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 base 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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(Ir)rational Discourse
David Horsey, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Note: Some of you may wonder how come there aren't any Blue Dog cartoons this week. Reason? Surprisingly, there weren't any that I'm aware of. The editorial cartoonists probably had their hands full having fun at the expense of town howlers, birthers, and other assorted wingnuts!
There were plenty of Blue Dog cartoons over the previous two weeks. So, if you missed them, here are the weekly diaries for August 10th -- The Week in Editorial Cartoons: 'More-On Tours' by Wingnuts, Inc. and August 3rd -- The Week in Editorial Cartoons - Happy Hour at Barack's Bar.
Introduction
If the world of editorial cartooning were a gauge of how public opinion was shaping up for or against healthcare reform around the country, the Republican Party would politically be in serious trouble. More so than it already is! And, a single payer system or, at the very least, a strong public option would be included in the 2009 Healthcare Reform Package.
Tim Eagan, Deep Cover
All around the country, cartoonists lambasted the G.O.P. for its disingenuous scare tactics and condemned it in no uncertain terms for lacking any serious proposals other than to appeal to people's base instincts and engaging in public behavior unworthy of a great democracy. The level of ridicule directed towards these people is not something I've ever seen in recent months.
This past week also saw encouraging signs -- and some hope that the Democratic Party's counteroffensive had started -- with President Barack Obama's more visible public strategy to counter the blatant lies and demagogic positions adopted by Republicans and their sympathizers on the Right. What Obama has to defend for now are elements of the package that may or may not be included in the final version and to explain the sausage-making process (never a pretty sight) of an institution that is rarely, if ever, popular with the American people. This, unfortunately, is the price he has to pay for taking a very different approach -- in which he outlined general guidelines to various Congressional leaders and committees -- as opposed to Bill Clinton's detailed healthcare proposals that died a not-so-unexpected death by a thousand cuts in 1994.
Other issues that received a fair bit of attention by the cartoonists were the re-emergence of past illegal activities by Karl Rove, the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival and the deaths of musical giant Les Paul and the founder of the Special Olympics, Eunice Kennedy Shriver.
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One of the things you may have noticed over the past four months by reading this diary is that how few female editorial cartoonists there are in the mainstream media. I can only think of three, Signe Wilkinson of the Philadelphia Daily News on the left and two on the right, Lisa Benson and Donna Barstow.
Andy Singer, Politicalcartoons.com
The good news is that there are many young cartoonists drawing for alternative publications. Two of the brightest are Mikhaela Reid, a Harvard grad, and Jen Sorensen, who attended the University of Virginia. You can see them being interviewed by Daryl Cagle of MSNBC's cagle.com, here in Part 1 and Part 2
In this wide-ranging interview, both express their thoughts on what motivates them, how they see the political world differently, and what it takes to survive in a tough professional and economic environment.
If you or any organizations you know of can use their talents and services, please contact Mikhaela and Jen directly. Jen also writes here on Daily Kos from time to time.
I hope you enjoy the large number of cartoons, particularly on healthcare.
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1. CARTOONS OF THE WEEK
Health Care Screamers
Chan Lowe, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Fear has always been a potent motivator in American politics.
Fear of Communists lurking under the bed, fear of Liberals re-distributing our hard-earned money to welfare queens, fear of hippies undermining our kids' morals with their drugs and free love.
The Bush Administration was particularly adept at wielding the fear weapon: Remember how they used the climate after 9/11 to start wars and pass a raft of questionable legislation?
Fear of the unknown is a particularly useful tool. It’s what people can’t get their mind around that they find most terrifying, and what makes them most easily manipulated.
In the health care debate, the president and his people have fallen down on the job by failing to articulate what all Americans, the haves as well as the have-nots, have to gain from reform. By creating a vacuum of information, they’ve allowed special interests to define for the nation what change may mean in their own scary and self-serving way.
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Read more of Cartoonist Chan Lowe's excellent blog commentary as well as reader responses.
Matt Bors, Idiot Box
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The Winds of Change
This country's political history of the past 100 years or so can be summed up in one paragraph: on the international front, the Republican Party had to be dragged kicking and screaming by Democratic leaders like Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Harry Truman to assume international leadership. Domestically, it took FDR, Truman, and Lyndon Johnson to inject a measure of fairness and equity in American life.
