My sister-in-law sent me a copy of this ad, which she saw in the Ventura County Star, asking: "Is our economy really THIS bad that people have to buy 99-cent items on layaway?" Lest you think this is photoshopped, you can click on the above picture for the full flier, which was distributed in California, Arizona, and Nevada.

The online world is abuzz over the above Amazon search result for "terrorist costume", with outraged readers of the LA Times Blog vowing never to shop at Amazon again. Despite being an Obama supporter, I was just amused, since I know how easily computer programs can make offensive recommendations. See these prior posts to this blog:

• More bad automated recommendations [bad ads]
• Bad recommendations [MLK edition]
• McCain Zombie Freeze Frame [Google "related search" suggestion]

See also the classic Wall Street Journal article If TiVo Thinks You Are Gay, Here's How to Set It Straight.

I assume the Amazon search results came from how users tagged the Obama mask. I predict Amazon product tagging will be the new Google bombing.

Reported by Sean Quinn at election site FiveThirtyEight.com:

So a canvasser goes to a woman's door in Washington, Pennsylvania. Knocks. Woman answers. Knocker asks who she's planning to vote for. She isn't sure, has to ask her husband who she's voting for. Husband is off in another room watching some game. Canvasser hears him yell back, "We're votin' for the n***er!"

Woman turns back to canvasser, and says brightly and matter of factly: "We're voting for the n***er."

Apparently, the economy and other concerns are trumping racism.

This reminds me of the 1991 Louisiana bumper sticker: Vote for the Crook. It's Important.

From Salon:

A California Republican group's latest newsletter shows Barack Obama on a $10 food stamp. The picture shows Obama eating fried chicken, watermelon and ribs, an image that harks back to old derogatory stereotypes about African-Americans.

Diane Fedele, the president of the responsible organization, Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated, says the image was distributed without any racist intent. "I never connected," she told a local newspaper. "It was just food to me. It didn't mean anything else."

The press secretary for the state Republican Party has denounced the use of the image, the Associated Press reports, and has also pointed out that the group is a volunteer organization not directly responsible to the party.

Fedele has apologized "to anyone who was offended."

This is a real photo of Barack Obama and John McCain at the end of the 3rd presidential debate. You can verify this by going to 1:29:58 in the C-SPAN debate video.

Caption, anyone?

Update

Here's a real search screenshot from Google:

Here is a photoshopped picture found at AMERICAblog:

And here are some from Democratic Underground:

Source: fubar at Needlenose