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OCTOBER 30, 2006
HARVARD CARTOON "PLAGIARISM"
Today I've been getting a bunch of phone
calls from reporters doing a story about supposed plagiarism
by the student cartoonist for the Harvard University newspaper,
"The Harvard Crimson." In
an article in the school paper and in Editor and Publisher, I'm cited as one of
the cartoonists whose work was stolen, with my cartoon (below)
of Kim Jong Il with his hair looking like a mushroom cloud. The
other cartoons below are by Patrick Chappatte, Riber Hansson,
Cam Cardow, Alexandr Zudin, Jeff Koterba, Paul Zanetti and Julius
Hansen - and there are a lot more than this. I first drew my
Mushroom-doo Kim three years ago.
Regular readers of our site know about Yahtzees, a term
I coined to refer to times when five or more cartoonists draw
the same gag at the same time. The Kim Yahtzee isn't drawn
at the same time, it trickles in over the years as cartoonists
independently get the same, banal, trite idea. Editors are as
much to blame for this phenomenon, because they all want the
same thing from cartoonists: Jay Leno style funny jokes about
the news that convey no opinion at all. Newsweek magazine
is an ugly culprit, reprinting opinionless gag cartoons, week
after week. Editors suffer from group-think, all wanting the
same thing from cartoonists, who should all fit into the same
little box. Time Magazine does it too, and with all of
the hundreds of cartoons to choose from every week, they often
print the very same cartoons in their cartoon round-up that Newsweek
does. (Time Magazine printed Cam Cardow's Mushroom Kim
this month.)
When editors all want the same thing from
a cartoonist, and the cartoonists are all drawing on the same
topics at the same time, it is no wonder that we come up with
the simple, easy, first-gag -that-comes-to-mind. That is what
I see in this poor, besieged Harvard cartoonist - easy, Yahtzee
gags - and that should be no surprise given that she is just
a student, and her editor clearly suffers from editorial group-think.
The other gags the cartoonist is accused of plagiarizing include
one from Walt
Handelsman (who shares my views on this issue) showing Bush
saying something, and a Democratic donkey standing next to him
with a sign and arrow pointing at him that says, "not."
Readers of our site know that the t-shirt or sign pointing at
something with a comment ("I'm with stupid") is a recurring
Yahtzee theme.
TAKE THE CAGLE CHALLENGE ...
I can take any reputable cartoonist and
find cartoons that are similar to his cartoons, drawn earlier
by other cartoonists, that make as good a plagiarism argument
as the case being made against this poor student cartoonist.
The Harvard cartoonist should not be fired.
The cartoonist and her editor should be taken into the publisher's
office and told to stop the group-think. The cartoonist should
be instructed to emphasize topics of interest to Harvard students.
The cartoonist should be instructed to draw in a square or vertical
format, and encouraged to draw local cartoons, and to use more
words or multiple panels, and to develop a unique style and voice.
The editor should be instructed to make a unique contribution
as well, by not looking to fit his contributors into the same
aesthetic box that he sees in Newsweek, the Boston
Globe and the Boston Herald; he should be instructed
to be accepting of ideas and presentations that have strong opinions
with a different and distinctive look and voice.
It is interesting that when reporters call
me the first question they ask is "Are you aware of this?"
then, "Are you going to pursue some action against this
plagiarism?" Talk about "group-think."
If you want to see an example of what plagiarism looks like,
look here
at the cartoonist who was fired from the Tulsa World newspaper.
And
look here, at a cartoonist who was fired from a Saudi Arabian
newspaper.
And instead of picking on student cartoonists,
teach them.
Want to send a comment to the editor of
the Harvard Crimson? Click
here.
I love to see cartoonists depart from the
1 1/2 wide by 1 gag cartoon box that confines so many of us.
R.J. Matson did just that with his two, wonderful,
Halloween election cartoons below. R.J. deserves congratulations
for thinking outside the box. Happy Halloween!
Be sure to visit our Halloween cartoon collection, Steve Sack's
Haunted House and Dan Reynolds' Little Monsters.
OCTOBER 29. 2006
Check out our newest CARTOON WEEK IN REVIEW SLIDESHOW.
