 
|
 |
|
Click here for the full cartoon.
The Michael Ramirez cartoon on the L.A. Times op-ed page today is creating a stir. The image evokes the famous Vietnam War photo of a South Vietnamese official executing a bound Viet Cong suspect with a bullet to the head on a Saigon street. In this case, the unfortunate with his hands tied back his back is President Bush and the pistol-pointing shooter is labeled simply "Politics." The mosque in the background makes clear the context is Iraq.
Ramirez is a vocal conservative, so I guess the message is that Bush is undergoing character assassination by critics questioning the war and the truthfulness of his comments on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
The Drudge Report is leading with a item quoting an anonymous Secret Service source who says the cartoon raises security concerns. An unnamed White House reporter calls it the first "snuff cartoon." A reader tipped L.A. Observed after glimpsing the cartoon in Starbucks and being "appalled."
It will be interesting to see if much backlash results. Republicans would call for his head if the cartoon were by the LAT's former liberal sketcher, Paul Conrad. But Ramirez is the Times' most reliable and provocative conservative, by far, so they may take a pass. Liberals around L.A. (and at the paper) loathe Ramirez, so this may be a chance for them to press for his removal, even if they aren't really that upset about the drawing. As for everybody else, well, maybe we are ready for political cartoons that are pretty tasteless.
If memory serves me correctly, General Loan was executing a terrorist in that picture. Of course, such a distinction is probably too subtle for the incompetent Mr. Ramirez.
Posted by: Steve Smith at July 21, 2003 09:09 AMExactly! I didn't realize Ramirez was considered conservative, though he always seemed less liberal and rabidly pscyotherapuetic than the rest of the page. It's an appalling cartoon. Who would imagine that the horror of that murder is flexible iconographic material? Who's the editor who thinks satire means you can point pistols at a president's head? Inexplicable. I was expecting bad response from readers, not from the secret service.
Posted by: Cridland at July 21, 2003 09:41 AMI miss Paul Conrad, and cartoons that make sense.
Posted by: joseph at July 21, 2003 11:04 AMIf someone wants to be tasteless in the service of making a cogent satirical statement, that's understandable.
But this cartoon is tasteless and confusing.
Posted by: Kerry at July 21, 2003 12:12 PMPaul Conrad and "make sense" are a contradiction in terms. I have less confidence in the wisdom of old-geezer liberals (such as a Conrad) than old-geezer conservatives.
Posted by: Terence at July 21, 2003 12:45 PM>>
Sorry, but I couldn't find three Pulitzers listed under either names "Terence" or "Graner".
Posted by: joseph at July 21, 2003 04:52 PM"If memory serves me correctly, General Loan was executing a terrorist in that picture"
One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter or in this case, a nationalist.
Posted by: Angry Photog at July 21, 2003 07:02 PMI remembered it being much more summarily done -- the general thought the guy was Viet Cong, so bang. I'm not really old enough to remember though...
Posted by: Kevin Roderick at July 22, 2003 12:54 AMWell, I'm not really old enough to "remember" it either; I was relying on my memory (such as it is) of what I had read about the backstory, which is encapsulated in his NY Times obituary. In any event, the LA Times desperately needs a new cartoonist.
Posted by: Steve Smith at July 22, 2003 09:06 AMjoseph writes: "Sorry, but I couldn't find three Pulitzers listed under either names "Terence" or "Graner"."
I was talking about Conrad's lack of >> wisdom <<, not his drawing abilities or humor, which I'm sure are crucial to a cartoonist winning a Pulitzer.
Conrad or Ramirez getting a Pulitzer (Ramirez's 1 to Conrad's 3) doesn't necessarily mean either one makes a lot of sense (as in common sense), any more than Michael Moore getting an Academy Award means he is a wise and truthful filmmaker.
Posted by: Terence at July 23, 2003 02:50 AM
of LA Observed
Put all the yipping about "national security" aside, this might be the worst cartoon Ramirez has ever done for the paper. What exactly is he trying to say? If he's saying that Iraq has become Vietnam, is he also saying that Bush is like the Viet Cong and that our politics (and I suppose, our media) are like the South Vietnamese General Loan? Does he want us to sympathize with Bush in this cartoon or what? Somebody help me here.
Posted by: Garrison at July 21, 2003 08:32 AM