THE WEEK IN EDITORIAL CARTOONS
This weekly diary takes a look at the past week's important news stories from the perspective of our leading editorial cartoonists (including a few foreign ones) with analysis and commentary added in by me.
When evaluating a cartoon, ask yourself these questions:
- Does a cartoon add to my existing knowledge and help crystallize my thinking about the issue depicted?
- Does the cartoonist have any obvious biases that distort reality?
- Is the cartoonist reflecting prevailing public opinion or trying to shape it?
The answers will help determine the effectiveness of the cartoonist's message.
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More-On Tours: Call Your Local GOP Travel Agent for Details
Jeff Danziger, Creators and Writers Syndicate
1. CARTOONS OF THE WEEK
David Horsey, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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What is the Republican fascination with Barack Obama's place of birth? Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Eugene Robinson is completely puzzled by it
If there's been a more clinically insane political phenomenon in my lifetime than the "birthers," I've missed it. Is this what our national discourse has come to? Sheer paranoid fantasy?
These would be people who also believe that Stanley Kubrick's comic masterpiece, "Dr. Strangelove," was actually a documentary -- and that Obama's ultimate aim, as cleverly deduced by Gen. Jack D. Ripper, is to "sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."
There are probably people out there who think the world is flat, and they're not worth writing about. The "birthers" wouldn't be, either, unless you believe a poll released last week by Research 2000 revealing that an astounding 28 percent of Republicans actually think that Obama was not born in the United States and a separate 30 percent are "not sure." GOP officials need to order more tinfoil.
The survey, commissioned by the liberal Web site 'Daily Kos,' found that 93 percent of Democrats and 83 percent of independents have no doubt -- duh -- that Obama was born in the United States. That only 42 percent of Republicans are similarly convinced is a fascinating indicator of just how far the Republican Party has drifted from the mainstream.
Ed Stein, United Media
John Sherffius, Boulder Daily Camera
Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader
Mark Streeter, Savannah Morning News
David Horsey, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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2. Mobocracy: Teabaggers, Birthers, and Townhall Mobs
Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle, see reader comments in response to this cartoon in the newspaper
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New York Times columnist Paul Krugman explains the irrational anger at town hall meetings around the country
Norman Rockwell, 'Freedom of Speech'
Note: I added this Rockwell painting based on the comment made by CaptainSunshine down below.
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The Town Hall Mob
There’s a famous Norman Rockwell painting titled "Freedom of Speech," depicting an idealized American town meeting. The painting, part of a series illustrating F.D.R.’s "Four Freedoms," shows an ordinary citizen expressing an unpopular opinion. His neighbors obviously don’t like what he’s saying, but they’re letting him speak his mind.
That’s a far cry from what has been happening at recent town halls, where angry protesters — some of them, with no apparent sense of irony, shouting "This is America!" — have been drowning out, and in some cases threatening, members of Congress trying to talk about health reform.
Some commentators have tried to play down the mob aspect of these scenes, likening the campaign against health reform to the campaign against Social Security privatization back in 2005. But there’s no comparison. I’ve gone through many news reports from 2005, and while anti-privatization activists were sometimes raucous and rude, I can’t find any examples of congressmen shouted down, congressmen hanged in effigy, congressmen surrounded and followed by taunting crowds.
Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press, cartoon submitted by Sandy on Signal, see reader comments in the newspaper
Tom Toles, Washington Post
Matt Davies, New York Journal News
Chris Britt, State Journal-Register (IL)
Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune
Steve Sack, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Jeff Danziger, Creators and Writers Syndicate
Pat Oliphant, Universal Press Syndicate
Stuart Carlson, Universal Press Syndicate
Jack Ohman, Portland Oregonian
Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader
Bill Day, Memphis Commercial Appeal
Tom Toles, Washington Post
Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News
Tony Auth, Philadelphia Inquirer
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3. Healthcare: 'Principled' Blue Dogs
Matt Bors, Idiot Box
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Caroonist Bors asks the following question
Why do self-described fiscal conservatives get in a tizzy over the cost of programs that help their constituents live, but not over the cost of bombing foreigners?
