Here’s an attempt by The Nation to hit back at the infamous New Yorker satire cover:

It doesn’t hold a candle to the original.

First of all, it isn’t funny. The burning U.S. Constitution in the fireplace is offensive, but it’s still a comic dud.

Second, what this picture does not do–as the New Yorker cover at least tried to do–is satirize the smear campaign against the featured candidates.

There’s at least half a dozen lies and smears missing–I mean, shouldn’t there be a state trooper head mounted on the wall, too? Or a view of the Bridge to Nowhere out the window? Or a few paid-for rape kits lying around? Or evidence of a recent McCain temper tantrum? I mean, what does it take to get some satire here?

But satire’s not the point. This is what the left really thinks about John McCain and Sarah Palin. It’s a cover meant to inspire fear and revulsion.

And that’s what is actually funny about it.

This is what readers of The Nation are actually scared of: guns, the Ten Commandments, drilling, hunting, military service and the American flag.