The Week in Editorial Cartoons – Republican Thuggery on Full Display, Part I

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Crossposted at Daily Kos and The Stars Hollow Gazette

PLEASE READ THIS: There’s an additional 15 or so cartoons in this diary over at the GOS.  Check them out.

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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:

1. Does a cartoon add to my existing knowledge base and help crystallize my thinking about the issue depicted?

2. Does the cartoonist have any obvious biases that distort reality?

3. 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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INTRODUCTION

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Of the 8,000-10,000 editorial cartoons I have posted in this weekly diary and in comments in front page posts/diaries written by others since April 2009, the response to the above cartoon perfectly encapsulates the attitude of most Teabaggers and their wingnuts friends over at Fox News.  These people are not about civil discourse. They hate free speech that doesn’t conform to their narrow-minded beliefs.

During a recent appearance on The O’Reilly Factor, Juan Williams made dumb and insensitive remarks about being fearful of people in Islamic garb while flying.  The comments resulted in Williams being fired from National Public Radio and soon after, getting a fat contract from Roger Ailes and Fox News. When Editorial Cartoonist Mike Thompson of the Detroit Free Press posted the cartoon on his blog a few days ago, Bill O’Reilly encouraged his viewers to contact Thompson, basically to shut him up.    

Thompson posted several of the emails he received from these wingnuts on his blog and wasn’t entirely unhappy that O’Reilly had directed a great deal of traffic to his blog

Bill O’Reilly and some of his Fox News fans should take their own advice to heart

Last Sunday I drew a cartoon about Fox News and the Juan Wiliams affair.  O’Reilly apparently took offense to my cartoon and showed it on the air Monday evening. He then gave out my work e-mail address and instructed his viewers to “let him know what you think.” O’Reilly stressed that his viewers should take the high road in their e-mails to me, which is a little like placing a bowl of Halloween candy in front of kids and telling them not to gorge themselves.  O’Reilly’s smart enough to know what would happen.

And e-mail me they did, more than 2,500 e-mails, many of them unsuitable to publish here, clogged my inbox.  I bring this up not because I’m upset; I’ve grown pretty much immune to insults after 20 years in my profession and realize that I forefit the right to complain about getting bopped in the nose when I voluntarily step into a boxing ring.  Besides, I’d like to thank O’Reilly for the significant bump in traffic to my blog.  No, I bring this up because I find it strange that O’Reilly and some of his followers followers fail to grasp the irony of their actions.

While defending Williams’ right to free speech, O’Reilly and a number of his viewers tried and failed to bully me for exercising my right to free speech.  What it all boils down to for people who behave like this isn’t defending the concept of free speech, rather defending free speech that agrees with their partisan point of view.

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Read all of Mike Thompson’s entries, a few emails from Bill O’Reilly’s minions, and reader comments regarding this feud with O’Reilly here, here, and here.

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Bill Day, Comics.com (Memphis Commercial-Appeal)

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Egged on by Fox News, aided by the Citizens United decision rendered by the U.S. Supreme Court and one which allowed the free flow of undisclosed corporate money (perhaps some of it in the form of illegal foreign contributions), and given vague promises of “fiscal responsibility” by the cynical Republican leadership in Congress, many of these Teabaggers are probably on the verge of being elected to Congress where their primary responsibility is to draft and enact laws that govern this country.

A recent article in NEWSWEEK magazine berated these authoritarian-minded Teabaggers for their blatant refusal to adhere to constitutional principles upon which this country was founded

Tim Eagan, Deep Cover, Buy this cartoon

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America’s Holy Writ

Tea Party evangelists claim the Constitution as their sacred text.  Why that’s wrong.

The Tea Partiers belong to a different tradition — a tradition of divisive fundamentalism. Like other fundamentalists, they seek refuge from the complexity and confusion of modern life in the comforting embrace of an authoritarian scripture and the imagined past it supposedly represents.  Like other fundamentalists, they see in their good book only what they want to see: confirmation of their preexisting beliefs. Like other fundamentalists, they don’t sweat the details, and they ignore all ambiguities. And like other fundamentalists, they make enemies or evildoers of those who disagree with their doctrine.

