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A Revealing Portrait of Rush

The big cigar and little “junk” in this Rush Limbaugh portrait made me laugh.  I told Taylor Jones that it was a great cartoon, even though there won’t be many newspapers that will print it.

I asked Taylor what his thoughts were behind the cartoon. Here’s what he wrote me:

Rush Limbaugh’s crude, on-air rant against Sandra Fluke had me flummoxed at first. How to handle such a subject in editorial cartoon form, especially since I’d been tied up with other work and was coming late to the Rush story? Then it suddenly occurred to me that the man is just plain gross, and that simplified my task. I began to picture Rush as the late, great portrait painter Lucien Freud might have. Only Freud wouldn’t have been nearly so kind.

…Besides, I thought the depiction of a naked Limbaugh would compliment my recent caricature of Rick Santorum with a giant condom pulled over his head.

My first rough sketches actually featured Rush in more full-frontal nudity. But then I figured that a three-quarter view would have more impact. Revealing a sort of less-is-more concept, if you know what I mean.

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Cartoons

Rush Limbaugh Poor Choice of Words

Rush Limbaugh Poor Choice of Words © Daryl Cagle,MSNBC.com,Barack Obama,contraceptives,birth control,the pill,The Scarlet Letter,pilgrim,puritan,Rush Limbaugh,prostitute,slut Sandra Fluke,congress,hearing,Pbamacare,health care

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Limbaugh Apologizes For ‘Slut’ Comment

Outspoken radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh (click there to view our recent Rush Limbaugh cartoons) has apologized for referring to Georgetown University law school student Sandra Fluke, who is in favor of mandatory employer health coverage of contraception, as a “slut” and a “prostitute.”

Over the past couple of days Limbaugh has lost several of his advertisers over the controversy, including mattress manufacturers Sleep Train and Sleep Number, Quicken Loans and LegalZoom.

Here is Limbaugh’s full apology:

For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.

I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit?In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone’s bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential level.

My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.

He doesn’t sound very sorry to me.  Here is my most recent cartoon on Rush’s apology.

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The Dead Crowd

I’ve been drawing crowds of dead people lately. Like most cartoonists, I hate drawing crowd scenes. Back when I was a cartoon illustrator I drew lots of crowd scenes; art directors seem to love crowd scenes – readers do too.  Readers often send me ideas for cartoons, and the typical idea involves drawing a crowd, or opposing armies, or a “sky filled with helicopters” or something similarly painful to draw.

But, if you kill everyone in the crowd, crowds are much easier to draw. There are no expressions, or body language. When I spend too much time drawing a dead crowd, I find myself thinking about the dead crowd cartoons again and again – maybe that’s unhealthy. In January I drew this cartoon about the Marines who peed on dead Taliban fighters. 

This week I drew this one on Bashar Assad …

Now I’m plagued by thinking of “standing in the middle of a dead crowd” cartoons.  Like this one …

Now I want to draw President Obama in the middle of the dead crowd saying, “Things seem to have quietened down now, after my apology.”  Maybe I will.

I know I’m going to keep thinking about this.

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Cartoons

Syria and Mormons

Syria and Mormons © Daryl Cagle,MSNBC.com,Syria,Bashar Assad,mormon church,latter day saints,baptism,baptize

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Blog

Remembering Andrew Breitbart

The world of politics woke up to the shocking news that outspoken conservative blogger and activist Andrew Breitbart died unexpectedly shortly after midnight in Los Angeles.

Breitbart was a political firebrand, and gained much fame by posting videos critical of ACORN and Sherry Sherrod that turned out to be selectively cut and presented to malign his targets. Surprisingly, political cartoonists weren’t too kind to his style of journalism, but everything I read suggests that Breitbart welcomed his haters.

In that spirit, here are some Breitbart cartoons from our archives…

John Cole / Scranton Times-Tribune (click to view more cartoons by Cole)
R.J. Matson / St. Louis Post-Dispatch (click to view more cartoons by Matson)
Pat Bagley / Salt Lake Tribune (click to view more cartoons by Bagley)
Adam Zyglis / Buffalo News (click to view more cartoons by Zyglis)
David Fitzsimmons / Arizona Daily Star (click to view more cartoons by Fitzsimmons)
Kevin Siers / Charlotte Observer (click to view more cartoons by Siers)
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James Murdoch Can’t Hack It

James Murdoch, son of News Corporation media mogul and occasional pie target Rupert Murdoch, has decided to give up his role as the head of the British newspaper subsidiary News International in the wake of an enormous phone hacking scandal and illegal payments to the police.

Here are five funny cartoons about phone hacking, News Corporation and the general silliness surrounding the Murdoch family. Our cartoonists draw, you decide…

R.J. Matson / St. Louis Post-Dispatch (click to view more cartoons by Matson)
Cam Cardow / Ottawa Citizen (click to view more cartoons by Cardow)
David Fitzsimmons / Arizona Daily Star (click to view more cartoons by Fitzsimmons)
Mike Keefe / PoliticalCartoons.com (click to view more cartoons by Keefe)
David Fitzsimmons / Arizona Daily Star (click to view more cartoons by Fitzsimmons)
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Santorum feeds hungry Republicans

Here’s my newest cartoon about everyone’s favorite birth control warrior, former Pennsylvania Senator and Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum (view more Rick Santorum cartoons here). For a man who not afraid to tell voters what’s on his mind (no matter how looney), Santorum now regrets saying he wanted to “throw up” after watching John F. Kennedy’s speech to Baptist ministers in Houston in 1960.

Just for the record, here’s what Kennedy said in his speech:

I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials; and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.”

Wow, Kennedy didn’t want The Pope to control American politics. Harsh.

You see, Santorum wanted to hurl because despite what our Constitution says, he doesn’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.

“The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country,” Santorum said on Sunday.

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Cartoons

Assad Stops Shooting

Assad Stops Shooting © Daryl Cagle,MSNBC.com,Syria,Bashar Assad,civil war,blood,shooting,gun

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Cartoons

Santorum Feeds Hungry Republicans

Santorum Feeds Hungry Republicans © Daryl Cagle,MSNBC.com,birds, baby birds, Rick Santorum, nest, separation of church and state, vomit, throw up, constitution