WashingtonPost.com Drops Ted Rall's Cartoons

Editor and Publisher ^ | Nov 18 2004

[george wythe]

WashingtonPost.com is no longer running the cartoons of hard-hitting liberal Ted Rall.

Rall said he thinks the site dropped his work because of a Nov. 4 cartoon he did showing a drooling, mentally handicapped student taking over a classroom. "The idea was to draw an analogy to the electorate -- in essence, the idiots are now running the country," he told E&P.

"That cartoon certainly drew a significant amount of negative comment from our users," said WashingtonPost.com Executive Editor Doug Feaver when contacted by E&P. But he added that the decision to drop Rall was a "cumulative" one that had been building for a while

[Ladysmith]

Good on ya, Washington Times!

[atomicpossum]

One down.

[george wythe]

"The analogy obviously fell flat, or overshadowed the main point of the cartoon," Rall said of his Nov. 4 drawing. "More importantly, I forgot the editorial cartoonist's obligation to comfort the afflicted while afflicting the comfortable. I got the latter in that cartoon at the expense of the former. Special-needs children face a lot of challenges; they don't need, or deserve, mocking from me. ... The cartoon was effective in its way, but it could have been better."

Depicting 51% of the American electorate as imbeciles was not regrettable. The objectiable part of the cartoon was "mocking" the "special-needs" children.

[Petronski]

[dinasour]

Good. I wish they had dropped him out of the window of a very tall building, instead.

[Constitution Day]

Washington Post and FR have something in common.

Who woulda thunk it?

[Ladysmith]

oops!...

Washington Post!

;o)

[Brilliant]

Couldn't happen to a better guy.

[beandog]

About time. Should have happened a long time ago.

[Izzy Dunne]

Good on ya, Washington Times!

Uhhhh, it's the POST what done it.

[lilylangtree]

Washington Post has standards? Unbelievable!

[wideawake]

We shouldn't be happy about this.

The WP is dropping him because they realize that his vitriol discredits their cause and energizes conservatives.

Ted Rall creates Republican voters because he is unable to modulate or mask the vileness seething inside him.

[VadeRetro]

the decision to drop Rall was a "cumulative" one that had been building for a while

They might never have noticed that Rall has no brains, but they finally realized that he has no class.

[68skylark]

It's hard to believe that anyone (even Ted Rall) would be too liberal for the Washington Post.

[sweetiepiezer]

CYA sucker!!!!!!!!!!!

[onyx]

GOOD.
Now for Doonesbury.

[dighton]

hard-hitting liberal

Nihilist scrawling puke.

[MaineRepublic]

He's not even an artist. He is the World's worst cartoon drawer. His cartoons look like a 3rd grader drew them.

And his writing is not much better.

[ClintonBeGone]

WashingtonPost.com is no longer running the cartoons of hard-hitting liberal Ted Rall.

Hard hitting? The guy is a venom filled liberal.

[68skylark]

Ted Rall is actually a pretty good representative of liberal thinking. I'm sure he'll find many outlets for his "drawings" in the future. There's a big market for those who encourage the death of American soldiers, and for those who mock a hero who was killed in action.

[george wythe]

they finally realized that he has no class.

Too repulsive even for the Washington Post.

[derllak]

Another 'tard bites the dust!

[ClintonBeGone]

An example of Ted's fine work.

[Rebelbase]

This guy is still due a beating from Army Rangers over the cheap shot he took at Pat Tillman earlier in the year.

[wizardoz]

Wait for the screams of "censorship!" start. But this is the difference between us and the people Bush is keeping Rall safe from: in Amsterdam, Theo Van Gogh was slaughtered by those he offended. Here, you simply lose your patronage.

[jackbill]

One down.

Actually it's at least two down. The NY Times dropped him last winter.

I would assume that a cartoonist gets paid by circulation. If so, he's lost his two biggest employers. Hell, he'll be applying for welfare soon.