Now, it is Barack Obama's and the Democratic Party's turn to make historic social progress. Historically, when it comes to major public policy initiatives, it's almost always been a case of taking two steps forward, one step backwards. Change has never come easy in our politics. In fact, the painful reality is that change has often been been adopted incrementally. In the case of enacting meaningful healthcare reform, I believe that reason will ultimately prevail. Rational thinking will eventually triumph. The economy will not forever be in recession. If -- and that is a big if -- we play our cards right, opposition to change will gradually wither away.
The America First Committee of the 1930's, consisting of non-intervention isolationists from both the left and right, didn't completely shut up criticizing FDR until the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and actively drew this country into World War II. The fear-mongering, hateful preaching, and racist behavior by the likes of Father Charles Coughlin was also a casualty of that action. The Rightwing demagoguery and McCarthyism of the late 1940's and 1950's had to be confronted repeatedly until it disappeared under the weight of its own contradictions. The hardcore racists and segregationists have never completely gone away but their numbers started to significantly diminish, if not dwindle, once civil rights and voting rights laws were enacted in the mid-1960's. Discriminatory behavior can indeed be legislated into oblivion; changing attitudes, however, takes generations.
Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press
The month of August is always the silly season in our politics. The mindless, irrational, and bizarre exhibition put on in recent weeks by the Republican Party is reminiscent of Japanese Kamikaze pilots towards the end of World War II once defeat was inevitable. They were the original suicide bombers. And, it didn't end too well for either them or their country.
Our side will win again but only if we push back harder. Just as FDR became President in 1933 in times of a great economic crisis, Barack Obama and the Democrats have a terrific opportunity to realign this country's politics and, as Bill Clinton suggested at his Netroots Nation speech this past week, usher in a new progressive era which may well last for several decades. In the process, we can collectively consign this modern-day Republican Party of birthers, theocrats, corporate bandits, tea partiers, and deathers -- already reeling from two major electoral defeats in 2006 and 2008 and in total political disarray -- to where it deservedly belongs: on the dustbin of history.
It is up to us to hold firm and work towards that attainable goal.
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David Fitzsimmons, Arizona Star
Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
John Sherffius, Boulder Daily Camera
David Fitzsimmons, Arizona Star, see the large number of reader comments in the newspaper
Chris Britt, State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL)
Ben Sargent, Universal Press Syndicate
Tom Tomorrow, This Modern World, read Letters to the Editor in response to this provocative cartoon in Salon.com
Vic Harville, Stephens Media Group (Little Rock, AR)
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2. Town Howlers: What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate
There are signs of discord in the Republican Party as a prominent neoconservative wonders if the town hall strategy is indeed backfiring.
Bob Englehart, Hartford Courant
I can't for the life of me understand what these tea-bagging town-hallers are afraid of. Either they don't want to be confused with the facts, or they don't understand the process, which is in the very early stages of discussion.
Really, what do they have to gain by keeping the old health care system? There is no rational explanation for their protests, and whenever I see people speaking or acting irrationally, my theory is it's either because of love, money, drugs or prejudice.
Those good folks are in an absolute panic, and it isn't from health care reform... After years of observing conservative behavior, I'll bet these people who are crying out, "Hands off my Medicare" are the same people who fought against the program when it was first proposed...
Well, here's my suggestion. Modern life goes on, improvements of all kinds arrive by the hour. We have to gently guide these conservatives to their comfy chairs, listen to them, address their concerns and then move ahead without them. They'll catch up eventually, and when they do, they'll take credit for making it all happen.
Read more commentary from this brilliant cartoonist and see reader responses in the Hartford Courant.
Vic Harville, Stephens Media Group (Little Rock, AR)
Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News
Monte Wolverton, The Wolvertoon
Rex Babin, Sacramento Bee
Lighting the Debate
Jeff Parker, Florida Today
Jack Ohman, Portland Oregonian
Bill Schorr, Cagle Cartoons
Rex Babin, Sacramento Bee
David Fitzsimmons, Arizona Star
Jim Morin, Miami Herald
Dan Wasserman, Boston Globe
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3. "Death Panels": Can She See Them From Her House?
Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) accuses Sarah Palin of fear-mongering
"It does us no good to incite fear in people by saying that there's these end-of-life provisions, these death panels," Murkowski, a Republican, said. "Quite honestly, I'm so offended at that terminology because it absolutely isn't (in the bill). There is no reason to gin up fear in the American public by saying things that are not included in the bill."
