How funny and brilliant the joke is if no one really gets it? Oh we and the New Yorker writers may chuckle and lavish in our narcissistic irony and intellectual superiority over the masses...
Yes, in essence, this is correct. Satire is different from propaganda (though many may mistake it
for propaganda) in that it's created by and
for those who lie outside of the sphere involved. It's a cultural product, a form of intellectual humour, however much it strokes one's ego. However,
...but this election is just too important right now this stuff.
Yes. I hadn't thought of it that way before, because, I must confess, I don't know the consequences; I didn't even know Bush could run for another term, and I've never heard of "polls going dead".
The magazine involved
is aware of who it writes for, who reads it, and must have been aware of the feathers this would ruffle at this particular time. Your concern is a genuine and valid one.
It seems more badly-judged (or -
timed, the two may mean the same thing) than "tasteless", though.
