Meet The Press...But Not The Cartoonist, Part 2

Once again on Meet The Press, David Gregory shows a cartoon without citing the creator:

Well, David Brooks, the final word at the end of the week, it was crystallized, I think, by The New Yorker cartoon which, I can tell you on good authority, the president finds quite amusing. Here it is, these various panes [panels?] describing how the president used to be able to walk on water, and that final page [panel?] he actually shows he's a mere mortal, he's lost his magic power, he's into the drink. Where are we?

Could Barry Blitt at least be credited by Gregory for the illustration? Perhaps not the idea, since editorial cartoonists ran that cliche into the ground over a year before The New Yorker thought it cover-worthy, but the "various panes" were drawn by someone.

He looks so peaceful

I always let the silence of the fetus graveyard do my pro-choice pro-abortion talking for me.

What He Said

Brian McFadden has a good comic on corporate personhood and links to some other good ones while lamenting Kevin Moore's decision to stop editorial cartooning. That's the exact blog post I was going to write today, so instead I've composed a blog post telling you about it and linking to his post.

Good 'Ol Asay

I'm loving that second panel.

(click here to view)

Chuck Asay Creators Syndicate Inc. Jan 29, 2010 EditorialCartoonists.com

Illustration Friday

Don't drive in bike lanes.

Official Prediction

Obama will say "jobs" a lot.

The Corporate Civil Rights Movement

"Of the people, by the people, for the people" sure makes more sense now that corporations are considered people. They actually have been for quite some time, but the latest Supreme Court ruling has fully converted our elections into auctions. Remember when a doe-eyed John Roberts said he only wanted to call balls and strikes? He was so cute!

So is this the death knell of Democracy or simply an admission of what's been happening for quite a while now? Time will tell, but on Democracy Now! last Friday, Jamin Raskin, a Professor of Constitutional Law at American University and a Maryland State Senator, threw out some frightening numbers:

I looked at just one corporation, Exxon Mobil, which is the biggest corporation in America. In 2008, they posted profits of $85 billion. And so, if they decided to spend, say, a modest ten percent of their profits in one year, $8.5 billion, that would be three times more than the Obama campaign, the McCain campaign and every candidate for House and Senate in the country spent in 2008. That’s one corporation. So think about the Fortune 500.

Coup D'Teabag

No time for commentary or much blogging this week or next. I'm in the final two weeks of work on the graphic novel.

Wednesday: The Corporate Civil Rights Movement

A Democrat walks into a bar...

David Rees' got jokes.

Illustration Friday

About a drunk.

Turd Of The Day

I know JR Rose doesn't acknowledge the effects of pollution because snow exists, but wouldn't burning DVDs in your fireplace be a little unhealthy?

(click here to view)

John R. Rose Byrd Newspapers of Virginia Jan 21, 2010 EditorialCartoonists.com

Adding: Glad I found this site. Someone is already collecting these kind of turds so I don't have to anymore. Wish this field wasn't so easy to ridicule.

Say What?

Obama:

"Now, I could have said, 'Well, we'll just do what's safe, we'll just take on those things that are completely non-controversial,'" Obama said in an interview with ABC News. "The problem is: the things that are non-controversial end up being the things that don't solve the problem."

I imagine I don't need to break that down for you.

Correction

This cartoon is now inoperative due to the Democratic Party's stunning inability to hold on to a Massachusetts Senate seat.

Dear Democrats,

I hate you with a fire.

Sincerely,
Matt Bors

Anniversary

Barack Obama was sworn in one year ago to much fanfare. I wonder if liberals would be so forgiving of the president's circumstances and disastrous inheritance if John McCain had won. I wonder if conservatives would be frothing at the mouth if it were John McCain continuing to spend future money.

We Regret To Inform You

This is my 600th regular editorial cartoon. It is on the exact same topic as my 2ooth cartoon. I suppose I'll keep doing work on our horrible Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy until the president finally works up the courage to repeal something not even a majority of conservatives support.

See other DADT comics I've had the time to draw while Obama does nothing about it here, here, here and here.

Wednesday: What if McCain won?

Sunday Quote

"One of my concerns around any crisis is that shysters show up and take advantage of people's good will and generosity." --George W. Bush, the noted humanitarian, on Meet The Press.

Go Fish

The political cartoonist Dwayne Booth, a.k.a. Mr. Fish, has lost his gig with Village Voice Media. He writes about it over at cagle.com.

Mr. Fish deserves props for not only being a relentless critic of Obama (from the left) but for developing a style that is actually unique and distinctive--a rarity in this field. It's not clear if he'll be able to continue cartooning, but I imagine having an outlet that pays him would help. Hope he finds one.

