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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Klan Soap: Never Gets the Dirt Out
Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News
Introduction
The past week's editorial cartoons on healthcare reflect a number of confusing and contradictory statements coming out of the Obama Administration. Lacking (as yet) a clear plan that unifies all constituencies in the Democratic Party, the cartoonists are joining hands with many prominent newspaper columnists in urging President Barack Obama to offer policy and moral clarity and, importantly, much-needed leadership to the process that we all hope will result in "real" heathcare reform.
At the same time, most cartoonists were unrelenting in their criticism of the Republican Party in failing to offer clear policy alternatives other than to simply hand Obama an embarrassing legislative defeat. It also resulted in some of the best cartoons in recent months. It is instructive that not many (if any) Republican Congressional leaders have condemned the dangerous, disruptive, and uncivil tactics used by their supporters at town hall meetings where proponents of reform have inexplicably been referred to as "Nazis," "fascists," and "socialists." When some wingnuts have carried guns to meetings, conservative radio talk show hosts have resorted to defending such outrageous behavior as ordinary people exercising their 2nd Amendment rights.
Cartoonist Matt Bors, who draws for several alternative weeklies, posted this chilling photograph on his blog after it was revealed that protestor William Kostnic was seen carrying an unconcealed gun and a provocative sign -- one that referred to Thomas Jefferson's quote of spilling the "blood of patriots and tyrants" -- near Barack Obama's town hall meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Why, you might ask, didn't the police confront and detain Kostnic? Because, according to state laws, his behavior was not illegal.
I'm sure many of you saw this report on CNN as well as New York Times columnist Frank Rich discussing this disturbing Rightwing behavior on Rachel Maddow's MSNBC show in which both praised the professionalism of the United States Secret Service. If you missed it, I would encourage you to watch these videos and draw your own conclusions. Both Rich and Maddow reiterated their confidence in the Service's ability to protect our elected leaders from harm.
Still...
Kevin Moore, In Contempt, see Moore's blog entry on Patriots and Tyrants
The good news perhaps is that the end-of-Summer silliness is about to give way to the seriousness of the Fall season. Will Democratic leaders stand up for their beliefs and for the rights of tens of millions of uninsured Americans and those with health coverage but without access to needed health services? Or, as has been the case for the past couple of weeks, will confusion, waffling, and indecision continue to reign? We will find out in the next few weeks.
In other issues, the elections in Afghanistan and the difficult conditions under which they were conducted received close attention. The release of the Lockerbie Bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi drew a ferociously negative reaction. Sprinter Usain Bolt's recording-breaking feats in track and field were celebrated. Quarterback Brett Favre's Hamlet-like behavior and second un-retirement in two years was looked at with some skepticism. Finally, Tom Delay's announcement that he would be a participant in 'Dancing With the Stars' was largely met with sneers and jeers.
I hope you enjoy the wide array of cartoons below as much as I did.
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1. CARTOONS OF THE WEEK
The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
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The above cartoons are by Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News and Chan Lowe, South Florida Sun-Sentinel. For larger images, click here and here.
Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Indecision 2009: Where is the Passion?
One thing I'm quite sure of is that President Barack Obama is getting a flood of unsolicited advice on how to reconcile various factions within the Democratic Party on the critical issue of Healthcare Reform and what ought to be his approach in dealing with a weakened opposition party.
Cartoonist Chan Lowe of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel -- who drew the above 'Obama-as-FDR' cartoon -- writes in his blog that getting something passed is better than nothing as government programs always are expanded as the years go by
There are several ways to look at this.
You could say -- if you were a starry-eyed believer in the Obama campaign speeches of a year ago -- that the so-called "public option" was already a compromise from a pure single-payer plan, which is the holy grail for the left. So this is a compromise of a compromise, or in other words, a sellout.
Or, you could say that Barack Obama is a pragmatist, and that by abandoning one of the cornerstones of his health care reform plan, he is merely acknowledging reality. A partial loaf is better than nothing at all.