Dan Wasserman, Boston Globe
J.D. Crowe, Mobile Register
Bruce Plante, Tulsa World
Mark Streeter, Savannah Morning News
Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press, see reader comments in response to this cartoon by Bennett
This is the first time that I've seen cartoons of either MSNBC's Keith Olbermann or Rachel Maddow. It is a positive sign that the nightly efforts by both Keith and Rachel in countering the lies and distortions of Republican Party are beginning to pay off.
Let's see if it continues and becomes a trend.
Taylor Jones, Politicalcartoons.com
This notion of socialism is nothing new to the Republicans. You can listen to this 1961 speech by Ronald Reagan railing against socialized medicine.
Stuart Carlson, Universal Press Syndicate
Abell Smith, Fighting Words
Jeff Danziger, New York Times Syndicate
David Cohen, main.nc.us/cartoons/
Signe Wilkinson, Philadelphia Daily News
Ron Rogers, South Bend Tribune
Jack Ohman, Portland Oregonian
Steve Sack, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Steve Benson, Arizona Republic
Tony Auth, Philadelphia Inquirer
Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune
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4. Birthers: Their Last Gasp!
Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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Rogers takes these birthers to task in this blog entry in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Who are these townsfolk with their pitchforks and torches storming town hall meetings across the country? They stand up and scream poisonous lies about Obama's health care plan, accusing him of everything from "death panels" to instituting "Soviet-style" government. Who are these idiots? These must be the same people who believed Obama was a Muslim. You don't have to prove you are not an idiot to have a say in this glorious democracy, and as much as it pains me to say it, I would defend their right to say what they feel. I would also defend my own right to call them idiots. We're in this together. I'm with stupid.
Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle, see the large number of reader comments to Anderson's cartoon in the newspaper
Lee Judge, Kansas City Star
Tony Auth, Philadelphia Inquirer
Steve Sack, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Matt Bors, United Features Syndicate
5. Healthcare: Theatrics Aside, Isn't This the Real Issue?
Bruce Plante, Tulsa World
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Columnist Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post highlights the hypocrisy of healthcare opponents but concedes that there is mass confusion of information and Democrats need to do a better job articulating their pro-reform arguments
Red-faced retirees are railing against "government-run" health care and "socialized medicine" -- with Medicare cards tucked in their wallets. They could have just stayed home and harangued themselves. The August heat is punishing, but not enough to induce mass delirium.
We know that there are crazies in the town hall mobs -- paranoid fantasists who imagine they hear the whop-whop-whop of the World Government black helicopters coming closer by the minute. We know that much of the action is being directed from the wings by cynical political operatives, following a script written by Washington lobbyists. But the nut jobs and carpetbaggers are outnumbered by confused and concerned Americans who seem genuinely convinced they're not being told the whole truth about health-care reform.
And they have a point.
Walt Handelsman, Newsday
Jim Morin, Miami Herald
David Horsey, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Pat Oliphant, Universal Press Syndicate
Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune
Brian Duffy, Des Moines Register
Matt Bors, Idiot Box
Jen Sorenson, Slowpoke
Bill Day, Memphis Commercial Appeal
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6. Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats
Lloyd Dangle, Troubletown
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Columnist Dan Balz of the Washington Post remembers lessons from the 2008 Campaign and tries to figure out Barack Obama's next move in trying to regain the initiative in the healthcare debate.
His popularity remains quite high around the country and, compared to the dismal state of the opposition party, he is in very good shape at least in historical terms.
Freelance Cartoonist Ed Stein, formerly of the now-defunct Rocky Mountain News, implies that Obama should expend some political capital and suggests this speech that the president ought to consider giving from the White House
My fellow Americans, I’m speaking to you today from the Oval Office on a subject of great importance to all of us. The past few weeks have seen the debate over health care reform turn into an ugly, angry, divisive shouting match. Senators and Congressmen have been shouted down, insulted, even threatened at town hall meeting all across the country, meetings designed to help inform the people of this country about the complex issues confronting us. I am ashamed and embarrassed by the behavior of Americans who should know better.
I confess that I am angry, too. Angry at the lies that have been spread, the distortions of the truth so extreme and so vile I find it hard to fathom that anyone believes them. And some of the rhetoric has crossed into an area that I find personally obscene. To invoke the visions of Hitler’s Germany in the fanatical opposition to health care reform is beyond , to call the good, hard-working men and women who are trying to create a new health care system for this country Nazis is despicable, and I will not stand for it...