OCTOBER 27, 2006
Mort Kondracke has an interesting lead on
his most recent column in Roll Call.
The political cartoon on my office wall shows Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld as a frazzled father trying to drive the car
while kids in the front and back seats yell, "Is it Vietnam
yet?"
Daryl
Cagle's cartoon was delightful back in March 2003, lampooning
critics of the war in Afghanistan. Now it's a mordant commentary
on Iraq.
The tragic fact is that Iraq has become Vietnam -- a noble cause
that has lost the support of the American people and Congress
and is on the verge of ending in disaster. But this time, the
consequences will be much worse.
Hmmm. How did that cartoon wind up on Kondracke's
office wall?
OCTOBER 23, 2006
"THE SERGIO" AND CAPS
 I
went to the Comic Art Professional Society (CAPS) banquet last
Suturday night where they unveiled their first annual lifetime
achievement award, dubbed "The Sergio" after beloved
Mad Magazine and Groo cartoonist, Sergio Aragones. That is "The
Sergio" award in the photo at the right. My buddy,CAPS president
Chad Frye, tells the story of its creation below.
Saturday's banquet was a "big draw"
for CAPS as they honored my hero, Mad's Jack Davis, as the first
recipient of "The Sergio" - then they Surprized Sergio
Aragones by making him the second recipient. Even though Sergio
had designed the award, he didn't know that he would also receive
one, he hadn't designed himself as the character depicted in
the award and the fact that the award was named for him came
as a surprize. Jack was gracious and Sergio was blushing on Saturday
night.
The award features Sergio, with his foot stuck in an ink bottle,
holding a giant pen, standing on a computer, on top of a page
of Groo.
It was a delight to spend some time with Jack, who is probably
a bigger influence on my own work than any other artist. Jack
is a gentleman and I'm happy to see him festooned with shiny
golden awards.
Next year CAPS turns 30 years old. In
1977, cartoonist Don Rico, writer Mark Evanier, and MAD Magazine's
own Sergio Aragones joined together and formed the early version
of the Comic Art Professional Society in Los Angeles. Over the
years this independent organization has existed for the comraderie
and education of fellow professional cartoonists and writers
of print media. Even today we meet monthly in Burbank, California,
where we can get out of our studios and come together to talk
shop and hear fellow professionals speak about their work.
Earlier this year, the CAPS board began to discuss the possibility
of having our own award to give the honorees of our annual banquets.
In the past we have given certificates, which evolved into a
nice plaque that differed from year to year. The time had come
to design and produce our own award. But where to begin? Mark
Dos Santos (Secretary), Michael Aushenker (Treasurer), Bill Morrison
(Vice-President) and Chad Frye (President) came to one unanimous
conclusion - Sergio must be the designer of our award.
While things have changed with our organization over time, throughout
all those 29 years one thing has remained consistent about CAPS
- Sergio Aragones. Sergio has been a vital part of CAPS being
a voice of reason to the club leadership, leading the charge
as auctioneer in our annual auctions, lending advice to younger
cartoonists coming in, and inspiring those of us around him to
just LOVE our business. Sergio IS CAPS.
Sergio was glad to accept our invitation to design the CAPS award.
Our only direction to him was that it should reflect our membership
of cartoonists AND writers, and it must also reflect the Sergio
whimsy. Then we waited with baited breath to see what our patriarch
would come back with.
During that time, we discussed what we should call our impending
new award. All good awards have a name: the Oscar, the Emmy,
the Reuben, the Golden Globe, the Eisner, Miss Congeniality -
you name it. We tossed around a few ideas, but the more we thought
about it, the more it was obvious. This new CAPS award should
be called "The Sergio".
But was that taking things too far? Would the membership like
it? Would Sergio hate it? All these doubts and more creeped in,
but were quickly dispelled. At a recent membership meeting, several
folks suggested we call it "The Sergio". When even
outsiders heard Sergio was designing the CAPS award, they asked
if we were going to call it "The Sergio". With so much
respect in our industry for this man, and so much respect from
those of us who have the priviledge to spend time with him, we
christen this new CAPS award "The Sergio" out of our
love and admiration.
