DEVELOPING: SECRET SERVICE CONCERN AFTER LOS ANGELES TIMES COMIC DEPICTS 'BUSH ASSASSINATION'

drudge

[ConservativeMan55]

DEVELOPING: SECRET SERVICE CONCERN AFTER LOS ANGELES TIMES COMIC DEPICTS 'BUSH ASSASSINATION'

[Libloather]

This cartoon is sympathetic to Bush.

You can bite my left - no, wait - my right nut...

[boris]

" I stopped getting the LA Times years ago, in part due to the odious cartoons by Conrad."

I read both L.A. papers...as opposition research.

--Boris

[The Wizard]

The secret service should padlock the LATIMES and jail all the people that work in and own this slimy commie rag.

[jack gillis]

Okay.

So think of it this way. Why would some cartoonist you usually LOL at and whose point-of-view you expect to agree with more often than not suddenly switch?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I agree, it really is a shot at the Media!!!!

[A CA Guy]

Ramirez should be suspended for a year or fired.

[freedumb2003]

>>People.

This cartoon is sympathetic to Bush.

Want me to walk through it? <<

Based on the reactions I have seen here and in a few duplicate threads, there are many, many dolts here. It took me a while to figure out Ramirez' message (it helps that I know he is a very strong conservative -- probably the only one at the LAT).

It is a little frightening just how stupid and knee-jerking some of our fellow FReepers are.

[Helms]

Right down to the details-look closely

IMHO this is INTENTIONAL

[ConservativeMan55]

I agree. I think this is in poor taste.

[RonDog]

People.

This cartoon is sympathetic to Bush.

Want me to walk through it?

Yes, please do.

Please share your superior intellect with us inferior maroons.

And this had BETTER be good.

[The Wizard]

Totally irresponsible, puppy pad rag should be shut down...this is not free speech it it treason

[ConservativeMan55]

I think they should fire him.

[Guenevere]

I believe stupid question...to be a troller, an agent provocateur...

Ignore it :>

[b4its2late]

Would you believe me if I told you I was Matt?

:-)

[MattAMiller]

I don't get it. It's obviously an allusion to the famous photo from the Vietnam war, but after that I'm lost. Whatever analogy is being made here is too convuluted for me to follow.

[Pokey78]

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN JULY 20, 2003 20:15:27 ET XXXXX

SECRET SERVICE CONCERN AFTER LOS ANGELES TIMES COMIC DEPICTS 'BUSH ASSASSINATION'

A LOS ANGELES TIMES comic Sunday that graphically showed President Bush being held at direct gun-point has raised concerns within the Secret Service, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

The shock cartoon by the paper's Michael Ramirez depicts the president's hands behind his back with a gun to his head -- assassination style -- as an unidentified man wearing a vest which reads "politics" appears ready to pull the trigger!

"We take all images such as this very seriously," a top secret service source who requested anonymity said from Washington. "Regardless of the politics behind any speech, images of the president, such of this, raise concern."

The sketch appears to be a take-off of a Pulitzer prize winning photo that memorialized the Vietnam war for the 60s Generation. It attempts to make the point that partisan politics are more of a threat to Bush than guerilla war.

"The world's first political 'snuff' cartoon... there's a viciousness to this, that's just not funny," noted one White House reporter.

Ramirez did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Developing...

[vikingchick]

Thanks for putting the two side by side. The artist definitely was copying the Vietnam photo, whatever that means.

[Steel Wolf]

This cartoon is sympathetic to Bush.

Perhaps there are better ways of showing support than putting a gun to his head? Ways that won't win you a visit from the Secret Service.

I'd go out on a limb and say that far more than 75% of the people who take a glance at this cartoon will misinterpret the deep meaning. The surface meaning is very clear, however, and will appeal to the fan base of the LA Times.

[b4its2late]

Hey Guennie!

[ConservativeMan55]

Duly noted. Thanks. :)

[Brad's Gramma]

Do you have any idea what sort of newspapers the Founding Father's had?

Nope. I wasn't around then.

[StopDemocratsDotCom]

I can assure all of you that this cartoon is 100% PRO-BUSH. Michael Ramirez is one of the best CONSERVATIVE cartoonists in the country and this cartoon was not meant to offend but simply to shock.