Matt Wuerker, Politico
Bill Sanders, sanderscartoon.blogspot.com
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Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman explores a rather bizarre charge made by Republican thugs against Barack Obama
I AM AS HAPPY as anyone at signs of an economic recovery. But I confess to having mixed feelings about the resurgence of the wing-nut industry.
We now have "The Birthers" manufacturing myths that President Obama was not born in the United States and therefore is serving illegally. They are following the business plan of those earlier entrepreneurs selling the idea that Obama had killed his grandma. Consider the scare-biz Internet scribe who penned the memorable line: "Obama flies to Hawaii to visit his grandmother and just a few days later she winds up dead. Coincidence?"
But now the industry has ratcheted up from accusing Obama of killing his grandma to accusing him of trying to kill your grandma.
The campaign is based on a small provision in the healthcare bill that would allow Medicare to reimburse doctors for time spent consulting with patients about their end-of-life choices.
Stuart Carlson, Universal Press Syndicate
Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader
Steve Sack, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Jeff Danziger, Creators and Writers Syndicate
Ben Sargent, Universal Press Syndicate
Signe Wilkinson, Philadelphia Daily News
Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle
Bill Sanders, sanderscartoon.blogspot.com
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4. Mount Obama and the U.S. Congress
President Barack Obama received a rather unique honor this past week from the Caribbean nation of Antigua. They did say during the 2008 Campaign that he was "The One" after all, didn't they?
Antigua's highest peak renamed 'Mount Obama'
ST JOHN'S, Antigua – Antigua's highest mountain officially became "Mount Obama" on Tuesday as the small Caribbean nation celebrated the American president on his birthday and saluted him as a symbol of black achievement.
Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer presided over the re-christening ceremony at the base of the mountain, unveiling a stone sculpture and plaque honoring the president as an inspiration in the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda and throughout the Caribbean.
"This great political achievement by Barack Obama resonated with me in a way that I felt compelled to do something symbolic and inspiring," Spencer told the crowd of about 300, including several U.S. officials, at the base of the mountain near the island's southern coast.
Read more in this Associated Press article.
Chip Bok, Akron Beacon Journal
Happy Vacation Democrats
Lloyd Dangle, Troubletown
Jimmy Margulies, New Jersey Record
Jim Morin, Miami Herald
Steve Breen, San Diego Union-Tribune
Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune
Scott Stantis, Birmingham News
Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press
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5. Associate Justice Sotomayor: An Important Step Forward
Chan Lowe, the editorial cartoonist for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel had these thoughts on the U.S. Senate confirming Justice Sonia Sotomayor as the 111th Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
While the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor as the first Hispanic associate justice of the supreme court is a laudable achievement in light of our history, the fact that the media and the nation are making such a big deal about it means that we still have a ways to go in terms of how we think about race.
It is said that in thirty or forty more years, everyone will be part of a minority, but until then, it’s interesting to note that when ethnic labels are used to describe people, it’s usually in relation to groups from which the labelers wish to remain distinct.
When was the last time you heard the term, "English-American," or "Dutch-American?" I don’t know if Chief Justice Rehnquist was the first American of Scandinavian extraction to hold his position, but I can’t recall anybody bringing it up at the time.
The very term "Hispanic," a Nixon-era moniker, was concocted so that government could isolate a certain group from the rest of us for separate treatment.
Such a label -- whether for good or ill -- entrenches racist thinking within all groups. Moreover, it’s inaccurate. A Puerto Rican has about as much in common with a Peruvian as my grandmother -- a Polish immigrant -- had with the descendents of the Mayflower pilgrims. Nevertheless, various groups would label them Hispanic and Anglo, respectively, in a misbegotten attempt to categorize them according to ethnic origin.
If we can’t get it right, why not just drop it altogether? Would that it were that simple.
Chan Lowe, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
R.J. Matson, Roll Call
"My House is Your House"
Jimmy Margulies, New Jersey Record
Steve Benson, Arizona Republic
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6. Bill Clinton: He is Back!
Matt Davies, New York Journal News
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After eight years of being treated with contempt and virtually neglected as a tool of effective statecraft, diplomacy made a high-profile comeback thanks to the efforts of former President Bill Clinton.
President Obama deserves credit for allowing it to happen. It was another step in the slow-but-necessary process of restoring this country's image and standing among both friends and foes alike.