Columnist Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post wonders if Republicans are more motivated in stopping any reform efforts than Democrats are in passing it
There's not enough passion on the Democratic side, not enough heat. There's some radiating from the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, too little emanating from the Democratic majority in the Senate, and not nearly enough coming from President Obama. Republicans, by contrast, have little going for them except passion -- but they're using it to impressive effect.
Reporter Dan Balz of the Washington Post wrote an excellent article yesterday in which he cited concerns from the Left of the Democratic Party
Through most of the summer, opposition to President Obama and his health-care initiative has come almost entirely from the right. In the past week, however, the president has been trying to tamp down a noisy uprising on the left.
The immediate cause for the rebellion is growing concern among Obama's progressive allies that he is prepared to deal away the public insurance option to win passage of a health-care bill. Obama insists that he still prefers the public option as part of any legislative package, but some friends on the left now clearly doubt his resolve.
That has given way to broader criticisms: Is Obama tough enough to defeat the interests arrayed against health-care legislation? Has he lost the passion that was such an asset during the campaign? Have his rhetorical skills been muted as he descends into the dry, arcane details of health care? Is he too enamored of bipartisan consensus, given what is seen as Republican implacability? Has he given up the moral high ground in the health-care battle?
Tom Tomorrow, This Modern World, read the large number of Letters to the Editor in response to this cartoon in Salon.com.
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Tom writes in his blog
You know what the healthcare debate could use right now? Profanity.
Seriously. I’m not kidding.
The debate over healthcare has become so poisoned with lies and bitterness, we need something to really shake it up. Something that really grabs attention and is a game changer media-wise. If I were in charge of media strategy for the White House, I’d get Joe Biden on a high profile interview show and when the subject turns to the townhall protests/death panels/etc., I’d have him say that it’s "bullshit."
The Quarterback must call the right play...
Bruce Plante, Tulsa World
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... or, confusion reigns, and his own team ends up tackling him...
Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press, see reader comments in the newspaper
Note: cartoon submitted by Sandy on Signal.
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... which results in a fumble and the Public Option takeaway
John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune
Lloyd Dangle, Troubletown, read Dangle's thoughts on the Public Option in his blog
Vic Harville, Stephens Media Group (Little Rock, AR)
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Don't despair though. Here's how you can help: read this action diary -- The Activist's Complete Guide to Health Care Reform by Everyday Citizen -- as it details a lot that you can do to make Healthcare Reform a reality.
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2. Fearmongers Amongst Us
John Sherffius, Boulder Daily Camera
Matt Bors, Idiot Box
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Columnist Richard Cohen accuses Sarah Palin of McCarthyite tactics, fearmongering, and for poisoning the debate over healthcare
As with McCarthyism, Palinism is a product of its times. McCarthy exploited the public's fear of communism and communists. Not only were they abroad, but they were here in America -- spies, fellow travelers, pinkos, apologists, intellectuals and short, bespectacled minorities. It was their very ubiquity and invisibility that made them so dangerous.
Health care reform provides Palin with the same opportunity.
Bob Englehart, Hartford Courant, read Englehart's thoughts on how fear tactics are being used to intimidate people
Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press, see reader comments in response to this cartoon by Bennett
Tim Eagan, Deep Cover
Mark Streeter, Savannah Morning News
No Freedom from Fear
John Cole, Scranton Times-Tribune
Weekend Opinionator: Politics on Red Alert
Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News
Bruce Plante, Tulsa World
Steve Sack, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Tim Goheen, McClatchy Newspapers
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3. Intimidation and Scare Tactics: The Guns of August
Stuart Carlson, Universal Press Syndicate
Jim Day, Las Vegas Review-Journal
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If you haven't done so as yet, I would urge everyone to read this fantastic article by Frank Rich of the New York Times. He tries to make sense of all the guns being brought to town hall meetings and cites some scary historical facts
I have been writing about the simmering undertone of violence in our politics since October, when Sarah Palin, the vice-presidential candidate of a major political party, said nothing to condemn Obama haters shrieking "Treason!," "Terrorist!" and "Off with his head!" at her rallies. As vacation beckons, I’d like to drop the subject, but the atmosphere keeps getting darker...