Today I call upon all Americans to lower our voices, to listen to each other, to speak calmly and respectfully, and to work together to build a health care system that will provide excellent, affordable medical care to every citizen of this great country.
Pat Oliphant, Universal Press Syndicate
Dan Wasserman, Boston Globe
Kevin Moore, incontemptcomics.com
Dan Wasserman, Boston Globe
Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle
Robert Ariail, robertariail.com
Tom Toles, Washington Post
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7. The GOP: Sinking Further
Mark Streeter, Savannah Morning News
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Given their bizarre behavior not befitting a major political party, is it possible that the Republicans could suffer electoral losses in 2010 and 2012 too? Yes, says a Democratic strategist
Republicans seem to be enjoying their August delirium and perhaps they should. For them, it only gets worse from here as the economy improves and Democrats ride growth -- and their enactment of health-care reform -- into the midterm elections...
In 2010 and 2012, Democrats will not only win elections; they will achieve a political transformation -- the Obama era, with progressive values ascendant. An addled, ideologically paralyzed Republican Party will be left to contemplate another famous Peter Arno cartoon, in which an airplane designer watches his jerry-built contraption go down in flames. "Well, back to the old drawing board," he says. The economy will recover. Until they go back to the drawing board, Republicans won't.
Garry Trudeau and Doomesbury spent yet another full week lampooning the Republicans and their hypocritical morality as represented by "The Family" over at the 'C Street House' in Washington, D.C.
What a principled group of people!
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Garry Trudeau, Doonesbury
Pat Oliphant, Universal Press Syndicate
Chuck Asay, Creators Syndicate
Steve Greenberg, www.greenberg-art.com
Jeff Danziger, Creators and Writers Syndicate
David Fitzsimmons, Arizona Star
Mike Keefe, Denver Post
Ed Stein, United Media
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Ed Stein hopes that the U.S. Congress will further investigate the blatant abuse of power under the Bush Administration and has these harsh words for Karl Rove
Well, we always kind of knew that Karl Rove’s fingerprints were all over the firing of the U.S. Attorneys in 2006. It was clear that the eight were replaced because they wouldn’t do the political bidding of the White House and investigate Democratic congressmen during an election year on the flimsiest of evidence. Rove never met a dirty trick he didn’t love or a political beanball he couldn’t aim at an unsuspecting head. Between Rove and Cheney, no move was too low. From leaking Valerie Plame’s name to ruining careers for political game, these guys surpassed even the Nixon administration for dirty politics. Rove’s assertions that he wasn’t involved and that he couldn’t possibly remember a few harmless emails among the tens of thousands he’d sent always had the ring of protesting too much, and now we know why. And these were the guys who were going to restore integrity to the White House. My fond hope is that there’s enough there to convict this swine of perjury and/or contempt of Congress.
Tom Toles, Washington Post
John Sherffius, Boulder Daily Camera
Jeff Danziger, New York Times Syndicate
Late Night Political Jokes:
"Former Vice President Dick Cheney is working on his memoirs. People say when the book comes out President Bush is not going to be happy. Not because the book is critical of Bush, but because it's one of those books that's all words." -- Conan O'Brien
"Dick Cheney is back in the news. He's talking about his memoirs. Cheney said that George George Bush stopped taking his advice during the second term of their Administration. And in Bush's defense, I think it's pretty natural to lose trust in a guy who shoots his friends in the face." -- Jimmy Fallon
"Cheney also explained that the statute of limitations has expired on remaining silent about the Bush administration. Meanwhile, George Bush said: 'I love the statue of limitations. Beautiful lady. Is the torch open? Got to climb in the torch.'" -- Jimmy Fallon
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Tom Toles, Washington Post
Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Monte Wolverton, Cagle Cartoon
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8. Economy: Is the Recession Over?
Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette
Dan Wasserman, Boston Globe
Steve Benson, Arizona Republic
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9. Foreign Affairs: Comings and Goings
Jim Morin, Miami Herald
Ed Stein, United Media
With presidential elections approaching and a wave of U.S. troops who entered last month, Afghanistan has been struggling to establish itself as a stable state. The war that began after the 9/11 terrorist attacks has dragged on, and the only thing certain is that there's still a long road ahead.