Sergio's design captured perfectly the ideals of CAPS. The computer
represents the work of our members who are writers, while the
figure represents the drawing side of things. And of course,
the foot stuck in the bottle of ink is pure Sergio. It was everything
we hoped for.
Once Sergio finished his final drawings for the award, we gave
his art to master sculptor Ruben Procopio. Ruben worked for Disney
Feature Animation for many years as a clean-up lead artist and
as a sculptor of many of their maquettes. These days he works
full-time as a sculptor with clients such as Electric Tiki, Disney
Classics Collection, and even toy companies (see his work at
www.maskedavenger.com). He graciously took on our project while
in the midst of a very busy schedule and simply worked wonders.
When Ruben heard what we planned to name this award, he busied
himself on creating this terrific sculpt making one slight change
to what Sergio had intended. He looked up some of Sergio's work
to find his self-caricatures. These served as Ruben's inspiration
to make the statue look like Sergio, a change Sergio has only
become aware of tonight.
We hope that you agree that this wonderful whimsical award is
unique among cartoondom's awards, and we couldn't think of anything
more fitting to represent CAPS. Sergio has been a leader in his
field for many years. We trust that the few who will receive
this award over the years will be honored to be the recipient
of something that represents not only our club, but the honor,
integrity, professionalism, and pure joy for cartooning that
Sergio himself represents.
Thank you, Sergio.
Chad Frye, President, CAPS
The photo below shows me at the CAPS banquet
with my hero, Jack Davis, and the original movie poster art that
Jack did for the Woody Allen movie "Bananas."
 OCTOBER 21, 2006
CAGLE RE-EMERGES
When I'm not updating the blog I get complaints
from our readers. It's nice to be missed. The reason I've gone
missing is the deadline for our newest book, The
Best Political Cartoons of the Year, 2007 Edition - yesterday
we wrapped it up and delivered it to the publisher. The book
is huge with 288 pages and close to a thousand cartoons. Too
huge, I think. I'm still recovering from a project that is just
too big. Since then I've been taking a long overdue nap. I'll
resume a more regular schedule now.
The October 20th deadline is strange for
a book that purports to be the best cartoons of the year 2006;
the book is really the best cartoons of the fiscal year 2006,
from the end of October through the next end of October. The
strange deadline is so that we can get the book into stores early
in December for the Christmas season when people are thinking
about end of year events. There is a competing book called The
Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year ("BECY") that has
an October 2nd deadline for artists to submit their work, but
arrives in bookstores the following March - I understand that
- knocking this thing out quickly by October 20th is an ordeal,
it would be nice to have four more months to work on it.
We get some angry complaints from cartoonists
who are not featured in the book who tell me the book is not
really the "Best Cartoons of the Year" if it doesn't
contain their cartoons. Cartoonists like to have their cartoons
called "the best," and if their cartoons are not among
"the best," that makes them angry. I suppose I would
get fewer complaints if I called the book "The Random Selections
of Political Cartoons of theYear"- the word "best"
in the title is enough to make some cartoonists seethe.
Cartoonists who are featured in the book
also complain about the choices of cartoons in the book. The
first complaint is "Daryl, how come you have so many of
your own cartoons in the book." That's a silly question,
I'm the editor and I have a big ego. As President Bush would
say, "I'm the decider." Cartoonists also complain that
another cartoonist's work is bigger than theirs, or they say,
"why did you choose THAT cartoon when I drew the same thing
first and it was so much better." Some cartoonists complain
that they are shorted with only one or two cartoons in the book.
Yet another complaint I hear is that the
selection of cartoons for the book are not "important"
enough - meaning that the book should be all Bush bashing and
Iraq, without much mention of Mel Gibson, Brokeback Mountain,
Katie Couric or Spinach. If we let cartoonists submit their work
for the book we would have very different cartoons, as the cartoonists
would emphasize more "serious" subjects. I want the
book to be a cartoon history book that accurately reflects the
topics that cartoonists were really drawing about during the
year, in the correct proportions to what they really drew. This
year readers have grown tired of Iraq and the cartoonists were
drawing fewer Iraq cartoons; our Iraq chapters are smaller than
in the past - however we have more cartoons about Hezbollah,
the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and Hamas' election victory,
so there is plenty of war in the book. The cartoonists will complain
that our book has Spinach cartoons - even though they were the
ones drawing all those Popeye cartoons.