This uptick in the radical right predates the health care debate that is supposedly inspiring all the gun waving. Nor can this movement be attributed to a stepped-up attack by Democrats on this crowd’s holy Second Amendment. Since taking office, Obama has disappointed gun-control advocates by relegating his campaign pledge to reinstate the ban on assault weapons to the down-low.
No, the biggest contributor to this resurgence of radicalism remains panic in some precincts about a new era of cultural and demographic change. As the sociologist Daniel Bell put it, "What the right as a whole fears is the erosion of its own social position, the collapse of its power, the increasing incomprehensibility of a world — now overwhelmingly technical and complex — that has changed so drastically within a lifetime."
Chris Britt, State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL)
Steve Benson, Arizona Republic
Ron Rogers, South Bend Tribune
Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader
Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune
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4. Town Howlers: The Madness Continues
Tom Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle
Steve Benson, Arizona Republic
Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press
John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune
Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press
Adam Zyglis, Buffalo News
Steve Breen, San Diego Union-Tribune
Jeff Darcy, Cleveland Plain-Dealer
Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com
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5. Public vs Private Healthcare Options: The Debate Escalates
Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle, see reader comments in the newspaper.
The Struggle
Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press, see reader comments in the newspaper
David Fitzsimmons, Arizona Star
Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader
Ed Stein, edsteinink.com
Pat Oliphant, Universal Press Syndicate
Paul Szep, Huffington Post
Dan Wasserman, Boston Globe
Government Probe
Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune
Steve Sack, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Steve Breen, San Diego Union-Tribune
Paul Szep, Huffington Post
Steve Breen, San Diego Union-Tribune
Jack Ohman, Portland Oregonian
Side Effects
Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette
Matt Wuerker, Politico
Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader
Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Slowpoke, Jen Sorensen
U.S. Health Insurance Motto
R.J. Matson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Signe Wilkinson, Philadelphia Daily News
Jim Morin, The Miami Herald
Joel Pett, USA Today
Mark Streeter, Savannah Morning News
Mike Thompson, Detroit Free Press
Clay Jones, Freelance-Star, (Fredericksburg, VA)
Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
John Sherffius, Boulder Daily Camera
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6. Barack Obama: The Calm Before the Storm
Shakin' Up the Vineyard
Mark Streeter, Savannah Morning News
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What should Barack Obama and the Democratic majority do with regards to healthcare reform upon their return from vacation? Joan Walsh of Salon.com has some suggestions
It seems to me it's time for Obama and his Democratic allies to define and back the bill they know will expand healthcare coverage and bring down costs most effectively, not merely the bill they think they can get through Congress. If they push it, and they lose, they can regroup and figure out what to do next. Maybe they save the big push for the House-Senate conference committee. But if they back the cowardly, insurance-company-funded Democrat/GOP compromise right now, they will lose even if they win – and taxpayers and health care recipients will lose the most.
Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com
Mike Thompson, Detroit Free Press, read comments in the newspaper in response to this cartoon
Mike Scott, NewJerseyNewsroom.com
Ron Rogers, South Bend Tribune
Steve Kelley, New Orleans Times-Picayune
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7. GOP: Showing Their True Colors
V.C. Rogers, Independent Weekly
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What is the state of today's Republican Party? Harold Meyerson explains
Today's Palinoidal Republicans have lost most of the professionals, much of Wall Street and an increasing chunk of suburbia. What they can claim is the allegiance of the white South and the almost entirely white, non-urban parts of the Mountain West. Of the 40 Republican members of the Senate, fully half -- 20 -- come from the old Confederacy, the Civil War border states where slavery was legal or Oklahoma, which politically is an extension of Texas without Texas's racial minorities. Ten others come from the Mountain West. The rest of the nation -- that is, of course, most of the nation -- has become an ever-smaller share of Republican ranks.
