One graphics intern or another at CBS’ news website decided it would be a good idea to create an image, for a story about upcoming law-making gridlock, of Obama’s face split in two, featuring a weird scar and a new, whiter half-face. This white face, however, happens to be on the “Republican” half of the image. (Though they did forget to give John Boehner’s face an orange shine. We had to add that.) CBS must have been making some kind of “Star Trek” reference, of course, which is what the KKK always used to say. Newsbusters and other conservative sites picked this up and said it was VERY RACIST. Not against black people, for lightening Obama’s skin, mind you. It was racist because CBS had the gall to imply that Republicans are more white than Democrats.
The obvious explanation for this photo, other than that it’s a tribute to Frank Gorshin and Star Trek, is that it is meant to illustrate the shift in the balance of power in Congress (with Democratic Senators to the President’s left, GOP House members to his right), and that the racial subtext was inadvertent. If so, the photo’s creators and subsequent editors suffer from a tone-deafness to rival Jon Stewart.
Apparently on one episode of the original teevee show, Gorshin played an alien who looked like one of those black-and-white cookies they have at the delis in New York. And that, somehow, relates to Congress? This is all very confusing. STOP TRYING TO MAKE JOKES, MEDIAITE.
We reached out to CBS, and a CBS.com spokesman told us, “Our intention with the “ripped paper” overlay effect down the middle was to convey a divided Congress and nothing more.”
So they are saying Obama’s face is nothing more than a kindergarten construction-paper project? Pure libel.
While it is fair to point out the photo’s underpinnings, as many conservative blogs did, it is telling that, in their zeal to paint CBS in an unfavorable light, none of them bothered to contact the network for their side of the story.
Shut the fuck up, Mediaite. That would go against the whole concept of what it means to be a conservative blog. [Mediaite]
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How dare you point out the obvious!
Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease let this be a sign that Obama's gonna go all Omar Little on them.
While whistling "The Farmer in the Dell."
Please?
I'm a light-skinned whitey and I'm racist against White Republicans. Hell, I'm pretty much anything against Republicans at this point, white or not. If you're going to be a Party of Pricks, I'm going to call you dicks. Weeping, seeping, infected festering dicks. Run dick, run!
I regret that I have but one thumb to give for your comment. But it's a white one!
And here's a black one to go with it, so we're good.
Just as the prophecies foretold. "And He shall be anointed electable, for he hath no Accent of the Negro, save that He chooseth to" –Reid 8:22-24
"My man is smooth like Barry, and his voice got bass
A body like Arnold with a Denzel face" — Salt-n-Pepa 16:4-10
This is the best thing I have ever read.
More please.
"I'm too old to be frontin' when I'm feelin' Denzel." — Jay-Z 2:54-40
"All black everything
Black cards, black cars
All black everything" –Jay-Z 2:4-20
With "a tone-deafness to rival Jon Stewart", I guess they must be saying there's no tone-deafness at all here, which is kind of wrong.
Also, um, isn't "newsbusters" a right-wing organization? Why are they going after their allies at CBS news?
I've heard Jon Stewart sing. He is most decidedly tone deaf.
They're talking about the singing, right?
Or else they live in alternative universe in which *they* are the least tone-deaf people in the world. They're, like, fucking Pavarotti or something.
Ripped paper effect? So this paper CBS is using must be pretty fancy to know half of it should turn a different color when you tear it. And anyone who thinks they can shade a black person in this day and age should not have the keys — sit in the back. Oh wait — let me rephrase that…
Looking at the pic, I'm not sure they actually darkened anything. There's a bit of a drop shadow that falls to the left, but other than that it just looks like a picture of Obama where he's being illuminated more strongly on one side.
Jon Stewart is a lot of things. "Tone-deafness" is not one of them.
I dunno. I heard him sing last weekend.
Good lord, I think you've actually hit on what the morons meant–they were talking about his literal tone-deafness, not any misreading of the tone of a message. Of course, when the REST of the utterance is all about political tone (and apparently skin tone), and since Stewart is an expert satirist of the rhetorical clusterfuck that American politics has become (and since the theme of the recent rally was "Tone it down for America"), that one reference to an actual, literal thing is kinda lost.
So, shorter version: Tone trolling.
Tone trolling – I love that album.
He is kind of tone-deaf to their whining, as in he doesn't give it a lot of respect.
READ the whole post first, stupid.