Cartooning is a negative art form. I think
it is natural for cartoonists to complain.
DUELING "BEST CARTOONS OF THE YEAR"
BOOKS
Cartoonists have taken to calling our book
"BPCY" in contrast to a competing book called "Best
Editorial Cartoons of the Year" or "BECY." There's
an interesting contrast between our BPCY book and the BECY book
(which can usually be seen on the Barnes & Noble or
Borders bookshelf next to ours); the competing BECY book
sends out a call for entries and selects from the cartoons the
cartoonists choose to submit, making for a more "serious"
selection of cartoons, with less emphasis on celebrities and
light subjects. Cartoonists also complain of a conservative bias
in the BECY book, which was evident to me a couple of years ago
when we had a huge chapter on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and
it was difficult to find an Abu Ghraib cartoon in the BECY book.
The BECY book is edited by retired, conservative, Alabama cartoonist
Charles Brooks.
We will likely have about 80 more pages
than the BECY book this year (at 288 pages) and probably twice
as many cartoons packed into those pages. Another difference
between BECY and our BPCY is that the competing BECY book is
much more inclusive of aspiring, part-time and semi-pro cartoonists
and it is a nice place for those cartoonists to get their work
seen on a level playing field with the top pros who participate
in their book. The inclusion of aspiring cartoonists in the BECY
book leads to many complaints from established cartoonists who
don't like seeing their cartoons displayed alongside the work
of the semi-pros. Our book is limited to the professional cartoonists
who participate on our site; we don't include the work of aspiring
cartoonists. I get a lot of complaints from aspiring cartoonists
who emphasize that their cartoons are in the BECY book and should,
therefore, also be in ours.
The question often comes up, "If these
are the best cartoons of the year 2006, why will both of these
books say '2007' in their titles?" I'd prefer that the title
would say "2006" but the problem is that our book will
be sitting on the shelves throughout 2007, next to the competing
BECY book with 2007 in it's title. If our book was labeled as
"2006" it would look like it was a year older. Maybe
we'll have some competitive "title year" inflation
and start titling the books for two years out, or three years
out. Oh, the confusion!
Even though we finished our "BPCY"
book only yesterday, the book has been offered for sale on Amazon.com
for a couple of months already. (Oh! The marvels of technology!)
Our BPCY book will also be available for sale this year as an
e-book in pdf format for a reduced price. It looks like both
annuals will be here to stay and will make a handsome yearly
addition to any cartoon fan or news wonk's library! Buy
ours now for delivery before Christmas, then buy the other
book next Spring (here's
a link to their last BECY book) and let me know what you
think of the dueling "Best Cartoons of the Year" books.
We'll list all of your complaints here.
OCTOBER 6, 2006
Our new MSNBC.com Political
Cartoon Week in Review Slideshow is up!
I got this note from conservative cartoonist,
Scott Stantis:
Daryl,
You know me to be a cradle Republican. A Reagan conservative.
My creditentials regarding my politics are well known to you
and your readers through my cartoons.
And as such this Foley fiasco frosts my shorts towards the GOP
for three glaring reasons:
1) Foley is a scumbag. Yes, 16 is a child. And the republicans
yapping dogs who point to age of consent or some such are condoning
pedophilia AND sexual harassment.
2) By pointing to democrats like Mel Reynolds or Gerry Stubbs,
(even Bill Clinton), as even worse is hypocritical in the extreme.
We wailed against them and there actions as wrong. They were.
So were Foley's. And for those who say Republicans at least have
the good graces to resign while Democrats keep their jobs I say,
point not taken. Republicans resign after they get caught. If
they stand as the party of moral values they had better practice
what they preach.
3) The cover-up by the Republican House
Leadership. But then, we shouldn't be surprised that they are
acting like the House of Representatives Country Club. They have
gotten fat and corrupted by the power as the majority. They have
cut taxes but continue to spend like drunken Democrats. They
ceased being republicans a long time ago.
Yes, there are far more important issues
confronting our country. And, yes, the democrats finger prints
are all over this. But in the end, I am deeply, deeply disappointed
by the conservative blogs, cartoonists and talking heads who
are trying to spin unspinable behavior.
