Not cool, dudes.
Surprise! Some Republicans somewhere did something really stupid:
Virginia Republicans were in apology mode Monday over a Halloween-themed email that depicted a zombie-like President Obama with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head.
The northern Virginia-based Too Conservative blog first flagged the mailer from the local Republicans in Loudon County promoting a local holiday parade. It also offers a ghoulish caricature of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi D-San Francisco).
“I am no fan of Barack Obama, but putting up a photo of him as a zombie with a bullet hole in his head?” the blog stated. “Someone should send this to the US Secret Service.”
Well, gee whiz.
It’s not like anything is going to come of this. Remember Marilyn Davenport, the loony Orange County Republican who sent out blatantly racist emails? Remember how she had to face the music for her racist-ass racism?
Yeah, I didn’t think so.
Update: By the way, I’m not contending that the mailer was racist. I’m simply contending that Republicans are never held accountable for their mendacity. Nothing they do has consequences. IOKIYAR.
UPDATE 2: WaPo has posted an “apology” from the assclowns in question wherein the email is called “satire”:
“The Loudoun County Republican Committee yesterday sent an email to its members that represented a light-hearted attempt to inject satire humor into the Halloween holiday,’’ Sell wrote. Apparently, some individuals have interpreted an image of Barack Obama that appeared within the email as intending to portray the president as a victim of a violent crime. Nothing could be further from the truth, and we deeply and sincerely apologize to the president and anyone who viewed the image if that was the impression that was left.
See? We’re not sorry we did it. We’re sorry that you don’t understand us, man. Your tiny liberal brain can’t comprehend our super-awesome sense of humor and the masterful way in which we satirized — something. Portraying sitting Presidents with bullets in their head is downright hilarious, and if you can’t see that, then there’s something wrong with you, pal.
Yes, yes. It’s hilarious. Just like the “Obama target shoot” at that carnival in Pennsylvania was hilarious. Or that teacher in Alabama using the assassination of President Obama as a basis to explain angles in Geometry class was hilarious.
IT’S ALL IN GOOD FUN, AND WE SHOULD STOP BEING SO SENSITIVE. GOSH!
[via LA Times]
[cross-posted at Angry Black Lady Chronicles]
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
They will be sorry if they offended anyone.
General Stuck
They just can’t help themselves
Omnes Omnibus
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): Not quite, there is is a little more distance in it. They will be sorry if anyone was offended.
Corbin Dallas Multipass
This is a tshirt.
It was manipulated apparently to include the bullet hole.
Elisabeth
More shocking than the mailer is that it was a conservative blog that first objected to the image.
Linnaeus
I’m shocked, shocked, to find out that there is gambling here!
Wag
Uh, dudes. It was only a joke.
Snark
Keith
And queue the claims about it being OK because the left-wing (not party officials, mind you, but just the generic “left wingers”) has posted pictures of Zombie Reagan (sans bullet hole).
Omnes Omnibus
@Wag: Zombie Obama is kind of funny. Bullet hole is less so.
Poopyman
‘Aw, c’mon! We was just havin’ some fun!”
Lysana
Zombify Obama and Pelosi? Fine. It’s Halloween. One makes that kind of joke.
Put a bullet hole in the President’s head? No. Never. Not even. I’d have gotten snarly at any Democratic flyer with a similar Bush or Reagan. There are lines you don’t cross. That is one of them.
arguingwithsignposts
@Omnes Omnibus:
LinkHoHuffPo had a whole section of their site devoted to zombies today. It has officially jumped the shark.Kola Noscopy
Bullet hole is tacky.
The Nancy Smash Zombie, however, is amusing.
Omnes Omnibus
@arguingwithsignposts: You are calling it as of today? Seriously, aren’t you a little late?