The point is always the same: to suggest that the Constitution, like the Bible, decrees what’s right and wrong (rather than what’s legal and illegal), and to insist that only the fundamentalists and their ilk can access its truths.  We are moral, you are not; we represent America, you do not.  Theirs is the rallying cry of culture war.

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Mike Thompson, Comics.com (Detroit Free Press)

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Does this group of Know-Nothings believe in limited government or no government at all?  In other words, do they seek a libertarian paradise with minimal rules and a “night watchman state” as Robert Nozick once described it?  Not coincidentally, Nozick was one of Margaret Thatcher’s and Ronald Reagan’s favorite political philosophers in the 1970’s and beyond.

Some of Nozick’s so-called libertarian beliefs — openly espoused by many a Teabagger — are contrasted with liberalism in this article

Patrick Chappatte, International Herald Tribune, Buy this cartoon

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Libertarianism should not be confused with liberalism.  They were considered the same in the early to mid nineteenth-century, both sharing the same beliefs such as limiting state power and the benefits of a free market.  But around the 1870s liberals were gradually moving toward the belief that the government was necessary in guaranteeing social justice.  Liberalism developed into a philosophy which wants an increase in government power, taxes, and regulation.  Libertarians feel this philosophy is very close to socialism and therefore do not agree with it.  Libertarians believe that collecting taxes is another form of robbery.

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I have deliberately tried to keep my comments and analysis to a minimum in this diary so as to include many more editorial cartoons in the text of the diary.  There are over 120 cartoons and I will try to post another 15-20 in the comments section, dealing with a number of issues not included here such as the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, energy and oil, the riots in France, awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a Chinese dissident, Iraq, Afghanistan, and rescue of the Chilean mine workers.  Time permitting and even if in abbreviated form, I will try to post Part II of this diary by Tuesday 11/2 late morning/early afternoon.  Thanks.

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1. Cartoons of the Week

Tom Tancredo’s Motorcycle by Mike Keefe, Denver Post, Buy this cartoon

Jeff Stahler, Comics.com (Columbus Dispatch)

Steve Sack, Comics.com (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

John Sherffius, Comics.com (Boulder Daily Camera)

Paul Szep, Comics.com

Mark Streeter, Savannah Morning News, Buy this cartoon

Jeff Darcy, Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Buy this cartoon

Lemon Pledge by RJ Matson, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Buy this cartoon

Bill Day, Comics.com (Memphis Commercial-Appeal)

Rally to Restore Sanity by Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com, Buy this cartoon

Steve Sack, Comics.com (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

Jeff Stahler, Comics.com (Columbus Dispatch)

Steve Sack, Comics.com (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

Jeff Darcy, Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Buy this cartoon

Jeff Koterba, Omaha World Herald, Buy this cartoon

Signe Wilkinson, Comics.com (Philadelphia Daily News)

Decision 2010 by Clay Bennett, Comics.com, see the large number of reader comments in the Chattanooga Times Free Press

Voters Abandon Ship by John Cole, Scranton Times-Tribune, Buy this cartoon

Trickle Down by Clay Bennett, Comics.com, see the very large number of reader comments in the Chattanooga Times Free Press

Poor in America by Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, Buy this cartoon

Steve Sack, Comics.com (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

Mother’s Milk Of Politics by John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Buy this cartoon

Jen Sorensen, Slowpoke, Buy this cartoon

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2. Wingnuttery at its Best

The Republicans New Wing by David Fitzsimmons, Arizona Star, Buy this cartoon

The Elephant in the Room by Randall Enos,Cagle Cartoons, Buy this cartoon

NY State – Paladino for Governor by Adam Zyglis, Buffalo News, Buy this cartoon

Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Jeff Stahler, Comics.com (Columbus Dispatch)

Cal Grondahl, Utah Standard Examiner, Buy this cartoon

Jeff Danziger, New York Times Syndicate

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Tead Off Party by John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Buy this cartoon