Be well,
Scott Stantis
OCTOBER 5, 2006
Here's a note from Jimmy
Margulies:
Daryl,
We had sort of a similar discussion at my paper yesterday. Technically,
16 is the age of consent, but 16 is still a minor in most people's
eyes. Beyond that, this is similar to what is called sexual harrassment,
in that there is a grossly unequal balance of power between a
member of Congress and a teenager with a temporary appointment
as a page. The more ordinary imbalance, of say, a boss and his
or her employee is greatly magnified by both the great age difference,
and the stature that this was member of Congress.
Someone at my paper pointed out that there are certain terms
for people who are interested in teens, as opposed to younger
kids. But certainly pedophile is an accurate description in this
case.
Best,
Jimmy
And a note from our mailbag that is typical
of the response we're getting now:
Democrats disgust me more than any one
Republican could. How about some Mel Reynolds or Gerry Stubbs-related
rhetoric in your cartoons?.or perhaps some discussion on the
3 standing ovations given to the Democrat by Democrats after
his sexual misconduct was aired. Seems to me that Democrats were
doing this sort of thing well before Republicans were. Great
examples for people to follow.
Am I wrong? Or...perhaps it's all George
Bush's fault...I forgot to mention that possibility. That's right,
he made Foley do it! You Libs guys crack me up.
Democratic morality is the truest oxymoron.
If you respond, try to keep it to the
topic at hand, and not just any old peeve you can dredge up from
your democratic ass-licking media vaults.
Jeff Freeman
Most of our readers will remember how our
site came into being, through the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, with
more than a thousand pages containing more than four thousand
lurid cartoons bashing President Clinton for years. Our cartoons
bashing Democrats have recently featured crooked congressman
William Jefferson (who kept his bribe money in his freezer),
lots of cartoons bashing Hillary Clinton and her upcoming run
for president, and a collection I enjoyed on crazy congresswoman,
Cynthia
McKinney.
More of you have written to say that Foley
is not a "pedophile" but is really an "ephobephile,"
citing articles today in the Los Angeles Times and Slate.
Come on people.
It's not Foley's fault because he's an
alchoholic, and he was abused by a priest, and it was all talk
- no action, and the Republican leadership never really saw the
worst e-mails, and they weren't even e-mails, they were instant
messages, and the age of consent in Washington DC is sixteen
so he could have had sex with the boys if they wanted to anyway,
and the sun was in his eyes.
And do you still read Slate? Really?
Cartoon by Mike Lester of the Rome News-Tribune.
OCTOBER 4, 2006
Pedophile Congressman?
Jeez, it didn't take long for our readers
to start complaining about my cartoon. Yes, disgraced former
Republican congressman Mark Foley is a "pedophile."
The Merriam Webster and American Heritage dictionaries
define "pedophile" as: "an adult who is sexually
attracted to children."
Some of you point out that the youngest
page that Foley is accused of e-mailing is sixteen years old,
and that "the age of consent" is sixteen in Washington,
D.C. and that a sixteen year old is "not a child."
I call sixteen year olds "kids" - I don't know about
"the age of consent," but the crime Foley may be charged
with is "soliciting sex with a minor" which applies
to sixteen year old kids.
It sounds like there are a lot of angry,
defensive, conservative readers out there who want to parse words
about this creepy "pedophile congressman."
OCTOBER 2, 2006
Another rare opportunity to see the
reclusive Daryl
If you live in the Seattle area, come and
see me! I'll be giving the keynote speech at the Washington
State Council for the Social Studies, a one day state teachers
convention in Edmonds, Washington. This event will be free and
open to the public. I'll show cartoons, share anecdotes and do
sketches in books. Free - what a deal!
My talk will be on Saturday, October 14th
at 2:00pm, in the "Great Hall" at Edmonds-Woodway
High School, 7600 212th Street SW, Edmonds, WA 28026. The
title of my lecture is, "Political Cartoons at the Center
of the Storm and Weathering the Storm in Your Classroom."
I'll talk about cartoon controversies and show lots of shocking
cartoons. For more information, click here!
