That Amazing Robert Hunt Illustration atop The Atlantic’s Palin Story//UPDATE: Andrew Sullivan on the illustration and the story
May 11, 2011
Robert Hunt is one of the most extraordinary illustrators of our time.
In fact, let’s skip the qualifiers and just call the man a great artist.
The Atlantic commissioned him to do the illustration that accompanied “The Tragedy of Sarah Palin” in their June issue (about which I blogged earlier today.)
Whatever one might think of Joshua Green’s article, there is no denying the power of the portrait. It’s Sarah Palin as she sees herself, and as her worshippers see her: in the Oval Office.
It turns out that The New Republic was also aware of Robert Hunt’s artistic brilliance.
They commissioned him to do a portrait of Barack Obama for the cover of their December 2, 2009 edition, which contained a number of articles highly critical of the president.
Hunt has a fascinating account of his interactions with the magazine as he worked on the illustration.
As he describes (and shows), he offered them several possibilities:
Which one did they choose?
Did they choose the one that showed President Obama looking the difficulties of his job straight in the eye?
Or even one that portrayed him in profile, pensive and deliberative, possibly humbled by his responsibilities?
No, The New Republic wanted an illustration that showed him cowed, defeated, turning his back and walking away.
And so of all the choices Robert Hunt offered them, this was the illustration they used:
I hope Robert Hunt will share on his blog his alternatives to the Sarah Palin illustration The Atlantic chose.
Whether he does or not, isn’t Robert Hunt amazing?
As for the editors of the mainstream New Republic and Atlantic, what subliminal message do you think they are trying to convey?
Take a look, side by side:
And Sarah complains about “lamestream” media?
MSM continues to roll out the red carpet for her, because MSM wants her to run against Obama next year.
He’ll be reelected, no matter who his opponent is. But MSM is increasingly desperate for readers and viewers.
MSM is sinking fast, and as a former psychiatrist of mine once told me, “A drowning man has no morals.”
MSM wants Obama v. Palin, because the alternatives are so dull. Without her, nobody will bother to read or watch and MSM numbers and dollars will continue their flight to alternative sources of news, opinion and entertainment.
Only Sarah can juice up the campaign: with Tea Party moronics, blatant racism and Christian Dominionist hate.
So MSM is trying to seduce her now in order to betray her later, after they’ve used her to improve their bottom lines, just as she’s used them to improve hers.
Frankly, they deserve each other, and may the worse whore lose.
But before the whole orgy really heats up, take one more look at Robert Hunt’s vision of President Obama that The New Republic didn’t want you to see:
That’s Mr. President.
Sarah is Ms. Pretender.
UPDATE:
Andrew Sullivan tells it like it is.
Posted in 2012, evangelical, Fox, Joe McGinniss, mainstream media, Obama, Palin racism, right wing, Sarah Palin, Tea Party, The Rogue | 
Tags: barack obama, illustrators, mainstream media, racism, robert hunt, Sarah Palin, stupidity, Tea Party, the atlantic, the new republic
30 Responses to “That Amazing Robert Hunt Illustration atop The Atlantic’s Palin Story//UPDATE: Andrew Sullivan on the illustration and the story”
Honestly, I don’t think she looks too presidential in Hunt’s portrait. She looks like she’s about to cry, and that one of her cheek implants has migrated down her face.
P.S. – Also, he’s given her a red neck.
“MSM continues to roll out the red carpet for her, because MSM wants her to run against Obama next year.”
Do you think this is why they dismiss any examination of Babygate and further the Spiral of Silence?
She looks like a man.
Sickening; speechless. RANT ALERT: will stop now…
That’s what I think. I always have.
That picture bothered me. And now I know why.
Thank you. And I’m pretty sure that you are absolutely right.
So much for the New REPUBLIC view of President Obama…. or is it the author’s interpretation of the New Republic imgage of the President? I suggest that the image suggests something different….it is a dramatic illustration on how the President has TURNED HIS BACK on RACISM and all of his critics to do the right thing…
As for the image of Mrs. Paylin, I have never understood why the news media keeps forcing this “thing” in our faces. I am an Alaskan. I have a pretty good idea of the type of person this woman is as well as the nature of her family. If this is what qualifies as “presidential character or Quality” I need to vomit.