Should have gone all in- added the President holding an Oreo.
The only way republicans accept this guys is if he has a butler suit and the words House Nigger, tattoed on his forehead.
he'll invite the democrats over for a barbecue, then meet the republicans for brunch.
Only if they're willing to portray Boehner as a dripping Creamsicle.
When Boner finally gets his tee time with Jeebus at the Great Golf Course in the Sky, will he put in his will that his skin gets 'tanned' and sent to Musee d'Orangerie in ghey Parie?
"So we tanned 'is 'ide when 'e died, Clyde.
An' that's it 'angin' on the shed, All together now!
Tie me kangaroo down, sport.
Tie me kangaroo down.
So they're saying Obama is Scar from the Lion King? He's going to make Boner fall to his death in a Democratic stampede?
Good. I like to root for the bad guy once in awhile.
Sweet I am in.
This is the secret of surviving watching the same damn Disney videos repeatedly with your kids over the course of about 10 years or so.
Try doing that to Winnie the Pooh … Holy shit – flashbacks!
Root for the "wrong sort of bees!"
Damn … you're good.
And so begins two long years of stupid.
Keep your heads down, everybody!
"And so begins two long years of stupid in power" Fixed.
They were elected by gaggles of mouth breathing stooopids.
As always, the lame-stream media is misquoting. He obviously meant "the racial subtext is inexistent."
It's even more racist that the third face on each side is Jewish. If that's not a subtle reference to a Zionist government conspiracy a la The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, I don't know what is.
Alex Jones is that you?
Odd. Even the whiter half of Obummer looks arrogant. The man really is uppity.
He looks like a Star Trek Braveheart to me.
Isn't CBS the network that carries Matlock and the Golden Girls? Tread lightly teabaggers, lest you bite the hand that gives you hours upon hours of quality entertainment….
They changed the hour that the Golden Girl's played and there was anarchy at the Senior Living Community my Great Grandma was in.
But…..Republicans ARE more white than Democrats. I know this because Republicans make me ashamed to be Caucasian.
Now that the Republicans/Teabaggers have taken back their country they're really scrapping the bottom of the outhouse to find something to be outraged about.
I, Mumbletypeg a.k.a.. "Ayndroid," resemble these remarks about split-visage business.
OT, but Reid doesn't appear to be enjoying the lubeless buttsecks that he's getting from Schumer as much as Chuckie is….
If we live in a post racial society, why did they even bring it up?
Really, this graphic is Anti-Semitic, suggesting that the standard-bearers for American Jewry are Chuck Schumer & Eric Cantor.
Oh – that's Cantor! I thought it was Colbert!
According to the original Newsbusters article, they first heard about this story from a website called Ace of Spades, whose banner contains this H.L. Mencken quote:
"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."
There's also a post where he "quotes" an e-mail from Bill Clinton to Obama:
Yeah, good luck with that plan champ. Now go get me some coffee…cream, 2 sugars.
Ace of Spades? Black flag? Coffee with cream?
I don't think CBS is the racist one here, bro.
Oh God, Ace of Spades. I went there once a year or two ago and almost didn't recover. I think it's actually one of the more well-known wingnut sites run by someone anonymous and not by names like Malkin or Beck. What I'm trying to say is that it is both well-read and horrible.
There's a pretty good takedown of Christy O on the front page though.
Mencken was tolerant of all diversity, one of his stronger points really.
as another stake is driven by consolidated bullshit through the memory of edward r. murrow and walter cronkite.
see it now, and that's the way it is…
Come over to the dark side and together we will rule the universe.
I want to see him go all Samuel L. Jackson on them, who put these motherfucking snake republicans in my motherfucking congress bitches.
I remember that episode of "Star Trek," in which Gorshin, who was once an impressionist comedian, plays an alien the Enterprise finds lost in space, half his face white and half black. He takes over the ship to pursue another alien who looks just like him, only the black and white halves are reversed. "Can't you see how evil he is?" the first domino guy says. Kirk and Spock and McCoy go all WTF. It was a commentary on American race relations, in case anyone didn't get it.
Happy to stagger down memory lane for the benefit of you Youngs.
Even better for race relations: Capt. Kirk hookin' up with some hot, green ladiez.
“Wink of an Eye” comes to mind.
“Wink of an Eye” comes to mind.
Kissed Lt, Uhura; that was HUGE, at the time. Although, nothing Thomas Jefferson hadn't done 200 years earlier.
