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It's only a cartoon! But Obama adds that New Yorker cover insults Muslims
BY MICHAEL SAUL
DAILY NEWS POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

Tuesday, July 15th 2008, 9:50 PM

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/07/16/2008-07-16_untitled__cover16m-1.html

Barack Obama to the New Yorker: It's your right - but you weren't right.

In his first substantive talk about the magazine's inflammatory cartoon
depicting him and his wife as fist-bumping terrorists, Obama told CNN's
Larry King the image fueled misconceptions and insulted Muslim Americans.

"I know it was The New Yorker's attempt at satire. I don't think they were
entirely successful with it," Obama said. "But you know what? It's a cartoon
.... and that's why we've got the First Amendment."

The presumptive Democratic nominee said he wasn't personally stung by the
cartoon.

"I've seen and heard worse," Obama said. "[Still], in attempting to satirize
something, they probably fueled some misconceptions about me instead."

"But, you know, that was their editorial judgment," Obama added.
"Ultimately, it's a cartoon, it's not where the American people are spending
a lot of their time thinking about."

Obama has spent the better part of the past 18 months debunking false
Internet rumors that he's Muslim and defending his patriotism. He's
Christian, but Obama said he's been derelict in pointing out how hurtful
these attacks are to Muslim Americans.

These fallacious e-mails and The New Yorker cartoon are "actually an insult
against Muslim Americans," he said. There are "wonderful Muslim Americans"
across the country, Obama said, and "for this to be used as sort of an
insult, or to raise suspicions about me, I think is unfortunate."

"It's not what America's all about," he said.

The magazine's editor, David Remnick, said the cartoon is satirizing the
lies about the Obamas.

A spokeswoman for the magazine said yesterday she could not provide any data
on this week's sales, but anecdotal evidence from magazine retailers
suggests the controversy has bumped sales.

"We are selling them like hot cakes," said Laura Samuels, spokeswoman for
the Hudson Group, which operates Hudson News newsstands.

msaul@nydailynews.com