SEPTEMBER 29, 2006
Wabash College
I just got back from a visit to Wabash
College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where I was invited to
visit and lecture about editorial cartoons. Dr. David Hadley,
who heads up the Wabash Political Science department teaches
a class on editorial cartoons; I was impressed with his curriculum
and his students. Of-course, I'd love to see more colleges take
our art form as seriously as they do at Wabash. There are very
few courses on political cartoons in American Universities. Cartoons
are taken much more seriously around the world than they are
here at home - ironic, I think, since the modern political cartoon
grew up in America. Our art is much louder is much more memorable
and has more impact than the words that surround our cartoons
on the editorial pages, yet colleges seem to see the words without
seeing the pictures.
Kudos to Dr. Hadley for breaking away from
the academic herd to focus on our art form. And thanks to everyone
at Wabash College for their warm welcome and hospitality.
Ugly Orphan Works Bill on Hold
I just got the update below from the
Illustrators Partnership about the ugly "Orphan Works
Bill" that threatens to gut the copyright law, hurting the
little cartoonist to the advantage of internet giants who want
an easy procedure to steal our work.
GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS
First the good news:
The Copyright Modernization Act (aka Orphan
Works Act) appears to be dead for this year. For the third time
in as many weeks the bill failed to make it out of mark-up today,
and in two days Congress adjourns for this session.
Now the bad news:
Lamar Smith seems committed to this awful
bill and has promised to bring it back next year.
And a caveat:
Congress returns after elections for a
"lame-duck" session, so the bill could still be attached
to some other unrelated bill and passed into law without discussion.
Don't breathe too easily until this Congress is adjourned for
good.
Although there's little reason to break
out the champagne over this development, the illustration community
should take great satisfaction from the knowledge that your unprecedented
efforts have brought sufficient scrutiny to this bill to have
stalled it so far. Remember that in March, the bill's sponsors
warned us that it would be law by now and that any group that
opposed it would be "ignored" and "left behind."
It hasn't worked out that way.
Because of your efforts and those
of our allies, the photographers, textile designers, greeting
card manufacturers and others Orphan Works legislation
has now been exposed as a Trojan Horse for those who want to
see a radical change in copyright law. We need to stay vigilant
and we must expect that when the bill comes back (in whatever
form) its sponsors will be prepared for principled opposition.
They'll plan their strategy accordingly, and we should be ready
to renew our campaign all over again.
In the meantime, thanks to all of you for
a united effort you did a fantastic job. We'll pass along
more information when we learn more.
- Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner,
- for the Board of the Illustrators' Partnership
SEPTEMBER 26, 2006
Cartoon by Mike Lester of the Rome News-Tribune.
Here's another column by our
columnist, Dick Morris, about Bill Clinton's recent interview
on Fox News. E-mail Dick at: dmredding@aol.com
The Real Clinton Emerges
By Dick Morris
From behind the benign façade and
the tranquilizing smile, the real Bill Clinton emerged Sunday
during Chris Wallace's interview on Fox News Channel. There he
was on live television, the man those who have worked for him
have come to know - the angry, sarcastic, snarling, self-righteous,
bombastic bully, roused to a fever pitch. The truer the accusation,
the greater the feigned indignation. Clinton jabbed his finger
in Wallace's face, poking his knee, and invading the commentator's
space.
But beyond noting the ex-president's non-presidential
style, it is important to answer his distortions and misrepresentations.
His self-justifications constitute a mangling of the truth which
only someone who once quibbled about what the "definition
of 'is' is" could perform.
Clinton told Wallace, "There is not
a living soul in the world who thought that Osama bin Laden had
anything to do with Black Hawk Down." Nobody said there
was. The point of citing Somalia in the run up to 9-11 is that
bin Laden told Fortune Magazine in a 1999 interview that the
precipitous American pullout after Black Hawk Down convinced
him that Americans would not stand up to armed resistance.
Clinton said conservatives "were all
trying to get me to withdraw from Somalia in 1993 the next day"
after the attack which killed American soldiers. But the real
question was whether Clinton would honor the military's request
to be allowed to stay and avenge the attack, a request he denied.
The debate was not between immediate withdrawal and a six-month
delay. (Then-first lady, now-Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) favored
the first option, by the way). The fight was over whether to
attack or pull out eventually without any major offensive operations.
