Daily News Feed 7.14.08

Uproar Over The New Yorker Cover
The New Yorker magazine is igniting a firestorm with a cover this week that collects, in a caricature, the right-wing stereotypes about Sen. Barack Obama. The presumptive Democratic nominee is in Muslim garb giving a fist-bump to his wife, Michelle, who is shown wearing an Afro and a machine gun. An American flag burns in the fireplace, and a photo of Osama bin Laden is on the wall. Editor David Remick defended the cover, saying, “Satire is part of what we do, and it is meant to bring things out into the open, to hold up a mirror to the absurd.” But Obama spokesman Bill Burton said, “Most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree.” Tucker Bounds, spokesman for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the presumptive Republican nominee, said, “We completely agree with the Obama campaign,” as Mark Halperin of Time magazine reported on his Web site on politics, “the Page.” The cover of the July 21 issue, on sale on Monday, is dubbed “The Politics of Fear.” “Artist Barry Blitt satirizes the use of scare tactics and misinformation in the Presidential election to derail Barack Obama’s campaign,” according to a New Yorker news release issued Sunday. (Continue Reading…)

Green Party Picks Cynthia McKinney as Nominee
Green Party delegates have selected former Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney of Georgia as the party’s presidential nominee. Ruth Weill, the party’s national convention coordinator, said the delegates selected McKinney as they wrapped up their national convention here on Saturday. McKinney tapped Rosa Clemente, a hip-hop artist, journalist and activist, as her running mate. McKinney, 53, entered politics by following her father, an Atlanta policeman who later served in the Georgia State House. She won her first seat in 1988, and later ran for and won a House race in 1992, becoming the first African American woman to represent Georgia in Congress. (Continue Reading…)

Group Calls for Jesse Jackson’s Resignation
There is a call for Reverend Jesse Jackson to resign in light of recent controversial comments he made about Senator Obama. A group of men calling themselves ‘AmeriCan’ want Jackson to step down from his position with the Rainbow Push Coalition. Before an appearance on Fox News, Jackson said Obama had talked down to African Americans during a Father’s Day speech. The reverend did apologize to Obama, who accepted his apology. ackson later said he thought the controversy had helped the Obama campaign. “He didn’t receive any pain, I felt the pain and the embarrassment and the hurt,” said Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rainbow Push Coalition. (Continue Reading…)