RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Halloween-themed graphic featuring a zombie President Barack Obama with a bullet hole in his forehead provoked widespread outrage and the attention of the Secret Service Monday after a local Republican committee in Virginia used it to scare up interest in Halloween parade political activities.
The montage, a banner on a mass email to Loudoun Republicans, mingles seasonal images including a jack-o-lantern, a disfigured U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi and a throng of flesh-hungry zombie Obama supporters.
The posterized image of a rotting, undead Obama with a bleeding, large-caliber hole an inch above his right eye prompted Democrats to cry foul and Virginia's Republican governor to denounce it as "shameful and offensive."
"This is a disgusting and violent portrayal of the president of the United States," said Democratic Party of Virginia spokesman Brian Coy.
Gov. Bob McDonnell, through spokesman J. Tucker Martin, called on the Loudoun GOP to "apologize for their actions, and to immediately ensure that such imagery is never used again."
Virginia GOP Chairman Pat Mullins said such an image "has no place in our politics. Ever."
Loudoun County GOP chairman Mark Sell said in an email response to The Associated Press that the graphic was "a light-hearted attempt to inject satire humor into the Halloween holiday."
The montage, a banner on a mass email to Loudoun Republicans, mingles seasonal images including a jack-o-lantern, a disfigured U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi and a throng of flesh-hungry zombie Obama supporters.
The posterized image of a rotting, undead Obama with a bleeding, large-caliber hole an inch above his right eye prompted Democrats to cry foul and Virginia's Republican governor to denounce it as "shameful and offensive."
"This is a disgusting and violent portrayal of the president of the United States," said Democratic Party of Virginia spokesman Brian Coy.
Gov. Bob McDonnell, through spokesman J. Tucker Martin, called on the Loudoun GOP to "apologize for their actions, and to immediately ensure that such imagery is never used again."
Virginia GOP Chairman Pat Mullins said such an image "has no place in our politics. Ever."
Loudoun County GOP chairman Mark Sell said in an email response to The Associated Press that the graphic was "a light-hearted attempt to inject satire humor into the Halloween holiday."
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