Cartoon in [LA] Times Prompts Inquiry by Secret Service [who are rebuffed]

LA Times ^ | 7/22/3

[NativeNewYorker]

An editorial cartoon in The Times that depicted a man pointing a gun at President Bush prompted a visit to the newspaper's offices Monday by a Secret Service agent, who asked to speak to cartoonist Michael Ramirez.

The agent was turned away.

A Secret Service official said the inquiry was routine, according to Karlene Goller, an attorney for The Times who met with the agent and later spoke to an official in the agency's Los Angeles office. The government asks questions of anyone publishing material that might be construed as a threat against the president.

[NativeNewYorker]

The agent was turned away.

...some are more equal than others.

[em2vn]

I also took the cartoon to mean the president was being assassinated by his political enemies' rhetoric. I don't understand why the catoonist didn't meet with the Secret Service agent.

[sirchtruth]

The agent was turned away.

B.S.-This did not happen the way it was intended for the reader to inteperet.

I guarantee all of you there is more to it than this!

[NativeNewYorker]

there is more to it than this

Such as?

[el_texicano]

Personally, I got the point of the cartoon, but it was a poor choice of image. That same point could just as well have been done with a number of different images and gotten the point across just as well.

Again, it was an extremely poor choice and one that should not be tolerated. You might as well yell "HI JACK" while boarding an airline flight.

[sirchtruth]

Such as?

I have no inside info, but when is the last time you have heard of the Sec. Serv. being "Turned Away"

Like they came to the door, and the LAT said "go away"...and they just did.

[George Smiley]

You have to understand the context of the cartoon.

Just in case anybody's not familiar with the historical reference, the cartoon in question mimics a famous photograph taken in Saigon during the Vietnam war where a (deputy?) chief of the Saigon police force is about to summarily execute a Viet Cong spy.

Further context: the publication of this photograph (LIFE magazine?) to turn public opinion against the South Vietnamese. It's almost as famous as the photo of the girl running down the road naked after the South Vietnamese napalmed her village.

The obvious implication once proper context has been applied is that the political shenanigans by the Democrats and the Left against President Bush will backfire.

Now does everybody feel better?

[Lazamataz]

The agent was turned away.

Preferred end to the story:

Upon being turned away, the agent returned with a squad of Special Weapons officers in an armored personnel carrier. After a short firefight in which 12 employees of the Los Angeles Times were killed or wounded, Ramirez was taken into custody for questioning. Ramirez was charged with Resisting Arrest.

[Lazamataz]

Now does everybody feel better?

No.

Don't draw pictures of the president about to be killed, publish it, and expect not to be questioned.

[NativeNewYorker]

I intstantly grasped what the cartoonist meant to say, and you are of course correct.

But Lord! What an awful way to communicate the idea!

[joesnuffy]

General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, The Director of South Vietnamese National Police

Tet '68 -Saigon under Martial Law- This Viet Cong was caught after murdering the families (mothers and children) of Saigon Police officers. He was properly executed under martial law.

[NativeNewYorker]

Like they came to the door, and the LAT said "go away"...and they just did.

These days, nothing surprises me.

[zeugma]

Or apparently wear a button with "Suspected Terrorist" on it.

[George Smiley]

Good taste is not a prerequisite for those who would draw cartoons.

Or (not targeting you, NNY) for those who would post on Free Republic, for that matter.

Hence the moderation here.

[NativeNewYorker]

Ever since the JFK assassination, images of assassinating presidents have been essentially taboo. Hence the shock and revulsion this *understandable* image generates.

[Gladwin]

The cartoonist should be taken to Guantanamo Bay as an enemy combatant, since it is a threat against the president during wartime. Only a traitor or an enemy would do such a thing, and so maybe a year or two at Gitmo will serve as a warning to anyone else who thinks they can get away with threatening Bush.

[sirchtruth]

These days, nothing surprises me.

Actually you make the point of the day.

Nothing should surprise us anymore after Clinton!

[berserker]

You're pretty quick to send American citizens off to Guantanamo, aren't you? Don't you believe in the Constitution? Note your premise is also wrong:

Workers at a gallery prepare a copy of the Vietnam War era picture of South Vietnamese general Nguyen Ngoc Loan shooting a Vietcong prisoner. Cartoonist Michael Ramirez used the picture as inspiration for a recent cartoon showing President George W. Bush as the victim and a figure labeled "politics" as the shooter to a backdrop of a bombed-out city labeled "Iraq." The drawing sparked keen interest from the Secret Service who sent an agent round to question Ramirez, until Republican Congressman Christopher Cox stepped in to rescue the cartoonist who had meant the drawing to be supportive of Bush (AFP/File/Greg Wood)

[StriperSniper]

I don't understand why the catoonist didn't meet with the Secret Service agent.

The Times lawyers wouldn't allow it. Michael Ramirez was on Larry Elder last week and he said he had no problem with talking with them, since it was pro-Bush, and they would have got a little history lesson. The in-house lawyers didn't want to set a precedent and would fight it on First Admendment grounds if necessary.