Amir Khalid
Yes, someone should send this to the Secret Service. Images making light of, and thus implicitly encouraging, physical violence against the president are definitely a serious matter. Especially since this president has been the target of an unprecedented number of threats since he first became a candidate. A stern lecture from the Secret Service is very much in order here.
arguingwithsignposts
@Lysana:
In high school, I went to school on Halloween as JFK after he’d been shot. That was in the ’80s, thoughv
Somehow, people in deeply red Texas didn’t find that as offensive as the time I went with eyeliner “holes” in my palms.
Joel
@Corbin Dallas Multipass: Since Moriatis made that art from scratch and apparently didn’t CC it like Fairey’s original piece, I guess the Virginia GOP is guilty of copyright infringement, among other things, including reckless stupidity and general worthlessness.
jl
@Keith:
If some Democratic group sent me some stupid email with pics of Zombie Johnny Bones, or undead Ryan, bullet holes or not, those nincompoops would get prime spot in my spam filter.
Who wants to hang around with people so obsessive that they have to work in offensive political attacks and insults into every sinking little thing.
One senses some psychological pathology lurking in the background, even without the offensive bullet hole.
Corbin Dallas Multipass
@Amir Khalid:
What did the five fingers say to the face?
Linda Featheringill
That picture of Obama looks like a call for someone to try to make it real.
Or is that just me?
Too Conservative, on the other hand, mentioned that someone should tell the Secret Service, so maybe they saw it that way too.
Gilles de Rais
Don’t forget, Jared Loughner was insane, not motivated by Fox propaganda.
Keith G
@Elisabeth:
Really? You actually think that way?
Yep, there are plenty of conservative voices that are f*cked up. And, there are voices over there that are as concerned about the unfortunate tone that our discourse has taken.
They do not all sound, or look, alike.
Lysana
@arguingwithsignposts: Big difference between going as someone who’s already dead and a cartoon of a living person depicting him post-assassination. I encouraged a friend of mine to go out for Halloween as zombie Steve Jobs. “Just one more brain…”
Gilles de Rais
If the Secret Service finds the douche responsible for this – and they likely will – I could reconsider my objections to Gitmo.
jl
Wonkette has apology from the Loudoun GOP. It says the email was “satire humor”.
Jeez. When I saw pics of George Bush photoshopped as a chimp, it never occurred to me that it was satire. It was an insult, and I would have informed any offended GOPper that it was an insult, one that I thought was slightly funny, and with a speck of insight, but an insult nevertheless.
Depending on the circumstances, I might apologize for insulting the US President, but no likely circumstances come to mind right now.
Omnes Omnibus
@Keith G: Some people have become pretty cynical about self-described conservatives. This cynicism is not unearned.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Omnes Omnibus: Indeed it will be phrased in the passive voice. Odd how it shifts the responsibility from the offender to the offended, isn’t it?
Corbin Dallas Multipass
@Joel: Ha – is it possible they thought the slight modifications and the additional bullet hole were significant enough to make it a derivative work?
Omnes Omnibus
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): This was taught to some as a way of dealing with facts harmful to one’s case in some people’s legal writing classes. “The soiled cutting tool was located in my client’s general control,” instead of “My client was holding the still dripping, bloody knife as he danced around the victim’s corpse singing hallelujah.” Careful wording matters.
Keith G
@Omnes Omnibus: Agreed. Still, stupidity on their part need not automatically lead to sloppy thinking on ours. Someone needs to be clear headed.
Elizabelle
@Amir Khalid:
Agreed. The bullet hole is ugly. Hope the Secret Service makes these folks VERY uncomfortable.
Shame on the Loudoun County GOP.
Omnes Omnibus
@Keith G: I put a lot of brandy in my hot chocolate earlier, someone else will have to be clear headed.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Omnes Omnibus: It sure does. Especially, I’ve found on cross examination, and in civil settlement documents. In written plea agreements, there is often a bit more leeway in state cases – with the feds, however, it’s more important than ever.
