... So who created it in the first place???
ReplyDeleteThis Loudoun (sp?) County in VA is one of the richest in our nation, and this was to advertise a fair or something?
The Secret Service needs to get to the bottom of this. Agree about GW - even I know that an image like this would have been going too far, legitimately.
(Right, it's not to do with the zombie idea, it's the bullet hole and the exposed brain - horrific.)
3:23 and 3:40 pm. My thoughts exactly. The Republican Party simply knows no boundaries of decency, fair play or simple humanity. That one of the two major political parties in this country pulls this kind of stunt, not just once in a while, but repeatedly is unconscionable. Thank God my parents were both Democrats and that I was never tempted but the GOP.
ReplyDeleteHow much shit and candy corn would be hitting the fan right now if a "liberal" publication showed Sarah Palin and Herman Cain with bullet headwounds? It would be a huge deal, republicans would refuse to go to their house/representative jobs until there was a written apology from both the artist and everyone who received the email.
ReplyDeleteBut THEY can put an image of our president, THEIR PRESIDENT, with a bullet through his head...and it's "satire".
Then again, from the party whose de facto princess put gun sights on democrats' names and actually was part of the rhetoric tapestry which got those democrats (and innocent civilians and children) shot/killed/maimed...without ANY apology or even acknowledgement from the guilty party...why am I surprised?
I was going to say thus offends me as a black American. But you know, this offends me as a human being.
This is beyond horrific. It is vile, inexcusable and inflammatory. Have the rightwing nuts learned nothing? Palin's "targets" over Gabby Gifford's district was not even this bad, and look what happened.
ReplyDeleteMajor FAIL!! Unfortunately, you can't outlaw "Stupid," otherwise the jails would be full of Teabagger racists (redundant?) in Scooter chairs . . . But our best revenge will be a total LANDSLIDE for our awesome President.
ReplyDeleteObama 2012!!!
Occupy Sanity!
Wow...today's republican party is chock full of douche bags. Makes me sad as I am still a registered republican. The more I see of today's conservatives, the more I lean toward the progressive side of the fence.
ReplyDeleteIt is the bullet-hole which is over the top, because that is a clear mark of assassination. Using the HOPE poster is perverted because they are dog-whistling that this IS their "hope".
ReplyDeleteRight. They know what would follow assassination of our leadership at this time of over-militarization and frothing gun-toters: martial law. And the theocrats with the money and the power would be controlling their own private army and air force... all with nasty crowd-control weapons that we taxpayers paid to invent and build.
They really do want to return to the days of Roman "Republic" where the only voters were wealthy land-owners and the only workers were slaves held by fear.
I'm not surprised that this is from Virginia and circulated by wealthy land-owners, not surprised at all.
Interesting - on Halloween many people put on masks and display jack o lanterns- looks like the Virginia GOP takes off their masks and puts their racism on display.
ReplyDeleteThese idiots need to answer the door tonight to trick or treaters....Secret Service cleverly dressed as Secret Service. There need to be repercussions for crap like this.
ReplyDeleteEmail these racists & let them know what you think:
ReplyDeleteinfo@loudongop.com
Sorry to be OT. I have been checking this flickr site almost daily and I gasped when I saw the graphic added today, I had to do a double take.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/palinproject/6300802746/sizes/l/in/photostream/
This proves to me at least, the Johnston family MUST know more than they've been saying all along.
These people are so despicable! Do they think because our President is a black man they can get away with this shit? I'm so disgusted with the sore losers in the Republican party. I hope to God the next election votes out all the teabaggers from Congress and the Senate. Enough is Enough! Damn the racist idiots.
ReplyDeleteAccording to a comment at the related Wash. Post story, Mark Sell, who heads the Loudoun County GOP and was responsible for the email, is employed by the National Rifle Assoc..
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/va-republicans-condemn-loudoun-gop-e-mail-with-image-of-obama-shot-in-the-head/2011/10/31/gIQA66DIaM_story.html?tid=sm_twitter_washingtonpost
How many GOPers don't actually celebrate Halloween? That they'd find this an excuse to play with it proves them only to be opportunists.
ReplyDeletePeople of god.
ReplyDeleteI have been doing tons of reading about the JFK assassination recently due to recent books about what went on in New Orleans with Oswald and the virus experiments. The players who planned the assassination were right wing nuts, who were rabidly anti-communist paranoids, segregationists, and lots of other things. The zombie pictures are nothing compared to the lefts zombie pictures of Reagan and others, but the bullet really struck a cord with me as I am reading a review of the JFK autopsy evidence right now.