Cartoonist Matt Davies of the New York Journal News penned his thoughts when drawing this cartoon
Gratifying to see that actually going and talking face-to-face with people – rather than reciprocally acting stupidly from afar – can net a decent result. I have chatted with some of my conservative friends who think Bill Clinton legitimized Kim Jong Il by meeting with him. First off, he is the leader of North Korea, no two ways around that stinky detail. Second, in whose eyes has the nutty little Team America character been legitimized? And maybe, just maybe, we have opened up some type of door to resolve greater conflicts with North Korea in the future. Worth every penny of Bill’s round trip ticket, I think.
Tom Toles, Washington Post
Pat Oliphant, Universal Press Syndicate
Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News
Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Jim Morin, Miami Herald
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7. The G.O.P.: Christianity, Inc.
Garry Trudeau of Doonesbury fame devoted the entire week to mocking the Republican Family's 'C Street House' in Washington, D.C. The people living there were made famous by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow's reporting and the book written by Harper's Magazine journalist Jeff Sharlet, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
Religion and journalism scholar Sharlet finds a sect whose members refer to Manhattan's Ground Zero as "the ruins of secularism"; intrigued, Sharlet accepts on a whim an invitation to stay at Ivenwald. He's shocked to find himself in the stronghold of a widespread "invisible" network, organized into cells much like Ivenwald, and populated by elite, politically ambitious fundamentalists; Sharlet is present when a leader tells a dozen men living there, "You guys are here to learn how to rule the world." As it turns out, the Family was established in 1935 to oppose FDR's New Deal and the spread of trade unions; since then, it has organized well-attended weekly prayer meetings for members of Congress and annual National Prayer Breakfasts attended by every president since Eisenhower. Further, the Family's international reach ("almost impossible to overstate") has "forged relationships between the U.S. government and some of the most oppressive regimes in the world." In the years since his first encounter, Sharlet has done extensive research, and his thorough account of the Family's life and times is a chilling expose.
Garry Trudeau, Doonesbury
David Horsey, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post looks at the state of the Republican Party, 35 years to the day since President Richard Nixon resigned his office in disgrace
The GOP's Extremist Dilemma
Things are looking up for the Republicans, relatively speaking. President Obama's poll numbers have dipped, GOP recruitment for the 2010 elections is going better than expected, and the health-care battle has been rough on the Democrats.
On top of that, the surveys show Republicans now leading in this year's two major governor's races, in Virginia and New Jersey.
There's just one problem: The country still doesn't like Republicans.
Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette
Steve Kelley, New Orleans Times-Picayune
Jeff Danziger, Creators and Writers Syndicate
After more than two years, the Department of Justice this week dropped an ethics investigation into former U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney of Oviedo, who was suspected of wrongdoing after taking a golf trip to Scotland with corrupt ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Bruce Beattie, Daytona News-Journal, read comments in the Tampa Bay Times
Steve Benson, Arizona Republic
Ben Sargent, Universal Press Syndicate
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8. The Economy: Cash for Clunkers
Economic Recovery
Frederick Deligne, Le Pelerin (France)
Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader
R.J. Matson, New York Observer
Jim Morin, Miami Herald
Dana Summers, Orlando Sentinel
Jeff Danziger, Creators and Writers Syndicate
Tony Auth, Philadelphia Inquirer
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9. Foreign Affairs: Modern-Day Crusaders
Monte Wolverton, Cagle Cartoons
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Explosive Allegations: Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder
A former Blackwater employee and an ex-U.S. Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life."
Read more of this article.
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Brian Fairrington, Cagle Cartoons
Tony Auth, Philadelphia Inquirer
Stephane Peray, The Nation (Bangkok, Thailand)
Nik Kowsar, Rooz Online (Iran)
Tom Toles, Washington Post
Mark Streeter, Savannah Morning News
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10. Sports Talk: Steroids and Contracts
Drew Litton, drewlitton.com
Steve Benson, Arizona Republic
Jimmy Margulies, New Jersey Record
John Sherffius, Boulder Daily Camera
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11. Final Thoughts
Finally, are drugs affordable in your area?
Jeff Stahler, Columbus Dispatch
Rex Babin, Sacramento Bee