[Unam Sanctam]

Of the three big Northeastern liberal dailies, WaPost, NYTimes and BGlobe, I always found that the Post was the most reasonable of the three, which I think comes from the fact that its readership actually have responsibility for doing things in the real world and can't simply dwell in the usual liberal fantasyland all the time.

[SmithL]

I don't give WaPo (or the NYSlimes, either) any credit for standards. They still think we're stupid, but we can read, and they're unwilling to abandon over half the population.

[Minnesocold]

[xJones]

What about the racist Oliphant?

[muawiyah]

Don't be fooled. The only reason the Posties would drop Rall would be insufficient spleen, invective and insult, particularly to the poor, the handicapped, the young and those unable to help themselves.

Frankly, I have no idea why the Washington Post owners, directors, executives, managers, editors and writers are like that but they are. Don't ever trust them.

[Sender]

Woo hoo! Rall consigned to the dustbin of failed ideas! No film (or cartoons) at eleven!

[John Lenin]

Never forget !

Liberalism =Mental Illness

[glock rocks]

the decision to drop Rall was a "cumulative" one that had been building for a while

[Maceman]

Ted Rall creates Republican voters because he is unable to modulate or mask the vileness seething inside him.

You couldn't possibly be suggesting that he lacks nuance, could you? I though Progressive Democrats were virtually dripping with nuance.

[dighton]

Oliphant's a sad case. Unlike Rall, he's talented, but has just gone completely wrong.

[talleyman]

Tom Daschle is deeply shocked and saddened.

[Billthedrill]

Rall is so partisan that he doesn't care why the other side is screaming, just so that it screams. It isn't the stuff of mature politics, and there's a lot of them out there like him.

[Mo1]

What about the racist Oliphant?

Did you see Hannity and Colmes last night and Bob Beckle LOSING it because Ann Coulter called the Liberals racist over these cartoons?

[Sender]

Here is the offending cartoon:

[baseballfanjm]

Rall sucks as a cartoonist. It's amazing he got hired in the first place. I'm not saying a cartoon has to be on par with a Van Gogh painting, but his drawings were 2nd grade level. They conveyed nothing except the hate he enjoyed infusing in them. Bitterness hardly makes one a decent cartoonist.

[george wythe]

This guy is still due a beating from Army Rangers over the cheap shot he took at Pat Tillman earlier in the year.

Making fun of American soldiers is detestable. Staining the memory of a fallen hero is beyond despicable.

Why didn't he get fired before?

[cardinal4]

Tom Daschle is deeply shocked and saddened.

Tom Daschle is out of a job..

[gatesbrown]

Excellent point but this man deserves to suffer.

[maine-iac7]

the guy had one thing right -= the Post should not have run the cartoon if they didn't like it. It was their prerogative to pull it. That they did not, makes them culpable too , IMO - (as a news person) - that's what editors do.

To run it and then when they get slammed, say -oops, that bad cartoonist, we wont run him anymore, doesn't get them off the hook with me...

[Sister_T]

This guy's artwork STINKS! I've seen kindergardeners who drew better pictures!

[chimera]

"Ted Rall does very interesting work," Feaver said. "Some of it is not funny to an awful lot of people. We decided at the end of the day that it just did not fit the tone we wanted at WashingtonPost.com."

Parsing time, "...did not fit the tone we wanted...", sounds an awful lot like newspeak for "it was costing more in circulation and advertiser dollars than it was bringing in". Basically a business decision rather than anything to do with principle. Hey, they're a business, they can make these kinds of decisions. But it would be nice for a change to have them be honest and admit it if that is in fact what happened.

But, whatever. The less of Rall's bigotry and hateful product that sees the light of day, the better.

[xJones]

Did you see Hannity and Colmes last night and Bob Beckle LOSING it because Ann Coulter called the Liberals racist over these cartoons?

I saw part of it, and the one thing that white Democrats can't stand is be called on the carpet for racism.:)

[escapefromboston]

the art's not exactly Winsor McCay's little nemo is it?

I think my notebook from freshman year of high school has more cutting edge humor and proffesional artistry in its margins than MR. rall has in his entire oeuvre.