ReplyDeleteAt this stage of the game politics has become a useless sideshow. No one with any sense of outrage would seriously give this BS any credence. OWS has shown its hand, a pro-globalization movement, in support of a RobinHood Tax. Globalization does not help the USofA. We have been consuming a lions share of resources in proportion to our population. The money has moved on, and American Life as we knew it is not coming back. When Obama was here in Vegas he talked about giving construction workers jobs fixing up foreclosed homes so people could live in them. There is nothing wrong with our excess homes in Nevada, they don't need fixing up, they just need families with jobs to live in them. These homes were built to produce a bubble, the wealth was not in the homes, now worthless, but in the PAPER, the MBS, the CDS, and all that shit that is being sucked into the Black Hole of Deflation. Our local OWS movement has blown its credibility with me. They got some teabaggers in there protesting Zionism, had the cops throw them out for trespassing, now they are calling them anti-semites, and the baggers are going to stage a protest. Americans are going to be really upset when they realize even a fake jobs bill won't save them. The enemy of USofA is globalization, which the Global Occupy Movement embraced. The citizens have become so divided that they can't even focus on the corruption ON BOTH SIDES OF THE POLITICAL DIVIDE that got us here. Until you step out of the left-right divide you will not see what globalization is doing to us. OWS may have awakened some, but your enemy is not your fellow American. A global tax would subjugate your sovereign rights to a global taxing agency. P.S. BS is BS and Propagada works.
ReplyDelete@ Anon 4;54, link doesn't work for me. What's in the picture?
ReplyDeleteI am speechless at how an official political organization could possibly think this was okay. Truly despicable.
ReplyDeleteAnd they'll be the first to complain when accused of being racist!
The best youtube video I saw today was a guy at Phoenix OWS dressed in camo carrying an AK-47 talking about our government giving guns to the Zeta drug cartel. Do you deny this? Do you deny that Wachovia bank ADMITTED to laundering drug money and paid a fine? Michael Ruppert was an undercover LA cop who publicly stated that the CIA was involved in drug dealing. Now ask yourself this, does President Obama work for Goldman-Sachs or the People? Demonizing people that hate him as a symbol does no good in exploring the truth. America is going down no matter who you want to believe. We export violence and steal other countries resources and enslave their people for our benefit. Do you want to argue that?
ReplyDeleteSo we start the day discussing our favorite horror movies, and end it discussing our worst nightmare: the GOP and Tea Party are the true zombies in this story, and they are feeding on our bank accounts and the gullible's brain cells.
ReplyDeleteOh, it's worse than that, Gryph. They will not be satisfied until someone kills the President.
ReplyDelete6:08 Link Please?
ReplyDeleteA lot, and I emphasise a lot, of you tube videos are using the occupy movement to sell lies, inuendo, and to push agendas of hate and devisiveness.
To address the post. There's not much to add or say, I'm just disgusted that there are people in this world with so much hate in their veins, and are so proud to share it openly, then worry their pretty little vacant craniums when they get caught, and only because they got caught, or it would have kept going on and getting even worse.
Any news of the announcements on Fox's website about President Obama's assassination? That story kind of fizzled out, or did I miss something?
While trolling the You Tube Site, I found this gem, being an Italian American, and knowing how he's respected by the homeland of my parents, it's the perfect way to kill the hate mojo this post shows.
Here's a link for the youtube video I found witch illustrates how President Obama embraces and endears foreign countries.
http://youtu.be/X0_bdJv2L3E
His last line is priceless!
Partial transcript
"I am biased, but I think Nancy (Pelosi) was one of the best Speakers of the House this country ever had. She was no doubt the best Italian American Speaker of the House we ever had. And I believe that she will be the best Speaker of the House again in 2013. ...
Nevertheless, it is good to see so many amici. (Laughter.) I see many proud sons and daughters of the old country. I see a couple dozen proud Italian American members of Congress here tonight. ...
I've also made sure to keep close the advice of Italian Americans by asking some of them to serve in my Cabinet. And as Nancy mentioned, we could not be prouder of Janet Napolitano, who is keeping us safe every single day. And my outstanding Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta. And, as was mentioned, even though she's not here these evening, Jill Biden is proud to come from a long line of Giacoppas. And so she sends her regards.
Tonight, I think it's also important for us to honor the proud service of the countless Italian Americans who have fought for this country since our founding, and who wear the uniform today, from the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Ray Odierno, to a hero whom I was proud to bestow our nation's highest military decoration, and was the first one in a very long time to personally receive the Medal of Honor, staff sergeant Salvatore Giunta.
So in a sense, every American joins us in celebrating this anniversary of Italian unification. What would America be without the contributions of Italy and Italian Americans? What would we be without the daring voyages of Columbus, and Verrazano, and Vespucci? What would our science and technology be without not just DaVinci and Galileo, but Fermi? What would movies and music be without the magic of Capra, or Sinatra, or Sophia Loren -- my favorite ... I'm just saying.
