Posted on 01/10/2011 10:36:28 PM PST by roses of sharon
This afternoon, I saw perhaps the most troubling, irresponsible, disconnected-from-reality editorial cartoon I’ve ever seen published in a major American newspaper.
It’s one thing to hastily jump to conclusions before the facts are known, but it’s another to stick to those hasty conclusions in the face of contradictory facts. Unfortunately, that’s what cartoonist Jeff Danziger is doing. In all my years in politics, I have never contacted an editorial cartoonist, but I was so appalled by this cartoon, that today I did. To my surprise, Danziger replied. Below is our full exchange: —— Mr Danziger –
I’ve worked professionally in political communications for more than 16 years now – for Members of Congress, a Cabinet Secretary, many political candidates, and a variety of non-profit organizations. As a result, I’ve obviously seen many editorial cartoons with which I’ve disagreed. But I have never seen one as shamefully disgusting as the one I just saw on WashingtonPost.com that is credited to you.
In the cartoon, a violent gunman is shown inside a teapot. I take this to mean that you’re perpetuating the view the millions of law-abiding citizens who have marched in tea party rallies are somehow complicit in the horrible shooting that occurred in Tucson on Saturday.
As you should know, at this point, there appears to be absolutely no connection between the tea party and the troubled young man who pulled the trigger. Not an ideological connection. Not one shred of evidence that he ever attended a tea party rally or visited tea party websites. Not even any evidence that he was enflamed or motivated by over-the-top political rhetoric from either side of the aisle. To the contrary, all the evidence that is currently available points to the complete opposite of all of these claims.
For you to willfully and purposely advance an incredibly explosive accusation for which there is not one shred of evidence does a disservice to you and to the American public. I generally agree with critics who say that over-the-top rhetoric — on both the left and right — should be dialed back, but when you and others imply or outright claim that millions of patriotic citizens are accessories to a gruesome mass murder, you’re only making matters much, much worse.
Sincerely, -Ed Frank —– Dear Mr. Frank-
Thanks for your letter.
I disagree. In a larger sense there is a link between anti-government rhetoric and the actions of this obviously deranged man. He is not “troubled”, he is crazed. But he knows that the larger enemy is the “government”, even though I suspect he has no idea, other than the police, what the government is. So in my experience, there is plenty of linkage, the linkage of a constant steady pressure, constant yammering on right wing radio, and constant political advertising to strike at the government, linking to a weak and distracted mind, inured to the real cost of violence by video games and super-violent films. And to this the easy availability of Glocks in a state like Arizona, and the result is more than predictable. Only willful political opportunism could blind anmyone to it. This same connection drove Timothy McVeigh and others. This won’t, I regret to say, be the last incident, not as long as the self-hatred in this country goes unanswered.
The drawing, which was designed to go with an article rather than stand by itself, is not shameful nor disgusting. It is designed like all oped art to be provocative and interpretative. It shows a point of view which relates the hyperbole of the tea party people to the actions of a disturbed mentality. The disgusting part is the lack of inclination to blame the people untimately responsible. They are again being given a pass for the viciousness they have engendered, at least in part.
I would guess that your experience is on one political side rather than the other. I am on neither. I want all this goddam noise and manufactured strife to stop. I want people to work toward a better country. I think I have earned the right to insist on it. I am not a Democrat nor a Republican, neither left nor right. I was drafted and served in Vietnam and was awarded a Bronze Star and an Air Medal and received a field commission. That probably means less to me than to others, but I don’t have to apologize to anyone for my views. This may not equate to working in political communications as you have done, but it counts for something.
Nevertheless, I appreciate your writing and will bear your remarks in mind in future.
All best wishes,
Jeff Danziger —- Mr. Danziger –
I appreciate your service to our nation, and you’re definitely entitled to your opinion, but I ask you to provide one piece of actual evidence for this statement:
“In a larger sense there is a link between anti-government rhetoric and the actions of this obviously deranged man.”
To my knowledge, none exists. The fact that tea-party activists generally support smaller government does not create a “link” between them and “crazed” individuals who may be generally anti-government or anti-establishment. Everything I’ve seen thus far suggests that there’s not much separating this gunman from the emotionally disturbed killers at Virginia Tech and Columbine, other than the establishment symbols that they ultimately targeted – schools vs. Congress.