The president told Wallace, "I authorized
the CIA to get groups together to try to kill bin Laden."
But actually, the 9-11 Commission was clear that the plan to
kidnap Osama was derailed by Sandy Berger and George Tenet because
Clinton had not yet made a finding authorizing his assassination.
They were fearful that Osama would die in the kidnapping and
the U.S. would be blamed for using assassination as an instrument
of policy.
Clinton claims "the CIA and the FBI
refused to certify that bin Laden was responsible [for the Cole
bombing] while I was there." But he could replace or direct
his employees as he felt. His helplessness was, as usual, self-imposed.
Why didn't the CIA and FBI realize the
extent of bin Laden's involvement in terrorism? Because Clinton
never took the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center sufficiently
seriously. He never visited the site and his only public comment
was to caution against "over-reaction." In his pre-9/11
memoirs, George Stephanopoulos confirms that he and others on
the staff saw it as a "failed bombing" and noted that
it was far from topic A at the White House. Rather than the full-court
press that the first terror attack on American soil deserved,
Clinton let the investigation be handled by the FBI on location
in New York without making it the national emergency it actually
was.
In my frequent phone and personal conversations
with both Clintons in 1993, there was never a mention, not one,
of the World Trade Center attack. It was never a subject of presidential
focus.
Failure to grasp the import of the 1993
attack led to a delay in fingering bin Laden and understanding
his danger. This, in turn, led to our failure to seize him when
Sudan evicted him and also to our failure to carry through with
the plot to kidnap him. And, it was responsible for the failure
to "certify" him as the culprit until very late in
the Clinton administration.
The former president says, "I worked
hard to try to kill him." If so, why did he notify Pakistan
of our cruise-missile strike in time for them to warn Osama and
allow him to escape? Why did he refuse to allow us to fire cruise
missiles to kill bin Laden when we had the best chance, by far,
in 1999? The answer to the first question - incompetence; to
the second - he was paralyzed by fear of civilian casualties
and by accusations that he was wagging the dog. The 9/11 Commission
report also attributes the 1999 failure to the fear that we would
be labeled trigger-happy having just bombed the Chinese embassy
in Belgrade by mistake.
President Clinton assumes that criticism
of his failure to kill bin Laden is a "nice little conservative
hit job on me." But he has it backwards. It is not because
people are right-wingers that they criticize him over the failure
to prevent 9/11. It was his failure to catch bin Laden that drove
them to the right wing.
The ex-president is fully justified in
laying eight months of the blame for the failure to kill or catch
bin Laden at the doorstep of George W. Bush. But he should candidly
acknowledge that eight years of blame fall on him.
One also has to wonder when the volcanic
rage beneath the surface of this would-be statesman will cool.
When will the chip on his shoulder finally disappear? When will
he feel sufficiently secure in his own legacy and his own skin
not to boil over repeatedly in private and occasionally even
in public?
Dick Morris was an adviser to
Bill Clinton for 20 years. Look for Dick's new book "Condi
vs. Hillary" available now.
SEPTEMBER
21, 2006
Our newest MSNBC Cartoon Week
in Review Slideshow is up!
SEPTEMBER 20, 2006
Paul Conrad on PBS
PBS's Independent Lens show will
feature an episode on the career of legendary Los Angeles
Times cartoonist, Paul Conrad on or around November 7th,
check your local listing for the time of the program in your
area. Conrad is a regular contributor to our site, see an archive of his cartoons from recent years
here. Conrad is best known for his hard hitting cartoons
bashing President Nixon during the Watergate years and for winning
three Pulitzer Prizes.
Here are two interesting Quicktime clips
from the show:
This first clip shows Conrad
talking about how he felt to be included on Nixon's "enemies
list."
This second clip addresses
corporate cutbacks at newspapers and the poor job situation for
cartoonists, including Conrad losing his job at the Los Angeles
Times.
SEPTEMBER 15, 2006
Our new MSNBC.com Cartoon
Week in Review Slideshow is up!