What would sports be without the guts and the grit of DiMaggio and Lombardi –- and LaRussa? ...
What would this city be without the influence of Roman thought and architecture, the Piccirilli Brothers who -- their work on the Lincoln Memorial; Brumidi's magnificent touch on the Capitol?
Although, I must say, it might be nice to know what our politics would -- like without the contribution of Machiavelli. That's been internalized a little too much here in Washington."
This is absolutely disgusting! How sad that the people behind this, and the people getting it, are considered "conservatives". What an oxymoron. Bigots, racists, evil hate-filled people would be more accurate. It's only politics, after all. Oh, wait.....wonder if it's because the "foe" is of a different, what they consider inferior, race?
ReplyDelete6:08
ReplyDeleteYou seem to have taken a wrong turn and ended up here by mistake. This thread has to do with the Loudon County GOP endorsing an offensive image of President Obama with a bullet hole in his head.
Take your doom and gloom and go find your rightful thread.
Seriously: everybody knows that most zombies are republicans.
ReplyDeleteThis is horrible. Someone needs to be arrested. Where is the FBI anyway?
ReplyDeleteRepublicans simply don't have a sense of humor. Attempts at making jokes come off terribly, like this one.
ReplyDeleteKnock, knock. Who's there? A dead Democrat (Uh huh hyuk! snort, snort)
Yeah, right, real sophisticated humor, alright.
@ 6:08, you've come around before and you are so incredibly depressing.
ReplyDeleteProblems with the drug wars and our foreign policy and the CIA, Big Business and government have nothing to do with what we are discussing here.
If all you can do is see the bad and never acknowledge any good at all, I feel sorry for you.
Now go away.
These are suppose to be grown folks on speaking for their constituents. Not some retarded backwood officials playing around with photoshop.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you G, they want to use a whole lot of racist shit on Our first African-American/Black/Person of Color President. They had to put half of their racist bullshit away because President Obama is half-white.
This is total shit starter, they should be investigated. This isn't funny and should not be treated lightly especially since all the hatred, vitriol and violence is coming from the repugbaggers.
Fucking dicwad assholes.
Why are people so hostile to the truth? You talk shit but you don't care about truth. Let me just ask you a question, What is our AG claim to fame? He defended those who murdered civilians that were protesting in central america. He is a liar, and I would never support a president that talks one shit but turns police and LRAD cannons on its citizens. Are you people just as braindead as the Palin idiots?
ReplyDeleteOf course these people have heard of MLK, JFK, Harvey Milk. They are the people behind the killings of those American heros. Not personally of course, but all who believe as they do in hate, bigotry, racism, theocratic government, POWER & GREED. By any means.
ReplyDeleteThis is an obvious plea to their insane masses to "take out our PRESIDENT." They know they can't beat him at the polls so they're resorting to the "final solution.
Including Nancy Pelosi is further proof. She was the most effective Speaker of the House, maybe ever, & makes John Boner look like a drop of sweat on a maggot's ass.
Whoever is connected with that piece of crap should be hunted down, thrown in jail for a mandatory life sentence - no parole. It's treason.
Look, President Obama is either a Globialist or he's not. Pick your side.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it ironic? These folks are BRAINDEAD...
ReplyDeleteDid these assholes use government time and computers?
ReplyDeleteWhile this email story does bring to mind Gabi Giffords and the massacre that came after those gunsights, what it means to me is reliving all those assassinations during the '60s. Are we about to do that again, God help us? I was in college when those assassinations started with JFK. We went on to MLK, RFK, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, who else? Kids who went south to help register blacks to vote. Those kids included a college friend of mine. She never came back. Somehow her motorcycle just went off a straight stretch of road and killed her. I feel like these folks want to create the climate for al of that to happen again. How in God's name do we stop this insanity???
ReplyDelete5:43 PM'
ReplyDeleteYou fucking idiot. KMA and take your shit to bagger boards.
You don't shit about #ows, clown.
@9:22 PM
ReplyDeleteRarely do I address specific posters, and even more rarely do I employ vulgar language and all caps, but you can F off. Gryphen spotlights significant issues in politics and popular culture--AND HE DOES SO WITH GOOD GRAMMAR.
I give you an F for a run-on sentence, for a weak metaphor, and for failing to support your thesis. Obama's achievements are exceptional, far-reaching, and historic. (Regarding trump, are you a duplicate bridge player? If our Commander-in-Chief were playing bridge, he would be declarer, and the contract would be seven no-trump, doubled, vulnerable.) But his job is no game. It's deadly serious. Most of us understand this, and that is why President Obama will win re-election.