Furthermore, I have to take issue with your comparison to Oklahoma City. In that case, there was actual evidence that Tim McVeigh’s horrible and unforgivable action was in direct response to the Waco raid and other DOJ actions of the time. To date, none of the evidence coming out of Tucson indicates that the shooter acted in response to any specific governmental action or political statement whatsoever – including anything coming out of the tea party.
Finally, I must take issue with your statement that there is a “lack of inclination to blame the people ultimately responsible.” At this point, the only person responsible for this action is the guy who pulled the trigger.
If it’s ok with you, I’d like to publish our exchange on my blog. In any case, thanks for your reply. I strongly disagree with your conclusions, but I do appreciate your time.
-Ed
UPDATE: 10:00 pm EST:
Ed. We are not in court. I have been watching the development of this combination of loons and opportunists since it started. The Tea Party, the very name is ridiculous. Crazed fat people tortured by their lack of success in life, following the absolute worst of our politicians. Palin, Angel, Quayle’s rotten kid. These people are your choice for anything? The whole thing is based on unreality. Don’t you understand? And Mcveigh was reading that crazy shit from the enbd times or whagtever it is called.
In the end the government has GOT to work. We are in competition with the world. Car companies don’t compete. nation now compete. And these asses want to go back to the 1700′s. I’ve written enough. The whole thing is probably unstoppable except with another dumb war. That’s what usually happens. You can have it.
Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik failed to protect the community.
Even the college saw this man as a threat.
AZ involuntary commitment laws would have bolstered what the Community College saw and acted upon.
This is much bigger than the Sheriff or the murderer.
Read the last paragraph by the Washintong Post Cartoonist.
This is what the people that rule us...think of us, while they steal our livelihoods and our private healthcare!
I Guess the left’s rhetoric directed against the Bush administration and Republicans for the past 10 years wasn’t inflammatory or anti-government or in any way over the top. I think the left suffers from their own form of mental illness/retardation which renders them completely incapable of recalling anything inconvenient.
I know.
Whether it’s birds falling from the sky in Arkansas or the tragedy in Tucson, it’s going to be used in an attempt to expand the fed, raise taxes and reduce our rights.
The theme never changes they just insert the newest tragedy or issue.
One could write an algorithm that churns their hate out.
“Read the last paragraph by the Washintong Post Cartoonist.”
I haven’t read something as illogical and bizarre as that since...well, reading some of Loughner’s ramblings.
Yeah, he’s not on either side. Of course not. We can see so clearly how unbiased he is.....and moderate too. /s
All these leftists have become even more unhinged and vilely abusive than usual in the last couple of days as their “Jared=Tea Party” meme falls apart.
Parhaps this will help.
-Chris Matthews fantasizing on air about seeing Rush Limbaugh shot in the head.
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/10/13/video-matthews-muses-on-killing-rush-limbaugh/
-Sandra Bernhard: Sarah Palin should be GANG RAPED if she comes to New York.
-The Craig Kilborn Show superimposing the words “Snipers Wanted” over the face of President George W. Bush.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/kilborn-cbs-target-bush-0
-Nobel “Peace Prize” winner Betty Williams publicly stating her desire to murder President George W. Bush.
http://hotair..com/archives/2006/07/25/give-murder-a-chance/
-British film makers Gabriel Range and Simon Finch making a 2006 movie fantasizing about assassinating President George W. Bush.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0853096/
-Alec Baldwin urging the murder of Henry Hyde, his family, and ALL Congressional Republicans and their families on national television.....
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5991332/alec_baldwin_for_congress.html?cat=9
-David Guy McKay and Bradley Neil Crowder, two America-hating left-wing terrorists, were arrested by the FBI after conspiring to firebomb Republicans at the 2008 GOP Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The American Media refused to report the story.
