On Monday, February 23, the Associated Press released a photo by Frank Augstein (see below) featuring a flying "Angel" President Barack Obama hovering over a carnival float in Duesseldorf, Germany.
Evidently, reporter Joan Lowy, whose hit piece blasted us for selling our Obama Waffles with the allegedly racial stereotypes of "popping eyes and big, thick lips" is mum on the parade. If you want to talk about "thick lips" this float takes the cake—and what about that big cheesy, Sambo grin? . . . how about those ears, no exaggeration there, eh Joan?
Maybe the real issue is that, according to progressives on the left, it's okay to use political satire when Obama is swooping down to save the world (notice how he's pulling Europe along for the ride) but not when the political satire points out Obama's waffling on the issues.
Yesterday Mark and I were on ABC’s The View . . . well, technically speaking, we weren’t. Had we been invited, we would have gladly sat down for coffee to talk about the creation of Obama Waffles.
Rather than speak with us directly, Whoopi, Joy, Sherri, and Elisabeth decided to turn up the heat on our Obama Waffles for the better part of two segments. That's fine. They have the right to air their opinions.
Here’s the problem. In the process, they butchered the truth. After Whoopi set-up the segment, Joy asked, “Who did this? Dobson’s Family Counsel?”
Whoopie: “Yeah, yeah.”
Sherri: “American Values and Focus on—they were one of the co-sponsors.”
Whoopie: “Right . . .”
Wrong-o, Whoopie. We created Obama Waffles. Our political satire has nothing to do with the folks at American Values or Focus on the Family. To be redundant, while both groups were co-sponsors of the event, they didn't cook up these waffles. And yet The View left millions of viewers with the distinct impression that these organizations were somehow responsible. That ain't right.
You can watch The View's heated discussion on 9/18/09 below.
Anyone with a sense of humor should find the Obama Waffles packaging amusing, but some people are too serious.
We re-blog what she wrote. (You can read the original here.)
Mark Whitlock and Bob DeMoss were attempting to lighten the mood in politics by selling “Obama Waffles” at the Value Voters Summit. But they were
asked to leave the conservative political forum, after protesters found
the waffles' box racist.
Click Thumbnails for Larger Images
The product, Obama Waffles, was meant as politicay satire,
said Mark Whitlock and Bob DeMoss, two writers from Franklin, Tenn.,
who created the mix. The Obama Waffles were sold for $10 a box from a booth at the Values Voter Summit sponsored by the lobbying arm of the Family Research Council.
Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney were both speakers at the forum, which drew about 2,100 activists from 44 states.
On the Obama Waffles box, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was pictured in a Muslim turban and says “Point box toward Mecca for tastier waffles.” Three protesters from American Atheists apparently found the packaging offensive.
DeMoss, who helped create the product, said that some people had been offended by the top of the box, showing Obama in a turban. But that it was meant as political satire.
“Does he have Muslim roots or not?
That’s a legitimate question. That might offend somebody, but you know
what, that’s part of the political satire
and we’re raising the question,” DeMoss of of Franklin, Tennessee said.
“I’m not questioning where his soul is today, he denies he has any
Muslim roots at all. There seems to be contrary evidence to that.”
There’s no way we could possibly address the parade of half-truths and outright lies being reported as fact over what happened in Washington, D.C. at the Values Voter Summit. The latest lie served up by unreliable sources claims that “a lobbying arm of Focus on the Family rented a booth to sell Obama Waffles.”
That claim is patently false.
For those who still cherish the truth, our little company, West Wing Waffles LLC, is not a “lobbying arm” of Focus on the Family. Nor was that organization involved in the approval process or selection of the many vendors at the event. West Wing Waffles was solely responsible for renting the booth. End of story.
Unfortunately, there are some who delight in manufacturing and peddling falsehoods to advance their own agenda.
We haven't seen this many people eating waffles since a late-night visit to a Waffle House on the highway.
Here's a list of the media that stopped by while we whipped up waffles at the Values Voters Summit in Washington, DC.
A radio journalist from WFSI/WGBR/WBMD talked with us about satire's role in a political campaign.
Carrie Devorah, a world-renowned photojounalist, spent about 20 minutes in our booth photographing our product, our displays, and our customers (and our mug shots). Her photographs will be distributed to all of the wire services and news agencies. She is a delightful professional with a story and a smile for every click. We're waiting to see her work in the same way we used to wait on a Polaroid. She's promised us a few frames from her "session" with us.
A dream came true for me when I was interviewed for BBC. Jane Little, host of BBC's "Women's Hour Sunday", brought her digital recording rig by our booth. I was impressed by her preparation and demeanor. She asked a different grade of question prying underneath the initial chuckle. She was smooth.
Finally, a harried reporter for the Los Angeles Times was nearly running down the aisle when our booth stopped him cold. He bought a box with a smile on his face and headed off again.
The Fourth Estate and all of her cousins came by the booth yesterday at the Values Voters Summit. We've only just begun blogging our impressions of these media professionals and their journalistic efforts.
The American News Project came by and filmed a piece and posted it to the internet last night.
Every producer must make decisions about what to leave in and what to leave out. Watch the video and then read below about their final question and answer—the one still on a computer somewhere but not on the internet.
They asked us, "Are you saying that Obama only waffles? What's an issue Obama hasn't waffled on?"
Bob responded: "One issue Obama hasn't waffled on is infanticide—taking the life of a new born baby who has survived an abortion. Three times as a Illinois state senator, Obama refused to pass legislation known as the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. On that issue, he has never waffled."
White House Reporter Jon Ward came by for an interview. After I picked myself off the floor and closed Bob's mouth, he asked us insightful questions about the role of satire in a political campaign. We can't wait to see what he writes.
Meanwhile, check out his writing from the Values Voters Forum.
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