If you're a religious person, use this metaphor. Separate the wheat from the chaff. Romney, Cain, Bachmann, Huntsman, Ryan, Perry--they're chaff. Obama is the wheat. He's the substance that nurtures and sustains the nation. It's the hardest job in the world, and he does it for much lower pay than he could earn as a civilian.
The depiction of our President in this e-mail is lower than chaff. It's dung. I wish I could apologize to President Obama for this tragic image, but there are no words that would be adequate. In any case, he's strong enough to shrug it off.
PRESIDENT OBAMA GETS UP EVERY DAY AND PUTS ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER AND LEADS THE GREATEST NATION ON EARTH. Think about that the next time you feel like calling in sick to work at your much-less-demanding job.
You lack the historical perspective to appreciate Obama, and the practical teaching perspective to appreciate Gryphen.
When I was a teacher, I was thankful when I could rely on the help of a solid male para-pro. Do you know how many young people lack strong, caring male role models? Gryphen can teach my grandchildren anytime.
PLUS, he writes every day on issues of great topical interest. Think about writing something meaningful on a daily basis, whether it's a blog post, a newsletter, a progress report, a behavioral contract, or an IEP. I'll bet you've never had to do that. It's hard. What's more, HE USES GOOD GRAMMAR AND SYNTAX, and he employs clever hooks to draw us in. You might have to be an English teacher to appreciate these skills.
But Americans of every stripe know a good leader when we have one, so we will vote for Obama again.
At least they got a copy of the GOP/TP apology guidelines, "we apologize to anyone who may have been offended". Sell added his touch with the Palin principle that he and they deplore anything depicting violence against the President or others. If asked, Cain would likely repeat his usual we all need to lighten up and get a sense of humor. Sick and disgusting doesn't begin to describe what has become the neo GOP/TP. They make me miss the stuffy, self-righteous good ol' boys of GOP's yesteryear.
ReplyDeleteWarm and fuzzy but so is poisonous mold.
O/T but I'm still gaping at Coultergiest's remark today that "our black people are better than their black people".... It's official, they ALL tie for first place in the lunacy division but he earns a special tiara.
There's this, too, church sanctioned as well:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.angryblacklady.com/2010/08/08/church-carnival-game-obama-target-shoot/
The Republican Party just offers fear and loathing, but no real new solutions or ideas to any of the many problems this country is facing.
ReplyDeleteI am pretty certain the Secret Service and FBI are getting some answers and involuntary bowel movements from the vile craven cowards who conjured up this "zombie" mailer.
@4:54 (Thanks for the link)
To me, it looks like the same baby Sally and Chuck Heath were carrying. In other words, Trig.
This is too sick...
Don't tell me that bullet hole isn't a dog whistle to the crazies, as is the image of Nancy Pelosi with one of her eyes bulging out - as if she had been strangled.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who doesn't see how wrong these images are is an excellent candidate for mental health counseling.
hauksditter: "They really do want to return to the days of Roman "Republic" where the only voters were wealthy land-owners and the only workers were slaves held by fear."
ReplyDeleteThis is not an exaggeration. I have read so many comments on rightwing sites about how only those who pay property taxes should be allowed to vote. This really is a commonly held conservative belief. I look forward to more people realizing this.
Gryph, did you forget to put up the troll guard barrier before you went to bed? There are lots of them swarming about this am.
ReplyDeleteHappy day after Halloween trolls. Now begone.
Jaye
Why'd they stop there? Why didn't they put Congresswoman Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) in Zombie form?
ReplyDeleteWouldn't even have to photo shop her cranial bullet-wound.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteLook, President Obama is either a Globialist or he's not. Pick your side.
9:38 PM
-------------------------
Whether or not the President is a "globialist" is not the topic of this post, so "look", I do not have to "pick a side."
Nor do I or anyone else have to accept your definition of the term or your beliefs as to the implications of someone being a "globialist."
You can always start your own blog.
Just imagine the howling on Fux Noise if these pics were of Bush and Paylum.
ReplyDeleteKeepin' it classy, cons. Keep up your Xtian hypocrisy.
The GOP has devolved into a group of religious crackpots, bigots, and paranoid fools. This picture is quite revealing of their true feelings about President Obama, and any Republican with an ounce of decency has to be cringing at this example of senseless hatred toward another human.
ReplyDeleteRemember when the Dixie Chicks were overseas giving a concert and said they were ashamed to be from where George Bush was from?
ReplyDeleteThey were all but burned at the stake by the Right wingers. Their music was BANNED from radio. They went from top of the heap to bottom of the barrel. They got death threats.
And all they did was SAY something.
Some people like Rush and Hannity labeled them terrorists and they should be tried for treason.
So, um, you put the hypocrisy puzzle together on your own.
shellyamberstone@yahoo.com