But enough shop talk. I’m running out of spoons. Would you wish Yutsano a happy belated in my behalf? You got enough commas for the week? If not, I’ve got lots of extras.
Blessed Samhain to all; may we remember those no longer here who have enriched our lives.
handy
Get it? Obama’s a mindless zombie and so are his followers, who are in desperate need of BRANNNNEZZZ!
C’mon that’s hilarious. Do I have to explain everything to you Democrat liberals?
Amir Khalid
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Well, it’s not so much the passive voice that does the distancing. It’s the conditional, the “if” in the statement, as though to suggest that not everyone would find this offensive, maybe even that most people would not. Like, only a hypersensitive dick would take offense if they saw their president depicted with a bullet hole in his head.
Lojasmo
@Corbin Dallas Multipass:
Yes. Because a web game depicting essentially harmless activity is similar to a gunshot to the head of a sitting president.
Arclite
@Raven (formerly stuckinred):
Fixed: They will be sorry if anyone was offended.
Republicans never apologize in the active tense. It takes to much responsibility.
burnspbesq
@Omnes Omnibus:
I know what it looks like, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. But Joe didn’t do it. The evidence will show that he found the victim’s lifeless body, and picked up the knife so that the police wouldn’t fail to find it. And the signing? He was rehearsing for a performance of “The Messiah.”
Omnes Omnibus
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): I am okay on the comma front. I will offer good wishes to Yutsano on your behalf if I am around when he pops up. Cheers.
handy
BTW, speaking of scary developments for the Goopers.
Quick! Someone get to the batphone and page Sen. Lieberman stat! Holy Joe’s gotta get on this one.
vtr
But liberals want class warfare, so we’re even.
rikyrah
THIS IS WHO THEY ARE.
PERIOD.
doesn’t shock in the least
Elisabeth
@Keith G:
As often as we’ve seen this kind of thing ignored or excused by some/most/plenty of folks on the Right I’ll accept being accused of “sloppy thinking.”
And you tell me … just how many GOP establishment figures have lost their positions because of stupid shit like this versus how many were permitted to stay on?
So, yes, I’m more surprised a conservative blog called it out than I am that someone thought this email was a good idea.
namekarB
Gasp! I am shocked! More than shocked. I am stunned!
Okay, nothing to see here, Neocons having fun. That is the way they roll. Shocking would be if a Librul did the same to a real Murcan.
Bullets cannot hurt zombies. To me, the message is there is no stopping Pelosi or Obama. Hoo Yah!
Petorado
I thought zombies ate brains? So why are right-wingnuts concerned at all about them? They should be completely safe.
Zagloba
This is my parents’ county. Used to be the outer orbit of the suburbs, half horse country. Now all the Young Suburban Professionals are up in arms about the Messicans
takin are jerbsdriving down property values and stinking up the public high schools./Not a decent bar in the whole county too. Makes getting together over the holidays with the few friends who still live there even more awkward.
Omnes Omnibus
@Petorado: Projection, of course.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
Someone is about to discover that Secret Service agents leave their sense of humor at home when they go to work. Dumbasses.
Amir Khalid
@handy:
Sod Joe Lieberman. He’s retiring from the Senate after next year, I understand. The US can’t afford to wind up on the wrong side of the Palestinians’ push for statehood. Otherwise, it risks finding out that even a superpower with a permanent Security Council seat and a veto can get marginalized at the UN if it gets too far out of step with everyone else.
Martin
See, it’s funny because it pisses black people off.
jl
@namekarB: True. One of first comments on the Wonkette post was to the effect that if these GOPpers wanted something rreeeealllly scary for Halloween, it should be a pic of Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid introducing Obama after his re-election.
Corbin Dallas Multipass
@Lojasmo:
Don’t disagree with you. Could make the point that one is a flash game for ad revenue and the other is an email sponsored by a political organization as well, which is a significant difference in terms of target audience.
Just pointing out the gray areas in light of calls for secret service investigation.
