New Yorker publishes "satirical" cover featuring Barack Obama and his wife which is going to be all over the 24 hour news stations this next week.

The illustration, by Barry Blitt,is called "The Politics of Fear" and, according to the NYer press release, "satirizes the use of scare tactics and misinformation in the Presidential election to derail Barack Obama's campaign." Uh-huh. What's that they say about repeating a rumor?

Presumably the New Yorker readership is sophisticated enough to get the joke, but still: this is going to upset a lot of people, probably for the same reason it's going to delight a lot of other people, namely those on the right: Because it's got all the scare tactics and misinformation that has so far been used to derail Barack Obama's campaign — all in one handy illustration.

Anyone who's tried to paint Obama as a Muslim, anyone who's tried to portray Michelle as angry or a secret revolutionary out to get Whitey, anyone who has questioned their patriotism— well, here's your image.

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton called it "tasteless and offensive" and, according to Jake Tapper at ABC, another high-profile Obama supporter called it "as offensive a caricature as any magazine could publish."

I am amazed that the New Yorker could demonstrate such insensitivity in this highly charged political environment.

I assume the the average New Yorker may be sophisticated enough to get the sarcasm inherent in the cover and the accompanying article but this is the Internet age. This thing is going to show up on news programs and blogs all over the country. For instance the one you are reading right now is coming to you from Anchorage, Alaska. Get my point?

You can bet the farm that thousands of red state mouth breathers are going to look at this and say to themselves "I knew it!