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Home Page > News > Lawrence O'Donnell calls Obama cartoon a 'racist obscenity' - SEE VIDEO

Lawrence O'Donnell calls Obama cartoon a 'racist obscenity' - SEE VIDEO

CATHY HAYES,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Wednesday, February 16, 2011, 10:31 AM

Updated Wednesday, February 16, 2011, 10:51 AM

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Speaking on "The Last Word", on Tuesday, in the section called "Rewrite", Lawrence O'Donnell called a cartoon of Michelle and Barack Obama a 'racist obscenity'. The host went on to say that the cartoonist involved needed an intervention.

The cartoon depicts an overweight Michelle Obama eating hamburgers while telling President Obama about her campaign to promote healthy eating in the U.S. Obama is depicted with impossibly large ears. His speech bubble says her campaign is going to hurt his re-election chances. In the next image Michelle yells "Shut up and pass the bacon!"

The images were released on Andrew Breitbart's Big Government website last weekend.

On the show O'Donnell only showed one panel of the cartoon saying he would not show it in its entirety "because it is a racist obscenity".

O'Donnell described the cartoon of Obama as "a half man, half animal form, with ears that don't exist in the homo-sapien species."

He commented on cartoons during the 19th and 20th century which "succeeded in making people like the Irish look like dangerous animals."

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eiriamach | Jul 22, 2011, 12:22 PM EDT

Even if it were true, as remitromjr claims, that Michelle Obama was a token black in a segregrated white corporation, why would anyone blame her for bringing her education and talents and values to a hospital that so obviously needed her influence? Why wouldn't one blame the hospital that tried to exploit her race to make itself look integrated and fair when it was neither? Affirmative action programs in American higher education do not admit women or ethnic minority individuals who are incapable of doing the work required for their degrees. It would be self-destructive of them to do so. Michelle Obama deserves all the credit for achieving her professional status. Remitromjr's cynicism about this woman's education and abilities is right in line with the kind of bigotry and mean-spiritedness that the cartoon on Breitbart's web site appeals to.

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REMITROMJR | Feb 20, 2011, 12:44 PM EST

"Michelle Obama has a law degree from Princeton, the number one private university in the United States...?" Susanna, I'm sure, as a good liberal, you've heard of Affirmative Action admissions? Michelle Obama has only been the "nigger in the window" (a term meaning a lone African-American person hired to be in a prominent public position to inaccurately portray the employer as having integrated) for The Chicago Hospital who overpaid her. She was in Public Relations and never represented the hospital in any legal matter.

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seanomelbourne | Feb 18, 2011, 06:22 PM EST

McNabb you've answered my piece very well but failed to take it to it's logical conclusion,it's almost like the elephant in the room."you can't see it or hear it but it's really there". "There's none so blind etc" McNabb. Your tea party attitude to life is stilted and narrow.

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jamieLM | Feb 18, 2011, 10:32 AM EST

Political cartoons are drawn to be offensive with their exagerrated and/or non-existent features. All of our presidents and politicians have been depicted in this non-flattering way. Political cartoonists made Abr. Lincoln look like an ape and he was white. @MOTHERIRISH - we Americans are bombarded daily, 24/7, by tv talk shows (Dr. Oz, The Doctors), magazines (Health), magazine articles, books (Eat This, Not That), etc., etc. on what to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat. Then there's the topic of exercise. This has been going on long before Michelle Obama and it'll go on long after she's gone. Every 1st Lady is supposed to have an agenda and this is hers. Mrs. Obama is not going to come to your house and look in your fridge. If you want to eat like a pig, no one is going to stop you, but obese children and obese/morbidly obese adults cost all Am. taxpayers (you & me) a lot of money for health-related issues. As a country, we need to become more health-conscious. Don't shoot the messenger just because you don't like the message - but Americans of all ages do need to hear it.

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maloney | Feb 17, 2011, 10:25 PM EST

Talk to seano, he's the pork expert.

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McNabb1966 | Feb 17, 2011, 06:38 PM EST

It's particularly amusing to see susanna exalt the Ivy League credentials of the Obamas and Hillary Clinton. What she probably doesn't know (or is unwilling to acknowledge) is that George W. Bush (that's "Bushitler" to civil-minded Leftists) has an undergraduate degree from Yale and an MBA from Harvard... So, what's it gonna be, wingnuts? Ivy League...impressive or not? You can't have it both ways (even though you always try).

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McNabb1966 | Feb 17, 2011, 05:34 PM EST

NO, seano, it's actually not. But reality never seems to interfere with the Left's hypocritical narrative. And a word to the wise...People only use the "dog whistle" analogy when they're attempting to make a specious argument seem legitimate. The whole "you can't hear it or see it, but it's real because I say it is" gambit simply doesn't hold up. It's a political cartoon. Apparently even that is "threatening" to the Left now. This is why you fail.

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seanomelbourne | Feb 17, 2011, 05:15 PM EST

LinLin O'Donnell never questioned their right to free speech,only the mindless hate of breitbart and his right wing nuts.The cartoon never mentions hate You cannot here a dog whistle yet the sound is there.This is how Fox and their spiteful rhetoric works.They play the dog whistle and the racist fall in line.Shame on them and you for denying the majority's right to rule.

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susanna | Feb 17, 2011, 03:11 PM EST

slainte9 - That's because Michelle Obama graduated from Princeton & a law degree from Harvard! Hillary Clinton graduated from Wellesley and law degree from Yale! They are both incredibly intelligent and highly educated women. Barbara Bush did not go to college and Laura Bush has a Masters Degree from Univ of TX (library science - yuk)not bad but not even close to what Hillary and Michelle have achieved! No comparison to Clinton and Obama! Besides, Laura needed time to stay home and nurse her alcoholic husband for his hangovers.

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susanna | Feb 17, 2011, 02:57 PM EST

MotherIrish - Gads, are you really that ignorant? Did you think Laura Bush was trying to turn us into "a nanny state" when she encouraged parents to read to their children? Or when Nancy Reagan encouraged parents to tell their kiddies to "just say no?" Which this campaign was a major failure. Your ignorance is an embarrassment. Michelle Obama has a law degree from Princeton, the number one private university in the United States - where is your degree from?

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LinLinisme | Feb 17, 2011, 02:19 PM EST

O,Donnell YOU ARE STUPID. WE HAVE THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND PRINT HERE IN AMERICA. lET'S NOT LISTEN TO ANYONE LIKE YOU liN

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LinLinisme | Feb 17, 2011, 02:18 PM EST

I think it's cute, Here in America this a one of our freedoms. Keep the cartoons coming. We need all the fun we can find.

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srcarrvt | Feb 17, 2011, 02:11 PM EST

Lawerence O'Donnell - You are an IDIOT.

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cailinrua | Feb 17, 2011, 12:39 PM EST

Wow. Lawrence O'Donnell laying it on a bit thick here, isn't he? Where was his outrage when George Bush was depicted with simian-like features in political cartoons? O'Donnell seems to miss the point of what a caricature is namely, a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person to create an easily identifiable visual likeness. In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others. President Obama has large ears, a long life for him if my Irish mother's beliefs are true. He is depicted with huge ears. And I don't think the caricature of Mrs. Obama was too off base. For Mr. O'Donnell to actually give a general location of where the artist and writer live, and also to name the artist's wife by name, I think is a step too far. Maybe someone should remind O'Donnell of this next time they see him in Starbucks.

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