This morning, Terry Gross started off her show by talking about the recent New Yorker cover that’s caused quite a bit of hue and cry. To get the discussion going, she read quotes from reviewers on either side of the debate, including one that wondered “how the joke play out in middle America.”

Hang on for a minute while I reconfigure my mental image of Mr. and Mrs. Middle America. Apparently they’re too unsophisticated to be included in the discussion about whether or not this was successful satire.