As for the image, Mrs. Paylin maybe a naturally a photogenic person, but looks have NOTHING to do with a person’s character or soul. Oddly, the more work Paylin has done, the less attractive she becomes. Is there something to be said about ego and karma?
Another perspective may be that the goofballs are actually BEHIND him as he moves FORWARD with the change we do believe in for this country. Those types ALWAYS seem to be many steps behind the times.
So the photo selected was Guv P regally *facing* challenges (complicated, technical and hard decisions; truth, u name it UNTIL SHE QUIT).
And President Obama’s head facing the *other* direction, walking away, leading into the red that is the same color as the red flames that Yosemite Sam faced when sentenced to hell for being an evil (cartoon) character?
With that, I will leave more clever, well-written responses to Freesia and Sir Guestalot, and of course you, JM.
I agree that she looks like she is about to cry and she looks uncertain.
I’m looking forward to recieving my pre-order of The Rogue. I’m wondering if you will give any insight into why Levi Johnston is such a doormat. Felons and child abusers get better visitation deals with their children then he did. Also, one of the big hardships of being a teen parent, single parent, or divorced parent is that you are stuck in whatever hamlet, village or city you currently live in. You can leave the area but you can’t take your kids with you. At least that’s the way it is in California. Like all the hardships of being a single parent, that Bristol hasn’t experience she hasn’t experienced being stuck in Wasilla where the other parent is.
How come she is able to profit off of the kid and he hasn’t been able to turn their child into a moneymaker for him also. I’m one of the trig truthers. To me, it seems more likely than not that Trig did not come from SP’s body. I think Bristol had been pregnant before the spectacular pregnancy that made her famous but I”m not going to commit to saying Bristol is the mother of Trig. If Bristol and Levi were the parents Trig and he Levi was freaked out about having to deal with a downs baby, that could be a reason why he is being a doormat.
“So MSM is trying to seduce her now in order to betray her later, after they’ve used her to improve their bottom lines, just as she’s used them to improve hers.”
This is my thoughts exactly; they want to make money!
Thanks for calling it like it is. The MSM props up Palin because when the make her news, they get eyeballs on the screen, clicks to their website and that means ad revenue. That’s why HuffPo, Politico, Weigel slam Trig Truthers, they’re not ready to kill their milk cow. It’s despicable.
Well Joe, The New Republic and Christian Dominionists mentioned in the same post. That’s a good start. What, no mention of Marty Peretz? No connecting the dots? Yeah Joe, I realize it’s one thing to take on the pig ignorant End Times rubes and their what amounts to chump change collection plates. I have no doubt you are well aware of who are the recipients of a significant percentage of that collection plate money.
Hint for your readers; it’s going to organizations in a wealthy, nuclear armed nation who is pushing the the US to go to war with Iran. A nation of seven million people that receives three billion dollars a year in US foreign aid, more than all of sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean combined.
I realize full well what you would be up against by “following the money”. What have got to lose? Your’e already a wealthy man, almost seventy years old. You’re ancestors came from a country that was colonized, systematically starved and ethnically cleansed. Great Grandpa Mcginnis and his home boys who were victims of the Scot and Irish Nakba would be very proud of young Joe.
Mr. McGinnis, Andrew Sullivan just put up a new blog post “The Tragicomedy of Sarah Palin” linking to your blog post about that illustration by Robert Hunt and he then proceeds to totally dismantle with spot on accuracy the Josh Green article.