Christine O’Donnell by Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette, Buy this cartoon

Stuart Carlson, Go Comics

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Where the Tea Party Stands by David Fitzsimmons, Arizona Star, Buy this cartoon

David Cohen, Asheville Citizen-Times

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Drew Sheneman, Comics.com (Newark Star-Ledger)

Dan Wasserman, Comics.com (Boston Globe)

Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Jim Day, Las Vegas Review Journal, Buy this cartoon

Christine O’Donnell by Mike Keefe, Denver Post, Buy this cartoon

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3. The Corrosive Effect of Secret Corporate Money in This Election

Career Politicians by Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette, Buy this cartoon

Mike Luckovich, Comics.com (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Unlimited Campaign Donations by Jimmy Margulies, New Jersey Record, Buy this cartoon

Bruce Beattie, Comics.com (Daytona Beach News-Journal)

Mike Luckovich, Comics.com (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Dan Wasserman, Comics.com (Boston Globe)

Midterm Election by Clay Bennett, Comics.com, see the large number of reader comments in the Chattanooga Times Free Press

RJ Matson, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Buy this cartoon

Jen Sorensen, Slowpoke, Buy this cartoon

John Sherffius, Comics.com (Boulder Daily Camera)

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4. The Republican Pledge to Enhance Their Own and Not the Country’s Future

Dinosaurs on Parade by Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, Buy this cartoon

Mike Luckovich, Comics.com (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Mike Luckovich, Comics.com (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

The Platform by Nick Anderson, Comics.com, see reader comments in the Houston Chronicle

Bill Schorr, Cagle Cartoons, Buy this cartoon

Gary Varvel, Comics.com (Indianapolis Star-News)

Drew Sheneman, Comics.com (Newark Star-Ledger)

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5. Call Me, Call Me Any, Any Anytime*

Chan Lowe, Comics.com, see reader comments in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

* with apologies to Blondie

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Imagine this scenario: it is late at night in a typical suburban home in Northern Virginia.  The couple that lives there is upper middle class and affluent.  The husband is a noted legal scholar, probably the best that this country has ever seen.  The wife is a political activist whose activities on behalf of the poor and downtrodden in this country have made this a much fairer society.  But beneath this facade of affluence and suburban tranquility, there is trouble brewing in this marriage.

I’ll let Lowe explain what happened next and why it did

Virginia Thomas, Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas

What is more disturbing than her questionable dialing practices is her high-profile involvement in conservative and libertarian causes, especially in an organization funded by anonymous sources.  Of course, as an American, she has every right to do this, and no one is asserting that the ethical rules that apply to her husband also apply to her.

Nevertheless, it would be logical that anyone who is concerned enough about her husband’s personal reputation to ask for an apology from his accuser after almost two decades would also consider his reputation as an impartial jurist, and soft-pedal the partisan passion.

I doubt, however, that Mrs. Thomas looks upon this logically.

Steve Benson, Comics.com (Arizona Republic)

The Tea Party Headquarters by David Horsey, see reader comments in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Clarence Thomas and Wife by Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com, Buy this cartoon

At the Sound of the Tone by David Cohen, Asheville Citizen-Times

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Bruce Beattie, Comics.com (Daytona Beach News-Journal)

Dan Wasserman, Comics.com (Boston Globe)

Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Mark Streeter, Savannah Morning News, Buy this cartoon

Jen Sorensen, Slowpoke, Buy this cartoon

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Sorensen expresses her unhappiness with Clarence Thomas and his unsavory behavior in the past

Clarence Thomas Video Club

I have always been appalled by the amount of blind hatred directed at Anita Hill merely because she spoke up about being sexually harassed by Clarence Thomas.  So I confess to enjoying the outpouring of corroborating evidence in the wake of Ginny Thomas’s ill-fated voicemail to Hill.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I have no problem with Supreme Court justices having a few kinks.  They can watch all the porn they want, though I prefer not to think about it. But to give someone who harassed his female subordinates (at the EEOC!) a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land, where he would be responsible for adjudicating on those very issues… well, it’s unconscionable.  Also, dude totally perjured himself!