SEPTEMBER 14, 2006
See Cagle in Indiana
I don't get out much but I'll be heading
to Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana on Thursday, September
28th at 8:00pm to give a talk about political cartoons. Read more about it on the Wabash College web
site. The public is welcome to attend the free event at Wabash's
Lovell Lecture Room in Baxter Hall.
Orphan Works Update: Mark-up Postponed
The Copyright Modernization Act of 2006
was pulled from the schedule for mark-up yesterday. House Judiciary
IP Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Smith said that representatives
of the various interests were meeting with him and Ranking Member
Berman, or their senior staff, for further discussion. (update
coutesy of the Illustrators Partnership)
Chinese Editorial Cartoonist is Suspended
for Drawing Chinese President Hu Crying
According to a report from
Reuters, Kuang Biao, the cartoonist
for the Guangzhou-based tabloid News-Express was suspended
for drawing a teary-eyed President Hu replying to a letter from
the daughter of a university professor who died from overwork
at age 48. In countries where there is little or no press freedon,
it is typical that cartoonists are punished for depicting their
nation's leaders - this is the unwritten rule in China. The cartoonist
was suspended in a pre-emptive move to protect him from further
punishment from the central propaganda authorities, the Post
said. Kuang is being allowed to draw for other publications under
a pseudonym.
SEPTEMBER 12, 2006
Bad Copyright News
I just received the disturbing alert below,
from the Illustrators Partnership, a trade organization for commercial
artists that is advising cartoonists on the progress of the Orphan
Works Act through congress.
Orphan Works Go Ballistic
In our Senate testimony on Orphan Works,
we warned that "the Orphan Works Act is not an Orphan Works
Act at all but a radically new copyright law." Today comes
the confirmation. We've just been informed that Congress has
drafted a new bill, tentatively called "The Copyright Modernization
Act of 2006." It's scheduled for mark-up, perhaps as early
as Wednesday.
At more than 100 pages, we haven't had
time to completely review it, but it appears to embody all the
bad provisions of the Orphan Works Act into a comprehensive overhaul
of U.S. Copyright Law. Judging by its length, it's not likely
that congressmen whipped this up as an afterthought during their
August recess. Yet, if it's been in the works, why the surprise?
And why the stealth?
The speed and secrecy with which certain
interests want copyright law rewritten raise questions. We'll
try to learn more about this and report what we learn.
- Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner,
for the Board of the Illustrators' Partnership
The Los Angeles Times today
reports that a newspaper in Iran
was closed because it ran a cartoon that lampooned Iranian nuclear
negotiations. According to the Times: In a letter to the paper's
managing director, the Press Supervisory Board ordered the shutdown
"for publishing articles insulting to religious, political
and national figures, and fomenting discord." Ouch.
Nik Kowsar tells me that Mana Neyestani
has been out of jail on bail for a couple of weeks and his time
out of jail may be extended. The Persian cartoonists visited
him and posted photos on the web. Nik notes that
Mana lost a lot of weight in prison and is looking gaunt. Mana
is the cartoonist who was jailed for drawing a cockroach that
insulted an Iranian minority group; his case was covered earlier
in our blog.
SEPTEMBER 9, 2006
Visit this week's MSNBC Week
in Review slideshow!
Felix Grabowski, who manages the Newspapers
In Education (NIE) program with the Association of American Editorial
Cartoonists (AAEC) sent me this note:
Explore Constitutional issues through
Political Cartoons and get a free book for you, a student and
your school library! Check it out at http://nieonline.com/aaec/cftc.cfm
In May 2005, Congress enacted a law
stating that "Each educational institution that receives
Federal funds for a fiscal year shall hold an educational program
on the United States Constitution." This year Constitution
Day is Sept. 18.
To help schools comply with that federal
requirement we've produced a program that encourages teachers
to use political cartoons as a resource to discuss and explore
constitutional issues.
The first 150 teachers who share with
us their experience in using political cartoons in their classrooms
as part of this project will receive three free copies of the
book "May it Amuse The Court." One copy for the teacher,
one copy for a student who excels at the exercise and one copy
for the school library.
------------------
Regards,
Felix
My buddy TAB lays claim to drawing the
first Christmas cartoon this year. I think he wins (below).
SEPTEMBER 1, 2006
Our new MSNBC week in review
slideshow is up!
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