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April 26, 2011

“Hit and Run” on the Liberals – The 2012 Model

What are we supposed to think about this illustration, coming from a city powered by Wall Street, as we careen into another election season with the central tenants of the New Deal seemingly stacked at the stop light?

The copy underneath the car, by the way, reads:

‘Sadly the grifter/quitter said it best: “How’s that hopey-changey thing working out for ya?  – Commenter on Paul Krugsman’s blog’

I’m wondering, particularly with liberalism actually pumping the gas pedal this winter in response to ultra-conservative overreach in the House and the State Houses, if what we’re seeing here is an all too heavy-handed sales attempt to minimize the liberal movement and consign it to the the junk yard (or at least, the design museum) before the formal start of the new model year.

If this cover rolls out-of-the-garage an easily consumable meme that liberalism is nothing but a nostalgic phase America went through in the sixties, the idea is equally valid that liberalism opens up the path (just like the Beetle did, and has) to a trimmer, more practical and more spirited way to go.

(credits: Design Director: Chris Dixon. Art Director: Randy Minor)

  • Enoch Root

    They dare not use a more apt automotive metaphor: The Chevy Volt.

    Instead, they have to reach back to the ’60s in order to mock the people who got everything right since then.

  • Chezlarsen

    Hippie punching is now one of the favorite pastimes for those who can only blame others for the problems that they are too busy or bored with to fix themselves.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_4H4ECFCER4ZBN2AWN44UOBDY4U Jay

    The VW was a simple cheap economical car that an ordinary person could fix. We turned away from that whole way of life at the end of the 70’s and entered the fantasy world of an Alzheimer patient, and his warmongering thieving friends. Have we done so much better?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jeffrey-Goldfarb/34603203 Jeffrey Goldfarb

    This is a striking juxtaposition of image and text, although I think its mistaken. We are in the process of again moving center left from center right. Obama is achieving his goal. http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/2011/04/left-right-and-the-creative-center-understanding-the-political-landscape-in-the-age-of-obama/

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Mokray/767686527 George Mokray

    The bleached out background reminds me of the beached businessman magazine cover from last week. Volkswagen has redesigned the old Beetle for the 21st century and coming out with a new version next year I’ve read.

    The VW Bug was a classic. Laughed at originally and then iconic. Are we back to Red meaning Commie Libsymp instead of rock-ribbed Republican?

    The flat tire is a nice touch.

  • jonst

    “…, if what we’re seeing here is an all too heavy-handed sales attempt to minimize the liberal movement and consign it to the the junk.”

    I don’t think we need worry about a magazine doing this….Obama and most Dems in Congress are doing a good enough job on their own discrediting liberalism.

  • black dog barking

    Liberalism, in the form of the People’s Car, is a foreign idea, a crazy practical foreign idea. Fuel efficient, economical, air-cooled, gets the job done. That flat is easy to fix. Change it.

  • black dog barking

    Back in the day when Beetles ruled the earth doctors made house calls, there were jobs that paid a living wage, you could pay for college with a summer job. To echo the former half-term Governor of Alaska: How’s that “let’s run health care like a business” working out for ya?

    William Carlos Williams on red wheeled vehicles as objects:

    so much depends
    upon

    a red wheel
    barrow

    glazed with rain
    water

    beside the white
    chickens.

  • Glen

    The quote is actually emblematic of the dishonesty of the press. When the grifter said that, it was right when ACA was passing. It was actually a time of achievement for liberals. The grifter exhorted her followers to confront liberals with that question in order to rub their noses in the supposed failure of Health Care Reform. (which in itself is worth commenting on – why would we want a leader who deliberately incites confrontation between Americans?)

    Only problem is, between her first utterance of the phrase and her repetitions of it, the act passed. So the logical answer to that question at the time was – Pretty well, thanks.”