Are we looking at the same cartoon?

I wasn't sure who was supposed to be offended by the cartoon. Are you sure you just aren't getting overwrought or over protective? I'm not even sure Obama was the target of this jibe. Was it McCain?

If so, it seems pretty tame.

You are certainly slurring Danzinger to compare a peice like this to the sort of vemon and bile Ted Rall regularly spews out. Even if this is unfair, it has nothing of the hatred of a Ted Rall cartoon.

celeberim, did you see the title? "McCain Plays Hardball!" The fact that McCain is depicted as comically, ineffectually playing the race card makes it a twofer.

Jeff Danziger's cartoon is not only lame, but WAY old: I've seen the joke about "Obama's black children" all over the Internet for about a year now: it's scarcely a Brilliant New Idea.

That said, Marc: just what IS it that p*ssed you off so much? Did you not think that the nomination of a black [serious] Presidential candidate wouldn't bring all manner of racists crawling out of the woodwork?

IMO, this is just the beginning: by Labor Day, we'll be seeing vile crap out there that will make this cartoon look as tame as "Peanuts"

IMO, this is just the beginning: by Labor Day, we'll be seeing vile crap out there that will make this cartoon look as tame as "Peanuts"

Now that Hillary is out I expect things will calm down. The "whitey" thingie was the invention of Larry Johnson, former Kos poster and Hillary supporter. That said, I do expect the Democrats to sling a lot of mud at McCain, this cartoon isn't even the end of the beginning. No party loves its bigots like the Democrats do, it's a progressive thing.

No, what pissed me off was attributing this c**p to McCain. If it had been "Peckerwoods and Crackers Launch 08 Campaign" it would just have been embarrassingly lame.

The fact that McCain has taken a high road - higher than even I might have taken wrt Wright should insulate him from these slurs. But doesn't.

A.L.

I also note the somewhat Neanderthal-ish posture given to McCain, no doubt meant to convey both the sub-human intellect of anyone stupid enough to be a Republican, as well as continuing the whole BushChimpy meme that passes for wit among hard left True Believers.

The only surprise is that things have gotten this nasty so soon, normally stuff like this would wait until the general campaign has had a chance to get the partisans on both sides frothed up. However, I guess if you actually buy into POTUS as BushChimpyHitler not as hyperbole but as fact, ending Republican rule is a crusade which must be won by any means necessary. Truth becomes whatever is needed to achieve the goal.

"McCain has - very honorably, I think - challenged his own supporters who trashed Obama,"

As I've heard it, McCain's ire at finding out that he couldn't just order an independent group running ads against his opponent to drop them was what got him on the campaign censorship crusade in the first place. So, kudos for having some restraint, but anti-kudos for being such a control freak that he thinks he's entitled to apply said restraint to other people's speech.

No, what pissed me off was attributing this c**p to McCain.

Would it have been ok to attribute it to W who, through surrogates actually laid the claim on McCain in 2000?

And does that fact add a bit more perspective to the cartoon?

With skin so thin I'm amazed you keep your intestines inside!

Hmmm...

I guess my problem is that as a conservative, I've become so innurred to claims of race baiting by conservatives, that the whole slander sorta bounces off me without effect - especially when presented in as silly of way as the cartoon.

It in now way seems to me to be comparable to what Ted Rall does. In a typical Ted Rall cartoon, the gentlemen at the counter would be wearing a KKK hat and be labeled 'White Voters', McCain would have a german WWII helmet on, and there would be some US troops shooting defenseless dark skinned children who would say something like, "Oh really, looks like we found a new target". And really, my imagination falters in its ability to be as offensive as Ted Rall usually is. Besides, Ted Rall's cartoon wouldn't be as well drawn. Not only would Ted Rall's take be slander, but it wouldn't be slander so easily assailable by simply replying with facts, because how do you go about proving something nebulous like typical white voters aren't racist? Let's keep some perspective.

Attacking McCain like this is embarassingly lame because an attack on an individual like this can be defended much more easily with facts. When you slander groups rather than individuals, factual retorts are less powerful defenses.

Given the amount of slander being spread in the media with regards to who has actually been spreading this stuff, its hardly surprising Jeff thought McCain was in some fashion either behind it or being supported by it. The truth is, you haven't heard much race baiting since Hillary dropped out of the campaign, and it was guys like Larry Johnson and Bob Beckel that have been playing that card.

Would it have been ok to attribute it to W who, through surrogates actually laid the claim on McCain in 2000?

Bush is the model for the progressive left? Apart from that curious revelation, your assertion is irrelevant. The cartoon in question was drawn by Danziger, not Bush or Bush surrogates. Is the idea of personal responsibility that hard to understand?

And yet

If you're curious about the timing, I believe this news came out before the cartoon did - not sure if it's related or not.

I have to go with overreaction. The joke was first told to me by a rabid lefty Obamaniac friend six months ago, and I laughed out loud.

Time for everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE.... to start growing a thicker skin and stop this pathetic whining and demanding of apologies at the drop of a hat.

Allegedly, we are adults.

Andrew, again the issue I have is attributing it to McCain; it's a lame slur or a weak joke - take your pick. But in the context of McCain's actual behavior - pretty damn lame.

A.L.