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-194812.html
-NPR commentator and ABC News reporter Nina Totenberg wishes death by AIDS on Senator Jesse Helms and/or his grandchildren.
http://www.mrc.org/notablequotables/dishonor1999/welcomeaward6.asp
-Julianne Malveaux publicly wishes death on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
http://www.holeinthehull.com/2010/07/julianne-malveaux-wishes-clarence-thomas-dead.htm
-Obama supporter bites off finger of Tea Party supporter.
-Last but certainly not least, then-candidate Barack Hussein Obama promised to bring a gun to a knife fight.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/06/14/obama-if-they-bring-a-knife-to-the-fight-we-bring-a-gun/
Later, as President of the United States, BHO told Democrats to “punch back twice as hard.”
Kick out God and respect for innocent human life, and violence is the inevitable result
AIPNews.com
January 9, 2011
by Tom Hoefling
A day after the brutal Tucson murders of Federal Judge John Roll and five others, an attack that also left Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and a dozen others severely wounded, the leftwing media and political elites are making a sickening spectacle of themselves as they finger-point and try to shift and affix blame. My suggestion is that they stand in front of a mirror when they’re doing it.
But before I spell out why, let me say that the primary blame in this case lies with the godless young man who pulled the trigger. He made the conscious, callous, brutal choice to become a mass murderer.
However, even before we really look much at the various scraps of personal information about the shooter that are already coming in, we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt what sort of socio-political phenomenon he reflects.
First, this is an individual who doesn’t fear God.
Second, this is a person who has no regard for the innocent lives of his fellow human beings, each and every one of whom were created in God’s image.
Those two things are one hundred percent certain.
Let me ask you, what modern American ideology does such a viewpoint mirror?
To whatever extent this mass murderer’s ideology is represented by his actions, it is the ideology of the American Left.
For decades, the Left has gone to any length to try and drive God out of our national life. Everyone knows it. This is not even debatable. And young people such as Jared Lee Loughner, like the Columbine High School killers before him, are not only the main targets of that worldview, they are commonly the most susceptible.
For decades, the Left has politically empowered the daily slaughter of thousands of defenseless babes in the womb via abortion. And they have done so with an uncompromising fervor. It’s like a religion to them. Because of that ghoulish, selfish, purposeful obsession, our national hands are drenched in the blood of more than fifty million innocent little boys and girls, and countless individual consciences have been seared into apathy towards acts of unspeakable violence.
Liberals can’t face themselves concerning any of this. They won’t admit the truth about what the poison fruit of their unjust ideology is. That’s why they are simply incapable of doing anything except what they’re doing: pointing fingers at others, primarily on the Right.
But what do I see the political Right doing today, as the Left tries to pin their own ideological sins on others?
Praying for the victims and their families.
Decrying the violence.
Crying out for justice.
Look in the mirror, America. And if you don’t like what you see? Get right with the One Who made you. Recognize the incalculable eternal value of every single one of your fellow human beings, no matter how developed, or “wanted,” or whether they agree with you politically or not. Work to reestablish an American culture that acknowledges God and which passes our priceless heritage of justice based on the protection of unalienable God-given rights on to the young - instead of brainwashing them with godless liberal ideology, or killing them before they can even be born.
Return to the timeless principles Frederick Douglass long ago called "the ringbolt of our nation’s destiny":
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men…”One last note to those on the Right:
“As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.” – Proverbs 26:2If you’re not pushing a merciless, godless, violent, death-loving ideology (like they are) you have nothing to worry about. Their unjust accusations won’t stick. Just keep doing the right thing. Keep praying. Keep defending life. Keep working to push back the godless, lawless, destructive delusions espoused by the Left, and God will work it all out.
The cartoon is based on nothing.
It is pretty clear that the people that got their hats handed to them in the last election and their media whores have become even more unbalanced. Savage is right, liberalism is a mental disorder.
“The whole thing is probably unstoppable except with another dumb war.”
(the MSM’s voice of moderation)
The cartoonist equates coincidence with causation. They are not the same thing. He probably knows this but has an agenda.
I mean really, how ridiculous do you look insisting that a bunch of Christian “fundies” somehow inspires a guy WITH A FREAKING SKULL ALTAR IN HIS BACK YARD?
A skull altar.
Careful we must not enrage the ailing.
Probably into a few brews at that point.
Not that I've ever done anything like that.
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