It was all right because Kirk's mind was not his own, or some such. Roddenberry, who was boinking Nichelle Nichols himself at the time, wouldn't have had it any other way.
Although, nothing Strom Thurmond hadn't done 200 years earlier.
There. Fixed.
Considerably less than TJ, actually.
O yeah? Show me the Jefferson/McDaniel pics!
Seriously, plz do. I've got the lubricant and everything.
OK, but if he's supposed to be from the planet Cheron, like the genocidal opponents Lokai and Bele, then why the hell does he have the skin ridge and nose humps of a CARDASSIAN, huh? HUH?
God, I can't stand it when people just don't pay attention to the all-important details.
Stupid Cardassians. Every magazine cover I see in line at the grocery store has those idiot sisters and their Botoxed lips staring back at me.
You forgot to add the part about how when the two aliens get back to their own planet, they discover that their races have turned it into a radioactive husk.
Omigod, Oreo Obama is going to blow up the world!
Was there ever any doubt?
Being a kid at that time, I think I saw that episode and read Dr. Seuss' story about the Sneetches that same week, maybe even the same day. Warped me for life.
Almost as embarrassing to watch: Next Generation episode The Outcast, which is JUST as heavy-handed in attempting to give us an allegory on gay rights. Oh, the pain, the pain….
At least Deep Space 9's gay allegory episode did a decent job, and gave us actual Jadzia-on-other-hot-chick action.
Wasn't there also another one with Beverly Crusher falling for a shape-changing guy whose "husk" died and was reincarnated as a woman? Lesbian confusion ensues!
yup. Martina Sirtis said that the Roddenberry take on the gheys was that anyone or anything could be ghey- you couldn't tell(although the episodes mentioned were clearly about that issue) Jonathan Frakes said he thought they wimped out on "the Outcast"
Glad to see Wonkette has its share of old geeks like me.
Gorshin also played The Riddler on Adam West's Batman show. Maybe the photo is saying "Riddle me this!?"
These morons — Obama is black on his right side, not his left: This is a tribute to Lou Antonio, NOT Frank Gorshin….
it's kind of nice, really, that CBS is pointing out that our president is 1/2 white…a fact that many americans have overlooked.
as an old white man, he makes me very proud….especially because he managed to lasso a hot black wife.
Jefferson???
I didn't go to Parsons or anything like that, but I'm gonna contend that drawing any kind of line down the middle of a photographic subject's face falls under the heading of "poor design decision." I realize executive's kids need to eat too, but this kind of shit is embarrassing aesthetically more than anything else. Anyone, anywhere along the line, who thought this was a good idea worth pursuing, are essentially stealing from their employers.
Yes, it's no wonder network news is so popular, what with their deftness in crafting an easily grasped visual language based on obscure 1960's Star Trek episodes.
That Mediaite was able to collect such a giant pile of who-gives-a-shit and add EVEN MORE on top is frankly astonishing.
True. But on the plus side, the bitchy catfight over at the NewsBusters comment board is mighty fun reading.
It worked for this guy:
http://www.c2gps.com/blog/wp-content/ojsimpson1+2...
Wait…maybe not.
Some people compulsively wash their hands hundreds of times per day,
others check the locks on their doors a dozen times,
the poor fools at NEWSBUSTERS look at every object around them and listen to every utterance anybody speaks waiting to discover the ubiquitous "liberal bias" of everyday life.
Gaaah! What an utterly joyless, bitter, hellish existence.
(And by those who have to live with them, "No, I'm sorry honey, but I don't think Obama and CBS are siding with the bed bugs." ).
. . . and if the half of Obama's face next to GOP was darker, then the complaint would be that the only reason they his polices is because he is black. Can't win. Also. too.
You know, the Mediaite article sounds a lot better if you read it while listening to this.
God damn it! I hit thumbs up instead of thumbs down. My humble apologies Doktor.
heh…you also typed "thumbs up instead of thumbs down," so clearly you meant to vote me down in the first place, which means that everything you say is a lie, but you insisted that you always tell the truth…illogical…illogical…[lights flash, smoke comes out of ears]
I blame the media and the TriLateral Commission and the Bilderberg Group and the Lizard People. All I can say for sure is that it's NOT MY FAULT. Taking personal responsibility is un-American!!
Wait, are there any non-white republicans? I mean, seriously? Steele doesn't count.