Eeek

I'm bored. Let's make fun of stuff. Haven't seen many good Haiti cartoons. This one lets you know there was an earthquake if you hadn't heard.

(click here to view)

Ron Rogers South Bend Tribune Jan 15, 2010 EditorialCartoonists.com

Not a cartoon I would have drawn. But if the stake represents the earthquake, maybe the pins represent the 100 years of brutal policies we imposed on the people of Haiti.

(click here to view)

John Cole Scranton Times/Tribune Jan 15, 2010 EditorialCartoonists.com

God kinda comes off looking like an asshole in this one.

(click here to view)

Nate Beeler Washington Examiner Jan 15, 2010 EditorialCartoonists.com

It's a good thing Haiti vaguely sort-of resembles a letter in the alphabet or John Sherrfius would have had to actually work yesterday.

(click here to view)

John Sherffius Jan 15, 2010 EditorialCartoonists.com

We live in the richest country on earth so shame on us for thinking we could actually provide health care to all our citizens.

(click here to view)

Tim Hartman Beaver County Times, Valley … Jan 15, 2010 EditorialCartoonists.com

Someone drew this.

(click here to view)

Charlie Daniel Knoxville News Sentinel Jan 15, 2010 EditorialCartoonists.com

Shorter Glenn Beck

Barack Obama cares about black people.

Illustration Friday

A Creepy McCreepster asks a lady to help him with car in an empty parking lot.


And an illustration for the ACLU on body scanners.

War Is Boring

Here is a page from the fifth chapter of War Is Boring, which takes place in Afghanistan. There's more information on the book here and pages from other chapters here, here, here and here.

click to enlarge

Says it all, really

Barry Deutsch points way to a pretty amazing chart on US health care spending.

White Mailbag

On Monday's comic:

This one is a new low even for you. I don't think I would
have a problem being profiled for searches if white suicide
bombers where the norm. Searching an 80 year old white
granny looking for bombs might just be a bit non-productive.
I suggest you look at the current Henry Payne comic, it at
least makes sense.

Steve

I've received a couple e-mails like this from white men who are offering themselves up for underwear inspection from black officials. Peculiar.

No Negro Dialect

One of those gossip books that only pundits buy and talk about had a quote from an old white man from Nevada in it, and so they talked about it. We all know what Harry Reid meant. Still, you'd think the majority leader of a party that 98% of black people vote for would not use phrases like "negro dialect."

Oh, and the comic isn't that great.

War Is Boring

War Is Boring began as bi-weekly strip for David Axe's site, warisboring.com. Since I'm busy drawing the book, he has relaunched the strip with a new artist, Jonathan Hughes. So go read the first two and take a look at the archive if you haven't seen the strips I worked on.

I'll post another page from our graphic novel later in the week.

White Is The New Black

I'm quite sure all the white people who support racial and religious profiling would not do so if the tables were turned. Just a hunch.

Wednesday: No Negro Dialect, Yo!

Intelligence Failure

According to the right, the undie pants bomber is running a victory lap. Charles Krauthammer explains:

But the Obama administration decided to give him a lawyer and the right to remain silent. We are now forced to purchase information from this attempted terrorist in the coin of leniency. Absurdly, Abdulmutallab is now in control.

A failed bomber facing life imprisonment is "in control." His whole objective was probably to gain the right to remain silent and we played right into his hands. Want to call bullshit on Krauthammer and point out Bush's treatment of Richard Reid? He addresses that:

Wasn't the shoe bomber treated the same way?

Yes. And it was a mistake, but in the context of the time understandable. That context does not remotely exist today.

Richard Reid struck three months after 9/11. The current anti-terror apparatus was not in place.

You see, we had to follow the law back then because the Bush Regime had not yet completely undermined the court system a mere three months after 9/11. An illegal archipelago of overseas CIA prisons was not yet established. Torture was still a much sought after fantasy of Dick Cheney. So, while a mistake, it was understandable.

Fiore vs. Falafel

My friend and colleague, Mark Fiore, is Bill O'Reilly's latest target in his war against the Liberal Media. He singles out Fiore's "How To Speak Tea Bag" cartoon for appearing on the NPR website.

Continuing the media embargo on citing cartoonists by name, O'Reilly never once says "Mark Fiore," describing him only as a "left-wing jihadist."




