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Politics | 07/22/2008 2:00 pm

Vanity Fair Fans the Kerfuffle at The New Yorker

By The Staff of wowOwow
Illustration by Tim Bower, source: www.vanityfair.com

In the spirit of "affectionate rivalry" with their corporate sister at Condé Nast, Vanity Fair magazine has posted a fun-poking version of The New Yorker’s controversial Obama cover from last week.

As to Vanity Fair’s view of their colleagues downstairs at The New Yorker, the post states, "We play softball every year, compete for some of the same stories and share an elevator bank. (You can tell the ones who are headed to the 20th floor by their Brooklyn pallor and dog-eared paperbacks.")

Here for comparison, is the original Obama cover from The New Yorker.

obama cover_1.jpg

95 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

No Way-No How -No McCain
Mild by comparison. To me, Vanity Fair and Wired are the two coolest mags in the US. Love VF editor, Graydon Carter. His monthly letter is always a thrill….read that first then turn to the Proust questionnaire at the end.
By No Way-No How -No McCain on 07/22/2008 12:55 pm
Emcye Edwards
Would like to hear from cartoonist Liza Donnelly on this one. She’s been such a trooper, posting, listening and dialoguing here. Suzanne - remember Graydon Carter’s Spy magazine? Now, that was rambunctious satire. Hey, Graydon, bring it back as a regular section in VF! After enough years of PC, spin-a-rama and Web-snarky - just perhaps - we’re beat into submission for wit. This country needs to change into a clean shirt and meet for cocktails.
By Emcye Edwards on 07/22/2008 4:42 pm
phyllis Doyle Pepe
I’ll drink to that!
By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 07/22/2008 5:34 pm
No Way-No How -No McCain
Spy Magazine! Here are the reporter and photographer from “Spy Magazine” crashing Tracy Lord’s 2nd wedding in “High Society”. Sweet. Let’s get the petition going so we can all go back here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MeWvCagJ2w&feature=related
By No Way-No How -No McCain on 07/22/2008 11:54 pm
Emcye Edwards
Dear Mr. Graydon Carter, Make it stop! - This long, numbing march to cultural banality. We strongly urge you to call in your chits, pay the piper, romance the stone or whatever it takes to redirect our sad little nation back to intrepid commentary and scathing satire - and spearhead a movement to bring back Spy magazine. We need maps, charts, graphs - but most of all man, we need research. Fight the power of ADD. Unleash the bloggers. Offer something to peel their eyes away from porn. Show us all the workings of parody and satire. YOU just may have it in your power to make life in America worth getting up and dressed for, again. y<——————p<——————s yes please, spy!
By Emcye Edwards on 07/23/2008 1:25 am
phyllis Doyle Pepe
This is so clever––enjoyed it so much. Have one question–––What is or was Spy Magazine? Sounds like something I would have liked.
By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 07/23/2008 9:20 am
Emcye Edwards
Phyllis, Spy was 12-year fizgig of journalistic fun. A scathing arbiter of politics and culture, co-created by the current editor of VF. Pages were laden with charts and graphs that tracked the dramas, conspiracies and subterfuge - both real and invented - of Lady Liberty and her people in the 80’s-90’s. And now, it’s clear that high satire is the best counter-‘intelligence’ - just look what’s crept in without it! Research budgets and humor quotients have all been slashed to their knees. I doubt we’d have stood for two weeks of the Patriot Act, if Spy was on the case. With all it’s twists and turns, Spy held our feet to the fire and made an effort to get to the bottom of things. Back then, there WAS a bottom. As Gore Vidal points out, “It’s not conspiracy thinking. It’s conspiracy analysis.” http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1373247 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spy_(magazine) You’da loved it.
By Emcye Edwards on 07/23/2008 4:45 pm
phyllis Doyle Pepe
You are a sweetheart for giving me all this info. Thank you. Clicked on the link and yes, it does indeed look like something that would appeal. And Gore Vidal–––sigh~~~~~~what can I say. Although his latest little interview in the Time’s magazine some months ago had him sounding terribly grumpy and more irascible than usual.
By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 07/23/2008 8:45 pm
James the Game
I prefer “The Sporting News”.
By James the Game on 07/22/2008 5:01 pm
Frank Peterson
Me==the Times Literary Supplement.—for humour lol
By Frank Peterson on 07/22/2008 8:03 pm
Josie Sullivan
Vanity Fair- You’re going to have to do better than that to match the tastelessness of the New Yorker. So McCain is old…so what? Old….Terrorist…hmmmmmm….not even in the same category but thanks for trying. How about one where he is calling his wife a c*nt while she is putting on makeup in a mirror….oh, yea…that’s not satire, that’s truth.
By Josie Sullivan on 07/22/2008 12:56 pm
Frank Peterson
Like where’s the AK 47 on her shoulder VF??? If you’re going to satire a “satire” do it properky.
By Frank Peterson on 07/22/2008 2:37 pm
Dab-a- do
Josie, I totally agree with you. Old vs. Terrorist is not in the same category. I would have thought Vanity Fair could do better with their attempt at satire.
By Dab-a- do on 07/22/2008 4:43 pm
Elizabeth Bennett
It would only work if it was obvious that it was the Constitution being burned in the fireplace. But nice try.
By Elizabeth Bennett on 07/22/2008 1:07 pm
Frank Peterson
RE the Constitution being trampled and burned check out this new book, Elizabeth—a major eye-opener about Cheney, his minions and the Constitution: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/books/22schuessler.html?ref=books
By Frank Peterson on 07/22/2008 1:40 pm