All parties are home to distinct subcultures with distinct beliefs. What's different about today's GOP is that increasingly, it is home to just one, and a whole sector of the media -- Fox News, talk radio -- makes its money by emphasizing this subculture's sense of separateness, grievance and alarm, and by creating its own set of "facts."
Bill Day, Memphis Commercial Appeal
Steve Benson, Arizona Republic
Paul Szep, Huffington Post
Sarah Palin and Death Panels
Jimmy Margulies, New Jersey Record
Tim Goheen, McClatchy Newspapers
Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com
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8. Dirty Dancing: Dancing With the Stars Indicted
Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle, see reader comments in the newspaper. From 1985 until he resigned his office in 2006, Tom Delay represented District 22 which included Sugarland, a suburb of Houston, Texas
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Matea Gold of the Los Angeles Times writes this about Tom Delay's foray into dancing
In a move startling even by the outlandish standards of reality television, "Dancing With the Stars" announced Monday that former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay -- a pugnacious politician under indictment for alleged money-laundering -- will be a contestant in the upcoming season.
DeLay will join the likes of singer Macy Gray, actress Melissa Joan Hart and entertainer Donny Osmond on the ninth season of the ABC show, which premieres Sept. 21. It's the highest-profile move by the former Republican power broker since he left Congress in 2006 after being indicted in Texas in 2005 in connection with alleged campaign finance violations, in a case that is still pending.
Jimmy Margulies, New Jersey Record
Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Danziger, New York Times Syndicate
Bruce Beattie, Daytona News-Journal
Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com
Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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9. Foreign Affairs: Elections and Stability in Afghanistan?
Taylor Jones, Politicalcartoons.com
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In this superb front page post, Meteor Blades argues that British and American casualties are rising in Afghanistan at a faster rate than in Iraq. While the Afghanistan War is the subject of intense debate in the U.K., here in the United States it has become the "invisible war." He urges all progressives to pay close attention to this conflict and while the healthcare fight is very important, both our leaders and all of us can and, indeed, should be able to multitask.
Under the circumstances, the near silence from progressives is deplorable. A good leader, as our new President said during the campaign, must multitask. Nothing gives us immunity from that admonition. Given that 70% of Democrats polled now say the war isn’t worth fighting, and a plurality of 45% of Americans say the number of troops should be reduced, while only 24% say they should be increased, what's stopped our tongues?
John Sherffius, Boulder Daily Camera
Jeff Danziger, New York Times Syndicate
Jeff Darcy, Cleveland Plain-Dealer
Steve Nease, Oakville Beaver (Ontario, Canada)
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Afghan Vote Catching
Paresh Nath, Khaleej Times, (UAE)
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Scared of Violet Fingers
Riber Hansson, Freelance Cartoonist, www.riber.net (Sweden)
Patrick Chappatte, International Herald Tribune
Bob Englehart, Hartford Courant, read Englehart's blog entry accompanying this cartoon
Chan Lowe, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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Cartoonist Chan Lowe of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel writes about the incredible loss of Iraqi and American lives in an unnecessary war with the opportunity cost at home being extremely high too
There are several tragedies playing out as the Iraq war winds down. Well, as it winds down for us.
The first tragedy is the incredible loss of human life suffered on all sides.
Then, there's the tragedy of a great nation allowing itself to get bamboozled into a needless conflict, siphoning off its strength into a sand pit while the real threat lay elsewhere.
Jeff Danziger, New York Times Syndicate
Steve Sack, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
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10. Economy: Mixed Signals
August J. Pollak, Some Guy With a Website
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The Washington Post had this front page story which detailed the lifestyle of a divorced mother of two children with a live-in nanny in Harrison, New York in affluent Westchester County. Everyone should have problems like these
Squeaking by on $300,000
Life in this $2.5 million house was built on the premise of two incomes, not the income of a divorced mother of three in a tanked economy. Her property taxes are $35,000 a year, the nanny is $40,000 and the gardener is $500 a month...
