"The latter doesn't humiliate anything but the inanimate object..."

Well call me an inanimate object for being upset then!  For being reminded that my gender's body parts are an object of "fun" - at a moment's notice! - for guys!  And for some reason not liking that.

Also I love how people make arguments defending sexist actions by pretending Bill's administration was 8 years of nonstop sexism.  

But this isn't a campaign and we are talking serious, high-stakes politics. Hillary Rodham Clinton is not an electoral adversary, nor is she just another senator. By virtue of her appointment as Secretary of State, she is the representative of the United States to the world. She embodies American policy and reliability to other sovereign nations. To allow this image of her being treated with disrespect by a close associate of the president, someone who appears to be on track as a member of the administration, says two things to the nations and diplomats she will engage:

Go ahead, piss on her. We do.
We don't respect you enough to send someone we respect to treat with you.

This is an absurd argument even if it she had worked for Clinton after the Lewinsky scandal broke.  

I believe context and intent has a lot do with things as well.

Someone may have to complain about it first, but I would guess that at least one person in the government would be offended by this.

I mean seriously. Some real WTF?? moments.

kdog has shown a little bit of stamina here, and a guy named OldCity on an earlier thread who brings cluelessness to another-planet level...but neither are like a couple of the guys on SS.

THE VICTIM TRAIN.

...

This is a picture of Favreau, probably drunk, acting a fool at a gathering of his friends. Has Myers ever laughed at a racist joke? A sexist joke? Watched the movie Blazing Saddles? Enjoyed the comedy stylings of Eddie Murphy or Richard Pryor? Did something she regretted after having one drink too many? I know I have. In fact I don't know anyone who hasn't. Myers is proposing a level of scrutiny -- that private jokes between friends should be evaluated as professional conduct -- that no one in public life would survive. For the most part, liberals have spent the last ten years arguing that people's private lives are just that -- in large part because of the behavior of a former president that Myers used to work for. In going after Jon Favreau, Myers has essentially laid out the argument for impeaching Bill Clinton.

But say that Favreau had been caught in a picture making a racist joke about Obama rather than a sexist joke about Hillary Clinton. In all likelihood, Obama would have either got angry, or laughed it off, but I doubt Favreau would have been fired, because Obama really hasn't shown a tendency to react particularly emotionally to racial slights. If he had, he wouldn't be where he is.

--A. Serwer

And frankly, that's all he is doing.  He really isn't making any intelligent point about the nature of jokes.  And his comment about Dee Dee Myers is simply irrelevant.  I am amazed at what junk some of these pundits produce.

One of the aspects that most disturbs me is that it's two guys, together.  They are both making abusive gestures at the cutout.  Sorry, that carries too much of an aura of gangbang to me.

Having come recently from college and hearing stories of gangbangs done to less than willing or blacked out or nearly unconscious students by their peers, I think the symbolism is real and suggestive.  Not saying these two guys would necessarily hurt someone; but endorsing symbols of that is disturbing.

But,

These are the folks who gave us:

1. "She's a monster"
   
2. Rev. Wright, "love him forever, throw'em under the bus."
   
3. Blood libel, "Clintons are racists."
   
4. Never once spoke up as legions begged him to put an end to his worshippers' disgusting misogyny.
   
5. Seniors? Who needs'em?
   
6. Working class? Who needs'em

At the time, Power said Obama "made it absolutely clear that we just couldn't make comments like this in his campaign."
link

Obviously, Jon Favreau never got that message.

Anyway, Smantha is back with Obama on the transition team...

As one of the fourteen foreign policy experts who will focus on the State Department, Power will help the incoming administration prepare for Clinton's nomination as secretary of state, expected to be announced today.

Wracking my brain here.

However, it's important for people to keep a little perspective on this. Plainly stated, there haven't been any stonings at my local Wal-Mart today for women going out without a male escort. Last time I checked, I have the freedom to learn in the same building as my male classmates. Does that mean that the fight against sexism is over and I should be satisfied with just slight denigrations towards my gender? Of course not. But I'm not going to foam at the mouth over it either. Just as I didn't foam at the mouth at Rush Limbaugh's "Barack the Magic Negro" song (in that situation, I just continue my plans for the biggest celebration ever when he finally dies of a heart attack). The reason why is the same reason why it was a bit unfortunate when Paris Hilton went to jail and the entire country acted like it was the second coming of Jesus. That the guy was caught doing inappropriate things to a cardboard cutout of one of his female co-workers is terrible, but the fact that members of Congress today were on TV raking the Treasusy department over the coals because they, essentially, don't know where the $350 billion that was supposed to be used to increase lending has gone should give people a little bit more pause.

There's a weird (to me) strain of people who seen to think that public pillory and humiliation will teach the man a lesson.  I disagree.  I think that such action will further entrench his attitudes (if he really has them) or, if this was an aberration, really engender vindictiveness.

I think the far more productive route is to counsel him, require apology, and then monitor future behavior.  Rehabilitation is far more effective in a case like this than zero-sum punishment.  

One of the things that made me sick about John Edwards running for president when he had to know his cheesy affair would go public is that he failed to learn from what happened to Bill Clinton.  Before  that time there was a reasonable expectation that the media and political enemies would leave that sort of thing alone because they always had.  So you can almost forgive Bill's stupid behavior.  However Edwards had no such expectation and IMO, no right to threaten the party with a run that was all about his ego and sense of entitlement (I think there is a good chance that Obama is going to be judged the same when all is said and done).  
So my point is that, there is no time left for dialogues and understanding.  My favorite West Wing character, Toby once said of the Middle East Terror states that "they will like us when we win".  In other words, someone may be too stupid or too stubborn to understand why should I give a flying freep?  All I care about is do they get smacked hard enough to stop doing it?

Personally I will think of this graphic every time Obama opens his mouth to make a speech and I intend to photoshop a lot when there are pictures of him speaking.... cutting in clips of this pic and tying them to his public appearances.  Maybe if enough of us do it Obama will learn there are consequences for the choices he makes and this dumb*ss frat boy will learn too.