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/05/the-comedy-of-sarah-palin.html
Joe– Forgive this digression, but I just read your 1989 epilogue to Fatal Vision. Many years ago I read Fatal Vision, and I also read the Janet Malcolm article in the New Yorker. I’m sorry to say that when Malcolm’s article appeared, I was such a New Yorker fan I believed her every word. Reading your revision of that history is enlightening– not just about your book but about the subconscious weaknesses of journalists in their coverage of Sarah Palin. A brilliant therapist of mine once told me that my father could be a monster pedophile the way O J Simpson could murder: that the most heinous crimes are often committed unwittingly (!) by subconscious forces of rage and cruelty. And that these forces can run rampant because the person wielding them hasn’t the courage to face the truth of his/her own past. In other words, a murderer kills because of cruelty done to him as a child and because he can’t bear to face the horror of those childhood evils. And furthermore, a male journalist can glorify a lying, cheating politician because of his own feelings about his mother. I know this sounds simplistic, but I had to write to tell you that because of your Fatal Vision epilogue I’ll never read another Janet Malcolm article (although she did end up copying you in her most recent book! Ah, more proof that she’s prenaturally obsessed with cruel con artists! uummmm. Malcolm’s mom or dad?) AND I’ll continue to assume any coverage of Sarah Palin by a man to be suspect until proven otherwise. You know better than most how attractive con artists are. But most people are conned, which is the whole point. Each of us by our weaknesses is damned unless we’ve fought hard and long — like you did with MacDonald — to face the truth.
“Science flies us to the moon, religion flies us into buildings”
Richard Dawkins
In addition, religion motivates End Times rubes like Palin and her Rapture Ready compatriots to send millions to organizations that are demolishing homes and bulldozing olive groves so that wealthy Americans can build housing estates on land given to them by their imaginary Bronze Age Sky God. Yes Marty Peretz and company may find Sarah distasteful; useful nonetheless, after all business is business.
Exodus 23:30 through Exodus 23:33
By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land. 31And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee. 32Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. 33They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.
Yeah it’s one thing to write a book about End Times Palin, quite another to address the larger picture and take on the crew that’s pulling her chain and that Star of David around her neck. Just ask Oliver Stone, better yet ask Noam Chomsky or Norm Finkelstein. Maybe you’ve already written about this in your book. If not, since you’re still working on the last chapter there is still time.
Joe, I agree that Robert Hunt is one of the best illustrators out there. So good, in fact, that he can make paint and brushes do whatever he wants. “The New Republic” may have wanted to portray the President as turning his back on problems, but what Hunter gave them was a dynamic, skillfully executed piece of work, dramatic in its simplicity. When I first saw “The Atlantic” cover, though, my first thought was, Whoa! Whoever painted that sure didn’t do Palin any favors–dull colors, dowdy middle-aged woman looking like she’d just come in from slopping the hogs and climbed into her Sunday best to get her pitcher took.
Can’t say this was the effect “The Atlantic” was aiming for, but it is the one Hunt created. Like you said, he is one of the most extraordinary illustrators of our time. Just gotta love the guy.
Another well thought out post Joe! The last picture of our President is stunning! And Sarah looks like she has jowls. She should be flattered that they corrected that wonky eye of hers which is very distracting.
Page
I think she looks embarrassed, humiliated, defeated and forlorn.
Well, that isn’t the Sarah they think they know, huh? If just once she could apologize for a slur, admit a lie, or congratulate the real President for a job well done, I might think she had a working brain and a soul. As it is, not so much, and that is why she will never be elected.
After reading Janet Malcolm’s mauldin review of the fake reality series called “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” in the New York Review of Books no less, I gave up on the so-called liberal and quasi-intellectual magazine journalists today. None of them, the writer of the current Atlantic Monthly article included, have ever done the real research that is needed to be done about Sarah Palin. From New Yorker articles over the past several years to this month’s Atlantic Monthly – by way of several articles in the NYRB, not just the Malcolm one – these writers seem to be so smitten with the fact that Sarah Palin comes from Alaska that they give her a free pass. I’ll bet that none of them ever read any of the blogs that have been scrutinizing and examining Sarah Palin since she became a national celebrity as the Republican vice presidential nominee. These blogs are the best sources for learning about the real Sarah Palin: Mudflats, Palingates, Immoral Minority and now Politicalgates. Please keep plugging away, Mr. McGinniss, you’ve joined a valuable circle of excellent investigative journalists even if they don’t get published in major magazines.
And I will just add that Andrew is spot on with his “….sending much fatter checks to Alaskans…” line. When those $1,200 checks came out, they were universally referred to as “Sarah checks.” I was utterly bamboozled to hear a couple young moms talking and one said to the other, “Did you get your check from Sarah yet?”