As a vice president at MasterCard's corporate office in Purchase, N.Y., she earns a base pay of $150,000 plus a bonus. This year she'll take home 10 percent less because of a smaller bonus. She receives $75,000 a year in child support from her ex-husband. She figures she will pull an additional $50,000 from a personal investment account to "pick up the slack."
The nanny and property taxes take $75,000 right off the top, but Steins considers both non-negotiable facts of her life and not discretionary. When she bought out her husband's share of the house after their 2006 divorce, she assumed the costs of keeping it afloat -- $8,000 to $10,000 a month. There's a pool man, a gardener and someone to plow the snow from the quarter-mile-long driveway.
As tight as money is, she has decided that living in a 4,000-square-foot house on three acres is the practical thing to do. "A), I couldn't sell the house right now," she says, citing the slow real estate market. "B), this is where my kids go to school. And C), it's where my job is."
Hope for the Jobless
Jimmy Margulies, New Jersey Record
Signe Wilkinson, Philadelphia Daily News
Mike Thompson, Detroit Free Press, read comments in the newspaper in response to this cartoon and successful government program
Jeff Parker, Florida Today, see blog entry by the cartoonist in which he "celebrates" this development
Chris Britt, State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL)
Tony Auth, Philadelphia Inquirer
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11. The Lockerbie Bomber: Twenty Years Later
Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle, see reader comments in the newspaper in response to the cartoon and story
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On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland killing 270 people. Convicted of the murders of all these people in 2001, Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was sentenced to life imprisonment but released a few days ago by the Scottish Government on "compassionate grounds" as he has terminal cancer.
Brian Flynn of New York City, whose brother died in the explosion, wrote this in the Guardian newspaper
The Pan Am bombing was the largest single terrorist attack against the United States or the United Kingdom prior to September 11. Megrahi has served less than one month in prison for each person he killed. After all the years of fighting terrorism on their own soil, you would think that the UK wouldn't be so quick to send a terrorist back into the loving arms of the people who masterminded the deaths of so many innocents.
Fine, send him back, but make sure he's in a pine box before you do so.
John Sherffius, Boulder Daily Camera
Steve Breen, San Diego Union-Tribune
John Cole, Scranton Times-Tribune
Steve Greenberg, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com
Tim Goheen, McClatchy Newspapers
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12. 40th Anniversary of the Woodstock Festival
Jeff Darcy, Cleveland Plain-Dealer
Steve Breen, San Diego Union-Tribune
R.J. Matson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Ted Rall, Universal Press Syndicate
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13. Back to School
R.J. Matson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle, read comments in the newspaper in response to this cartoon
Jeff Stahler, Columbus Dispatch
Jeff Koterba, Omaha World Herald
College Tuition
Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette
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14. Sports Talk: Lightning Bolt and Favre's Return
Cartoonist Rob Rogers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette admonishes those who have criticized Quarterback Brett Favre for coming out of retirement. Again.
Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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Let Favre Be Favre!
I am tired of everybody griping and moaning over whether or not Brett Favre retires! Leave the guy alone. The former Green Bay Packers quarterback has certainly earned the right to change his mind if he wants to. Why do people think he owes it to them to make a decision and stick with it? Just because he's a pro athlete? Come on! Who wouldn't want to continue his or her career (especially if it was their passion) if they could. Would you let others tell you when it's time to quit? No. So, quit yer bellyachin' and let Favre be Favre!
However, Bob Englehart of the Hartford Courant has some fun at Favre's expense
Bob Englehart, Hartford Courant
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The Vikings? A division rival of the Packers? Brett Favre makes Benedict Arnold look like Audie Murphy. I feel bad for the Vikings and I'm not even a fan. Ahhh, but on the bright side, football season is just around the corner (preseason doesn't count). It's great to be drawing a sports cartoon. What a relief from health care premium reform, public options, Blue Dogs and death panels.
