So, a few thousand weeks late to the saga, Entertainment Weekly satirizes The New Yorker's controversial (or at least labeled as such) Obama fist-bump cover, with Mr. Stephen Colbert playing Michelle and Mr. Jon Stewart playing Barack. That EW opted for the very talented, but most over-exposed pair of political pundits shows exactly how relevant the cover story really is. Read: Everything has already been done. Perfect timing, then, to bring up New Yorker editor David Remnick's thoughts on what his magazine accomplished, or didn't, in running Barry Blitt's cover:

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"Frat brother" and "avid hunter" Clay Aiken's coming out surprised only two groups of people: His alarmingly proactive fleet of obsessive fans known as Claymates, and those who knew him best from his days of pussy prowling in his youth.

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Hahahaha — this New Yorker-Obama story isn't going anywheres! But at least we're getting to the fun part. You know, where the attention to David Remnick's defense begins to slide and the amusing satires of the magazine's own satire begin. We already brought you one spin-off, with yesterday's National Review parody. So how about an alternative to The New Yorker's own cover?

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So here's the takeaway from this New Yorker/Obama scandal: The magazine meant the cover as satire; no media outlet that expresses an opinion can take every viewpoint into consideration; not everybody is going to get it, and that was sort of the point; and yes, the right-wing is going to have a field day with this.

Also: The actual 14,500-word article "Making It" that the cover was illustrating, written by the magazine's Ryan Lizza, is getting zero attention.

Even when Lizza dropped by Hardball.

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God bless David Remnick. Were it not for his New Yorker cover this week, and his insistence that its depiction — of Barack Obama as a radical Muslim giving wifey Michelle a good old fashioned fist bump while, for extra effect, an American flag burns beneath the mantle, where Osama bin Laden watches over — the cable news talking heads might have to devote another five days of punditry to the economy, or bother touching on the near collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But now Chris Matthews, Bill O'Reilly, and Lou Dobbs can wrap their heads around this glaring symbol of ANTI-AMERICANISM!

And while we all debate over whether this cover is a depiction of the Obama mythology and scare tactics perpetrated by the right wing — Barack is an Islamic radical! Michelle hates America! — we're nearly certain zero attention will be paid to the footwear that illustrator Barry Blitt chose to deck the couple out in. Michelle dons a pair of military boots to match her army fatigues, and Barack sports the sandals any Muslim in traditional garb would be wearing. And they're both stamping upon the eagle that represents all that is free and good and whole of this country. Burn them at the stake!

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It's hard to tell where the parody of morning shows like Today and Good Morning America ends and the parody of Nancy Grace begins. But so long as you spend your tax rebate cheque at Home Depot and start stimulating this here economy, does it really matter?