Martin
Hey, someone remembers what journalism is supposed to look like!
David in NY
@jl: Nice.
Also, too: Unfortunately, I bet this gets no SS (odd coincidence there) attention.
Omnes Omnibus
@David in NY: I would guess that you are utterly wrong on that.
Villago Delenda Est
Interesting that the Loudoun GOP can’t talk about Republicans, they have to talk about Democrats.
It’s like the Republicans are just not interesting, but the Democrats are.
Of course, when you’ve got OvenMitt as the anointed “turn” candidate this cycle…
Corbin Dallas Multipass
@Lojasmo: Actually, I somewhat disagree with you, it is depicting jabs, punches, and uppercuts to someone’s head. That’s not “essentially harmless.”
David in NY
@Omnes Omnibus: I have actually represented people charged with threatening public figures. I have reviewed the kinds of files the government keeps in these matters. I could be wrong, but I say: no investigation.
JD Rhoades
But some Brit filmmaker made a mockumentary about the assassination of George Dubbya Bush, so that proves that it’s really libruls who are the violent ones.
Nevgu
Hey GOP,
Our hope is rubber,
your hatred is glue,
it bounces off us,
and sticks to you.
Phoenician in a time of Romans
How the hell is it satire? An old Tom Scott cartoon of NZ Prime Minister Muldoon as a zombie was satire because the old bugger just wouldn’t lie down after decades in Parliament, but how is that relevant to Obama?
Once again we’re faced with wingnuts not understanding humour, and just throwing out words that don’t make any goddamned sense.
Scott
It’s been my impression that the Secret Service has generally not done much investigating of threats against Obama. When Bush was in office, they’d throw you in jail for having the wrong bumper sticker on your car at a Bush rally, but nothing much happens to people who make threats against the president now.
They’ve come across to me in recent years as an all-but-open pro-Republican group.
Paul in KY
@Scott: I think they are more professional than that. Having the President get assasinated on your watch doesn’t help with promotions, etc.
slippy
@Scott: Not to disagree, but I’d like to see some examples.
Because if this is true, they should be replaced. All of them.
duduel
Look People we need to stop playing games with the politicians. The politicians are faced with challenges for our country. We have elected a group of people who should be able to perform as professionals. The Amerian People elected these people. They should demonstrate and be mentors for our country, but they have shown us how not to be like them. I am going to challenge all of you to be real in your decision making. Think about what is needed to make this a better country. Get rid of the hate, remove the blinds from your eyes and let all be better people for our country. Our country is under attack from the hearts of our American People. Let us all set ourselves free of the pain and hurt.
We should have some respect for our earthly leaders. Yes, freedom of speech is great but we as American People should respect ourselves first. Remember, too much is given, much is expected. Let us all focus on what we can do to get our country back on track, so our country can gain the respect from other countries. Everyone around the world are looking and laughing at us. We are the ones making a mockery of our elected officials. We are the ones who can make the difference. What if we go silent. What would the politicians do without our voices. Can they function without us.
Think About.
My God Bless America and All of Us!
Phil
Lets all freak out over a picture and ignore the corruption that goes on in our Gov. Grow up people just grow up. Bunch of little babies crying over something so stupid and childish.
Phil
Also why is this such a big deal to you Demos? Oh no, a picture of a bullet wound in our presidents zombie head. Oh my gosh! What can we do about this? Grow up..
I am pretty sure to the people who are Republicans if this was THEIR president I am sure it would be fine to you Democrats as well.
Again, America. Home of the free apparently? GROW UP!
duduel
To all why do you think that only the democrats complainting about the Flyer. We are people first and all of the artwork was distasteful. We should blame ourselves. I pray that his children did not see the artwork. There are certain things that not should be allowed.
duduel
To all why do you think that only the democrats complainting about the Flyer. We are people first and all of the artwork was distasteful. We should blame ourselves. I pray that his children did not see the artwork. There are certain things that not should be allowed.