That’s what she wanted: everyone to see that extra $1,200 as coming straight from her to them. And that is exactly how it was perceived – all across the State.
No wonder we called her the Hugo Chavez of the North. All she needed was 60 spineless Alaska State Legislators (or, in SarahSpeak: legislaTORs) and our hapless little State happily complied and served up spinelessness for her checks, AGIA and ACES (well, with Ralph Samuels as the exception).
Because – and this has been rarely if ever reported nationally, she said if the Legislature didn’t pass what she wanted, she would personally go to their districts and campaign against them the next time they were up for reelection. That was clearly a frightening thought for many of them since her poll numbers were so high. And why were her poll numbers so high? In large part because the ADN printed huge flattering pictures of her above the fold day after day after day. It was like People Magazine had taken over the Anchorage Daily News. They showed her in all her fresh-faced beauty, her numbers sky-rocketed – because when you have a population that is more compelled with an attractive image than with words, that’s what can happen. Her numbers were astronomical because her pretty pictures were everywhere and this made the Legislature shrink back in terror of ticking her off. When she said she’d go campaign for their opponents – she was talking more to Republicans than Democrats since she was governing as a progressive Democrat. She was the toast of Les Gara and Hollis French – our two most liberal elected state wide officials. And why? Because then the liberal (it’s actually more confused than liberal) ADN and the soulless KTUU (largest tv station in the State) would grant her one more huge, glorious picture above the fold, or showcase Bill (I’ll-Smack-You-If-I-Ever-See-You) McAllister slobbering over her in a leading interview from the 3rd floor of the State Capitol.
This is what happens when the press doesn’t do it’s job.
Thank you, Joshua Green. If you ever leave the Atlantic, I’m sure the Anchorage Daily News could find a position for you here.
A truly great painter/artist/illustrator sees and paints the soul of the subject. $arah’s soul is so dark, he could only used shades of the deepest black. Where’s the venom? Where’s the racism? Where’s the lying? Where’s the religious fanaticism? Etc, etc, etc.
No, he is not great at his trade.
Don’t think he is a great artist by any stretch of the imagination.
While I loathe Sarah Palin, I am not a great fan of President Obama. But I do give him credit when credit is due him. I would have prefered a side view, and not with the flames of hell in the background.
The article was bosh. As far as the portrait, why bother when so many of her photographs show her as she is. I’m not talking her charming photos. But ones like her moving logs in her crazy reality show. She can’t use a stick shift, but she is determined to get those logs in line. And the scowling intensity is more the Sarah I think is real than the practiced and charming social smiles of the con woman she is in life.
“MSM continues to roll out the red carpet for her, because MSM wants her to run against Obama next year.”
“Frankly, they deserve each other, and may the worse whore lose.”
The MSM’s game is getting more painfully obvious to me every day. I’d been marginally informed for past presidential elections. In 2008, I had the time to watch media coverage non-stop while also doing my own research on the web. The polls seemed to determine the MSM (except Fox) coverage with the intent of manipulating the race to keep it close and exciting. If Obama started getting too far ahead, he got negative coverage and McCain’s was predominantly positive until the lead switched. It was infuriating. I wanted facts, not bullshit spin. I was shocked when Keith Olbermann announced he’s donate to Sarah to get her to run in 2012 because she was so much fun to cover.
To me, Palin represents the ultimate failure of our system. I’ve hoped she’d be exposed, once and for all, and go down in flames with everyone who had propped her up. She’s just flashy enough that a hard fall might get the general public’s attention and wake us up.
Joe, You’re doing your part magnificently, along with a select few. Thank you. May the good guys and the truth win!
YES!
She looks like it just hit her like a ton of bricks that she has to spend the next 4 years living a thousand miles away from the nearest moose.
The artist’s version of Sarah Palin is just one more fantasy. She has never been, never will be, the political leader – or even religious or cultural leader – that her supporters have described and apparently believed her to be. She was a less benign Peter Sellers in “Being There” whose narcissistic needs for attention, approval and adulation was the plug ready for the juice.