There has apparently been a collapse of comic literacy in the United States of America, as the magazine-reading class in this city has deteriorated to the point at which it can no longer absorb a political cartoon. Barry Blitt’s assault on the bias and profiling leveled at Mr. and Mrs. Barack Obama, “The Politics of Fear,” on the cover ...

An expression of outrage is the highest compliment that politicians can bestow upon a satirist. So when spokesmen for Barack Obama and John McCain echo each other and many another stuffed shirt in complaining about the current cover of The New Yorker, the magazine’s editors and cartoonist Barry Blitt should accept such remarks in precisely that spirit. From Mark ...

With its September 29th issue, The Nation offers its own spin on The New Yorker's "The Politics of Fear" cover by Barry Blitt. Mr. Blitt's cover, which ran in July, inspired a number of parodies. Now, The Nation revamped the image as "The Palin Trap," by Karen Caldicott (with cover design by Steven Brower). It shows John McCain ...

As any comedian—or anyone who's ever been asked to give a wedding speech—knows, if you have to tell the audience you're joking, you're not funny. At all.
But in the Post-Barry Blitt-New Yorker-Cover world ("7/21, Never Forget"), every joke suddenly requires a rim-shot and a "waka-waka" lest someone, somewhere get offended by ...