Lots of Serious Pundits (such as the flaccid Richard Cohen of the Washington Post) are saying we should just forget the whole unseemly episode.  I guess talking about pubic hair on Coke cans doesn’t seem very dignified.  But as far as I’m concerned, you only get dignity when you correct the injustice.

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6. Juan Williams’ Firing By National Public Radio

The Winner by Clay Bennett, Comics.com, see reader comments in the Chattanooga Times Free Press

NPR Fires Juan Williams by Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com, Buy this cartoon

Tony Auth, Philadelphia Inquirer/Washington Post

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Steve Benson, Comics.com (Arizona Republic)

Jeff Danziger, New York Times Syndicate/Yahoo Comics

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

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7. Can the Economy Withstand Another Round of Trickle-Down Economics?

Steve Sack, Comics.com (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

Randy Jones, inxart.com, Buy this cartoon

Steve Sack, Comics.com (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

Jeff Stahler, Comics.com (Columbus Diapatch)

GOP Deficit Lumberjack by Adam Zyglis, Buffalo News, Buy this cartoon

Matt Bors, Comics.com (Idiot Box)

Jim Day, Las Vegas Review Journal, Buy this cartoon

Bruce Beattie, Comics.com (Daytona Beach News-Journal)

Anonymous by Rob Rogers, Comics.com (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Candidates are setting new records for campaign spending in 2010.  A lot of those additional millions are coming from anonymous donors.  Some think the anonymous cash may be coming from corporations seeking political favor and/or overseas interests.  It hurts my stomach to think of all the good things we could do with that money.

— Rogers is disgusted with the amount of money spent by shadowy figures and corporations, most of whom are only interested in their bottom line

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8. RIP Barbara Billingsley, Tom Bosley, and Johnny Sheffield

Mark Streeter, Savannah Morning News, Buy this cartoon

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Read more about Barbara Billingsley, Tom Bosley, and Johnny Sheffield.  They made important and lasting contributions in movies and television.  If you missed it, I also wrote a diary tribute to Barabara Billingsley — June Cleaver (Beaver’s Mom) Has Died — a couple of weeks ago.

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9. Final Thoughts

Lloyd Dangle, Troubletown, Buy this cartoon

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Finally, are you an “opportunist?”  And if so, where do you fit in the above editorial cartoon?  

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A Note About the Diary Poll

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A great deal has been written on these pages about the upcoming elections this coming Tuesday, November 2nd.  You have probably heard it all and there’s not much more that I can add except to say that please vote and encourage all family members, friends, acquaintances, and co-workers to do the same.  As most people are probably anxious to get past the elections, you may email your friends and family a link to this diary which, I’m fairly sure, most have probably never seen.  It might give them a different perspective on issues confronting the country and the political party which is best qualified to tackle these problems.

Finally, I wanted to share this speech given by FDR’s grandson Curtis Roosevelt this past summer in Washington, D.C.  In it, he compares the challenges facing FDR in 1934 to the ones facing President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party in 2010.

Here’s an excerpt

So let us review, just sketchily, the events leading up to Franklin Roosevelt’s first mid-term election — November of 1934.  There are some striking similarities between then and now.  In 1934’s mid-term election, presidential leadership was central, indeed decisive.  And note: FDR had as much hanging on that election as President Obama has with next November’s vote…

Yes, the New Deal was rolling again.  Referring to the autumn term of Congress in 1934, just at the time of the November elections, Charles A. Beard radically changed his tune from only a few months before. “Seldom, if ever, in the long history of Congress had so many striking and vital measures been spread upon the law books in a single session.”

And the results of mid-term election of November 1934?  The Democrats increased their congressional seats in both houses, increased their governorships, and chalked up a higher proportion of the popular vote.  So much for the pundits!…

In closing, I would like to note that Franklin Roosevelt and Barrack Obama both entered the national political arena with visible handicaps-one, a black man, the other, a cripple. The cripple went on to be elected President of the United States four times.

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