May I psychoanalyze Bill from my keyboard? He probably picked up on the cartoon due to the sexual nature of the tea bag joke. He is a self-loathing pervert and when he's not engaging in falaphilia, he's running footage of scantily clad women on spring break and teenagers freak dancing so he can rage against the moral degradation of our culture. You can almost see the bead of sweat on his brow during these segments--he's a man working through Serious Issues in front of millions of viewers and trying not to lose it.

Anyway, Fiore responds to the calamity on his blog.

Illustration Friday

A little whiny bitch in spin class.

Mailbag - Theeker on my Bolg edition

An e-mail:

Thank you for the joyible communics. Butt; I am a little dispissed ewe think all publitardss are tarrible peeple. Gno reely. Keep up the gewd wurk, though. Theekers need to be more of. You and Kathy Griffen shud make won. Theekers our reflickertive of social studies, end wen eye find won, I trilateral part two reely peigh tension. Thnx uhgain (dot) com

Very Sincerely
Yo Dog

Uh huh.

Now if I understand Yo Dog correctly--and there is a very high possibility that I don't, given that the person is very clearly mad--they are suggesting that I conceive offspring with Kathy Griffin in order to create more "theekers" like myself.

Kathy?

I think I figured it out...

JR Rose is drawing editorial cartoons for a publication that targets 4-8 year olds. There's no other explanation.

(click here to view)

John R. Rose Byrd Newspapers of Virginia Jan 6, 2010 EditorialCartoonists.com

Yemen!

We must fight them over there in Yemen so we don't have to fight them...over there in Afghanistan!

Very Serious Cartoon Analysis™

Bors Blog Exclusive Analysis

A cartoon from the January 4, 2010 issue of The New Yorker, by Jack Ziegler:


The visual in this comic has some potential for a funny gag about different/convergent tastes in music across socioeconomic and cultural strata but instead opts for a stale and unsophisticated "uh-oh", which the reader is to understand as: Look, honey! Punks about to play that racket they call music!

Some people listen to loud and obnoxious music and when you want to enjoy your eggs benedict, well, it's a real bummer if they decide to indulge at that particular moment. To truly find this cartoon humorous, however, you would need to identify with the sterile suburban couple whose male half wears a sweater vest to brekkie. What sort of music are we to believe excites this man?

Also: What sort of disastrous music choices are even available on the quaint diner's jukebox that warrant such an ominous attitude? Cannibal Corpse? (That, along with the bizarre placement of some napkin holders, could explain the lack of other patrons.)

In reality, the cute punk couple--drawn with less imagination than the dreadful white couple--is probably going to choose the one good tune in that jukebox every finds agreeable, such as an early Elvis Costello number. Imagine the opening bars of "Radio Radio" filling the diner and someone objecting. You can't, can you?

War Is Boring

War is Boring: Bored Stiff, Scared to Death in the World's Worst War Zones. August 3, 2010. New American Library.

Amazon Pre-Order.

At least he got a reaction

Al Qaeda is coming out strong lately with all sorts of awesomely failed attacks. Underwear bombs and now the attempted murder of cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, creator of the controversial bomb-in-turban Muhammad cartoon.

The cartoonist, 74, pushed a panic button, fled to a safe room and was unhurt when police arrived. His grand-daughter was in the house during the attack. Police could not confirm reports he had tried to break down the safe room door with the axe.

Surely the best way to combat Westergaard's belief that Islam leads to violent radicalism is by trying to chop him apart with an axe for drawing a picture that says so. The continued threats against the Danish cartoonist will only serve as proof to editors across the globe that it's best not to offend folks and stick to the innocent gags that everyone from grandma to Bin Laden can appreciate.

Also: cartoonist with a panic room in his house? Wow. If it protects you from looming deadlines, I'm getting one.

Public Works Administration

We are in Afghanistan not to nation build, it is said, but to fight the scoundrels that attacked us on 9/11. Yet there are only 100 members of Al Qaeda estimated to be there. There is apparently twice that number in Yemen--the latest country Joe Lieberman favors bombing and the topic of Wednesday's comic.

Levine

The great caricaturist David Levine died last week. I was paging through a collection of his work this weekend and doodled this.

Meet The Press...But Not The Cartoonist

On Sunday's Meet The Press, David Gregory showed a cartoon by Rob Rogers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette but failed to inform his audience that it had a creator and did not materialize from the ether.

The non-citing of cartoonists appears to be policy within the Punditburo. I make a point to always mention it on this blog, which is widely read by Washington insiders such as my close childhood friend Wolf Blitzer to name only one, and yet...nothing changes. Weird.

Illustration Friday

A man braves a highway to retrieve a stranger's belongings.


And someone doesn't like people who think they are entitled to tips.