Stuart Carlson, Universal Press Syndicate
Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Steve Sack, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Marshall Ramsey, Clarion Ledger (Jackson, MS)
Pat Oliphant, Universal Press Syndicate
Henry Payne, Detroit News
Sprinter Usain Bolt of Jamaica was compared favorably to Olympics legend Jesse Owens by a British newspaper. Bolt "redefined the limits of human capability with his world records of 9.58sec in the 100m and 19.19sec in the 200m."
Jeff Koterba, Omaha World Herald
Mike Keefe, Denver Post
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The Bolt
Petar Pismestrovic, Kleine Zeitung, (Austria)
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15. R.I.P.: Don Hewitt and Robert Novak
Don Hewitt was one of the giants of American television. He was the creator of CBS' '60 Minutes,' the longest-running prime time news program on television. He also directed the 1960 Presidential Debates between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon and was the Executive Producer of the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite..
Mark Streeter, Savannah Morning News
Robert Novak was an influential syndicated columnist, journalist, and political commentator. In recent years, he was best known for having leaked the identity of C.I.A. Agent Valerie Plame in 2003.
Rovert Novak 1931-2009
Taylor Jones, Hoover Digest
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He also knew that it would be a big part of his legacy
"There’s no question if you walked out of here and I dropped dead, my obit would probably have [the Plame affair] in the lede," Robert Novak told the Observer in 2007. "I don’t have too many years left, so that’s probably what it’ll be. The idea that that’s my legacy is unfortunate, but that’s the way it turned out."
As predicted, the first paragraph of today’s New York Times obituary described him as a "pugnacious political columnist and cable television fixture" who had "revealed the name of a CIA officer, setting the stage for a criminal investigation."
Ambassador Joe Wilson
Taylor Jones, Hoover Digest
Valerie Plame
Taylor Jones, Politicalcartoons.com
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16. Final Thoughts
Social Networking
Finally, do you think Vincent Van Gogh would have sold more paintings and been a lot more famous had he used Facebook and Twitter? Everyone can use some exposure to announce their worth to the world. Vince was somewhat of a loner who might have benefited from a bit more contact with the outside world. Then again, maybe not.
Ruben Bolling, Tom the Dancing Bug, see Letters to the Editor in response to this cartoon in Salon.com
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A Note About the Diary Poll
J.D. Crowe, Mobile Register
This is one of those debates that will probably never end. More than statistics and wins in big games, a great quarterback also possesses certain intangibles that are subjective by definition and almost impossible to quantify. So much also depends upon the makeup of the quarterback's team and the quality of his intended targets including receivers, tight ends, and running backs.
How does one answer this question?
Answering who the best quarterback of all time is will likely spark great debate. The reason for such debate is that criterion determining a best quarterback varies considerably. Some people examine specific statistics, like pass completion average, ability to run the ball, ability to come from behind, average touch down to interception ratio, or quick release. Not all of these statistics may be used in determining best quarterback. Further, many believe that since a quarterback should inspire a team, so the most important factor in determining best quarterback of all time should simply be Super Bowl wins.
Was Sonny Jurgensen the best pure passer ever? Should Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw, each having won 4 Super Bowl titles, be atop this list? How about Tom Brady and Troy Aikman with three titles apiece? Were Johnny Unitas and John Elway two of the toughest to ever play the position? Even though Dan Marino never won a title, shouldn't he be considered one of the most creative passers of all time? And, one should always include Brett Favre on this list.
There are a number of other great players not included in the poll. Steve Young, Fran Tarkenton, Dan Fouts, Warren Moon, and Roger Staubach come to mind. Even so, who is your pick and why'd you choose him? In this poll, I'm going to be a homer and, as a diehard Washington Redskins fan, pick Sonny Jurgensen because Coach Vince Lombardi considered Sonny to be the best that he had ever seen. :)