Absentee Ballot Request Form Seems to Compare the Democratic Presidential Nominee to Ahmadinijead, Kim Jong-Il, Putin, Chavez
'America Must Look Evil in the Eye' Printed Over Photo of Eyes Some Believe to be Obama's...
By Brad Friedman on 10/15/2008, 10:03am PT  

Last week we reported that voters in one New York county were receiving absentee ballots with "Barack OSAMA" listed as the Democratic Presidential candidate running against John McCain. This week, the beat goes on in Virginia, but in this case, it's not a typo (as the officials in NY claimed about their "Osama" ballots.)

The Republican Party of Virginia has sent absentee ballot request mailers to voters in the state, seeming to compare Barack Obama to Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinijead, North Korea's Kim Jong-Il, Russia's Vladimir Putin, and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.

"In today's dangerous world, appeasement is not a foreign policy," declares the outside of the mailer from the Republican Party of Virginia, followed by photographs of the four leaders and the text "America must face the threat of terror head-on" on the inside.

On the back of the envelope used to send in the voter's absentee ballot request is a photo of what some Virginia voters, understandably, believe to be Obama's eyes, with the words "America must look evil in the eye and never flinch."

The complete mailer, with more of the pages and images than we show below, can be downloaded here as a PDF.

Decide for yourself, and note the additional graphic, now added as an update, comparing Osama to Obama (and calling for the latter to be waterboarded) as found on the Sacramento County, CA Republican Party's website...

Outside envelope...

Inside the mailer...

Back of the return envelope, as paid for by the Republican Party of Virginia...

UPDATE: Some readers have written to suggest the eyes in the photo are not Barack Obama's but those of Osama bin Laden. You decide. We've changed the text above to reflect the possibility. We'd agree with commenter "bvac" who notes "I suspect that was intential on their part." Indeed, though the country's of the other leaders and dictators mentioned are named, neither Osama nor Obama are referred to directly in the mailer.

Along the same lines as the mailer above --- if, um, a bit less subtle --- comes the following graphic, as posted on the Sacramento County, CA Republican Party website, before they were forced to remove it, according to Sacramento Bee. (Hat-tip "Blue Texan" at firedoglake)...

A screengrab of the page, which included some other interesting graphics is right here.

Classy folks.

Though they've removed the graphic above, the Sacramento GOP site still features a phony e-mail about Obama and flag pins on it's front page, according to RAW STORY.

FURTHER UPDATE: "Jazz From Hell" picks up on this report, and notes, in part:

The back of the envelope features a pic (above the words "AMERICA MUST LOOK EVIL / IN THE EYE / AND NEVER FLINCH") that Brad says is Obama, which ties in with the reference to the "Democrats who want to control Washington" line inside the mailer, and would also be a natural deduction given the mailer's design color... brown, like Obama's skin such as in this photo.

However, that's not Obama. It's Osama bin Laden. Notice how the original photo has been tinted a la the infamous O.J. Simpson photo on the cover of Time.

I showed the image to a colleague of mine who also thought it was Obama at first, no doubt overtly influenced by the sepia tint. By his and Brad's--and surely the intended recipients'--erroneous IDs, a subconscious connection is made, which is exactly what is intended.

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Article Categories: Virginia, Election 2008, Barack Obama, John McCain, Republicans