[Helms]

This Bears Repeating- LOOK AT THE BUILDING IN THE RIGHT BACKGROUND:

[StupidQuestions]

Voice your opinion in opposition but don't ask that ANY journalistic enterprise be shut down! We don't shut down carriers of opinions we don't like in this Republic. That is an editorial cartoon. It is protected speech of the highest order.

[Libloather]

It is a little frightening...

How old are you?

[ladyinred]

You are the one who needs to review the 1st amendment. It does not protect all speech!

[The Wizard]

You people in LA better start calling every advertiser in this piece of chit rag right away. This cannot go unanswered....this is unacceptable....the advertisers must pay

[Howlin]

I'm clueless. What am I missing?

[petuniasevan]

Consider the source.

Ramirez is actually a CONSERVATIVE cartoonist. IMHO he means no harm.


Poor judgement and lack of forethought? Definitely.

[M. Peach]

I think you miss the point. Threatening the life of the president in any way, shape or form will create great stress in your life.

Ask Gonzo and others here from FR, who said things not even close to this picture and had visits from the SS.

The artist should live by the same standards the rest of us do - especially when he has the type of medium he does.

[The Wizard]

this is not free speech and only an enemy of the country would defend such a thing

[Bogey78O]

What is that a picture of. I mean, I understand what's happening but who are the players?

[BCrago66]

At first I didn't think you had much of an argument, but then I noticed that you wrote it in really big letters, so hmmm...that's different - guess you have a really good point.

[Brad's Gramma]

Me, Howlin. You're missing ME! :-)

[admiralsn]

And I and anyone else can say "Shut it down!" just as easily as you and anyone cane say "1st Amendment!" That's the beauty of the 1st Amendment- it goes both ways.

[veronica]

Ramirez has been good at times, at others, not. Another one of his infamous "gems"

[ConservativeMan55]

Exactly. He has a personal responsibility, and he just blew it!

[Miss Marple]

I got the cartoon from the moment I saw it. The fact that many do not is not because they are stupid, but because they were not adults during the Viet Nam war.

The photo from the Viet Nam war has always haunted me. It has a visceral reaction, and I am sorry if you think I am clueless, but this is a poorly done effort, because most people's reactions are NOT what the cartoonist intended.

It should not have been run, if for no other reason than that the hate-filled left will have some folks who think summary execution of the President is a good idea.

[Guenevere]

Hey b4 :>)

[Helms]

DOWN TO STUDIED DETAIL

[Domestic Church]

"This cartoon is sympathetic to Bush."

Due to the dumbed down population, that tidbit will go over the head of the average reader of the paper. Visually it is radioactive.

[Steel Wolf]

I think you should. Seems it's gone over some heads.

Given how many heads its gone over here, how many actual LA Times readers, liberal products of the California public school system, do you think caught on? I'd imagine most of them sitting alone glancing through the paper noticed the novelty of a gun to Bush's head, and reached the same conclusion that many FReepers did.

[StupidQuestions]

StupidQuestions is a believer in Free Speech akin to Jefferson who said something like this:
"If forced to choose between Government without the Press and Press without Government, I would surely choose the latter."

I'm not a troll. Apparently, I am a much more solidly grounded American Conservative than you for I don't believe in forcibly shutting up the opposition.

[Guenevere]

#73...and your point is.....

[Copernicus]

Posted to *CCRM

[A CA Guy]

Even if this was CLINTON I would say fire him. This is the Presidency with a gun against it's head being assassinated, not ONLY Bush!

Hope the Secret Service jails the bastard every time Bush goes to California.

[budwiesest]

Bush's foray into Iraq has labeled him an 'undesirable' amongst those to whom politics is the only game in town.

How's that?

[Helms]

I can assure all of you that this cartoon is 100% PRO-BUSH. Michael RIVERO is one of the best CONSERVATIVE FORUM POSTERS in the country and this cartoon was not meant to offend but simply to shock.

[Guenevere]

#79...or his brain's been invaded by aliens :>

[friendly]

I would expect nothing less from the LA Times, an evil anti-American propaganda outlet. The LA Times hates us and wants all us Republicans dead.