A Google image search for "Victoria Jackson" + "blackface" turns up no results. Bummer.
There's a couple Cuban Republicans in Florida, they did (or well, do until January) have Joseph Cao in New Orleans but he was one of the few House Republicans to lose to the Democratic candidate. And there will now be two Christian convert Indian Rep governors, the exorcist and the one who likes sexytimes with ugly bloggers who her husband. Um, that's about it I think.
There's a Wikipedia page, but the list Harriet Tubman among their ranks of African American Republicans. It's probably technically true, but that was back when Republicans didn't fucking suck.
Duh, Alvin Greene! Oh, wait.
Yes. I saw it on Rachel Maddow. There is one black TeaPoodler who was endorsed by Palin and got elected to Congress anyway. Sorry I recall no details. And all Tea Bots look alike to me.
Uh, the "Busters" analysis is somewhat under cut by the fact that the GOPers are actually on the President's LEFT and the dems on his right. Just in terms of graphic symbolism and all, Also.
Throwing some biblical symbolism into the mix, should the sheep go to right hand, and the goats to his left; or is it the other way round?
In Germany, those black/white cookies are called Amerikaners because they segregate the black icing from the white icing. They're delicious.
Today we are all ying/yang New York deli cookie-faced Presidents of the United States.
I love those cookies, man. I always eat the white part first, then deny the newly-freed black part basic civil rights for 90 years.
Can we talk about Mediaite for a moment?
What is the point of it?
To make the Daily Caller look good. It's not working.
Dan Abrams needed a job after msnbc canned him.
How dare they show the Reptilians without their fangs, horns, scaly skins, tails, etc.?
These idiots….Obama is black on the right side of his face, not his left —- this is a tribute to Lou Antonio, NOT Frank Gorshin….
Can we blame Khhhhaaaaaaaan?
I mean, he's Middle Eastern, right? Probably his fault anyway….
Yet no mention of symbolism. Obama's right ear completely covers Harry Reids all-knowing left eye.
This means of course, that the new BoehnerCare bill will fund insurance companies that won't pay any medical costs and more soldiers will get blown up and everybody's going to look into impeaching everybody else.
This next-generation bullshit isn't going to work out like on the TV show.
Some of my best friends are orange.
I thought Republicans wanted him to be more white?
Oh, is that what they meant? That makes more sense. Yeah, next to Colbert, Stewart's singing is really bad. Well, next to my Pekingese sneezing, Stewart's singing is really bad.
Well, the Fox News version showed Obama with a noose around his neck – you know, to signify the strangling effects that the election has had on his influence with Congress.
Every time these wingnuts pitch a fit over some perceived reference to race or color, it just reminds me that every single time they do it, it's deliberate.
It's really strange to me because there's always the claim of hypersensitive political correctness levied at the Democrats but really silly right wingers are unbelievably hypersensitive. If there's any sort of "threat" against "whiteness" they get up in arms and start circling the obesity scooters. I'm a white man, I'm not threatened by homosexuals and Mexicans. Mexicans have the best food, anyway.
Ripped Paper? How about ripped azzhole as in "The President got sick of playing nice with the Repubs and ripped them a new azzhole."
Would have had to happen about 18 months ago unfortunately.
"For fifty thousand of your terrestrial years Mediate has been pursuing fame through the internet. They have not traveled this far or this long only to give it up now. Public opinion goes where Mediate's will drives it."
I'm more disturbed by Boehner's unnatually pinkish skin color in that pic.
Hey, did they wash out his venerable orangitude to make him look more gay ?!?!?!
Huh, no Two-Face references yet. No comic geeks here!
[comicbook guy voice]There is no "Two-Face" reference here because this is clearly a Star Trek joke, not a Batman joke. [Irritated sigh] It is not MY fault that you are unable to keep your genres straight. I do not have time for your blundering, amateurish attempts at fitting in–perhaps you would be happier browsing the back issues of Little Lulu over on the discount rack. [/comicbook guy voice]
Can't a president be ashy sometimes for fucks sake??
One word , Barry: cocoa butter….yeah the same stuff you and Michelle use ALL NIGHT LONG.
"I wish Republicans would understand…"
Well, there's your problem right there.
So were the flags of fascists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascist_symbolism
What is that curved flying carpet levitating above Orangeman Boner's forehead? Makes me wanna sing, "I can show you the world!"
Survival of the fittest. My youngest is now ten; I'm almost home free!
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