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Mike Keefe, Denver Post
Peter Bromhead, Dominion-Post Wellington (Auckland, New Zealand)
Jimmy Margulies, New Jersey Record
Afghan Politics
Patrick Chappatte, International Herald Tribune
Tom Meyer, Meyer's Take
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10. Netroots Nation: Would Andy Warhol Have Liked Daily Kos?
Dave Walker, Cartoon Blog
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Were he alive today, would pop artist Any Warhol fit right in at Daily Kos? Read this interesting article in the Washington Post
When Warhol was musing on the fleeting nature of fame, Markos Moulitsas wasn't even born yet.
Today, Kos, as the liberal blogging pioneer is known, presides over a giant community of liberal activists and power brokers. The annual convention that brings them together, Netroots Nation, is taking place this weekend in Pittsburgh, a city chosen for its strong union roots and its eco-friendly convention center. Not officially, unofficially or probably even incidentally because it happens to be Warhol's home town...
The Internet is a Warholian idea, his friends say. It's a place of unlimited possibility and instant gratification. "The concept of being able to release whatever you want to say, to say whatever you want to say however you want to say it, and have the potential to reach such a large number of people instantly" is the essence of Warhol, Bockris says. "He was always very impatient to get out what he was saying." He'd have enjoyed push-button publishing.
Mikhaela Reid, mikhaela.net
Deep Throat Blog
Patrick Chappatte, International Herald Tribune
Jeff Koterba, Omaha World Herald
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11. Sports Talk: Comebacks and Confessions
Does Quarterback Michael Vick deserve a second chance to play again in the NFL? A prominent sports columnist says yes and writes about the four men most responsible for Vick's signing with the Philadelphia Eagles. Another article looks at a well-respected former football coach willing to put his reputation on the line.
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Tony Auth, Philadelphia Inquirer
Signe Wilkinson, Philadelphia Daily News
Randy Bish, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Jeff Stahler, Columbus Dispatch
University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino was named in a scandal involving sex, extortion, and abortion. Will he survive?
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Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader
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12. Back to School: A Sigh of Relief for Parents
Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press
Rick McKee, Augusta Chronicle (GA)
Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette
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13. Memories of Woodstock: Those Were the Days
Was Woodstock a haven for the overindulged, self-important youth of 1969? Some of my friends think so. But I think that, to its credit, pieces of Woodstock's own crazy world broke off and spun their way into a larger world, especially the one in which I dutifully participated; for about 10 years after Woodstock, its atmospherics were infectious.
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Marshall Ramsey, Clarion Ledger (MS)
Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader
Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
You went to Woodstock?
Bruce Plante, Tulsa World
Michael McParlane, Politicalcartoons.com
Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader
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14. R.I.P. Les Paul and Eunice Kennedy Shriver
Les Paul had a major impact on Rock 'N' Roll music. Here's a look at his guitar-playing disciples including, among others, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Keith Richards.
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How Jimi Hendrix Might Have Performed at Woodstock
Steve Breen, San Diego Union-Tribune
John Sherffius, Boulder Daily Camera
Jimmy Margulies, New Jersey Record
Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who died yesterday at 88, proved that a person doesn’t have to be president - or senator, or attorney general - to be transformative. Her role in advancing the prospects of people with disabilities went well beyond the Special Olympics, her signature initiative. She began talking about the possibilities of people with disabilities in the 1960s, when many believed that people with mental retardation weren’t even fit to live with their families.
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Mark Streeter, Savannah Morning News
Bob Englehart, Hartford Courant
Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com
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15. Final Thoughts
Finally, is there a serious generation gap between you and your kids?
Jeff Stahler, Columbus Dispatch
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A Note About the Diary Poll
If everyone who claims to have attended the Woodstock Festival had actually done so, there would have been millions of people at Max Yasgur's 600 acre dairy farm in the rural town of Bethel, New York from August 15 to August 18, 1969.
What did Yasgur think of this historic event once it was all over?
After the concert Max Yasgur, who owned the site of the event, saw it as a victory of peace and love. He spoke of how nearly half a million people filled with possibilities of disaster, riot, looting, and catastrophe spent the three days with music and peace on their minds. He states that "if we join them, we can turn those adversities that are the problems of America today into a hope for a brighter and more peaceful future..."
More information can be found at The Woodstock Project and also at this interactive website created by the original event's producers, Woodstock.Com.
Obviously I haven't listed all of the legendary performers at the festival and the choices in the diary poll are tough but you gotta choose one!