Power Line defends NY Post chimp cartoon
February 18, 2009 3:42 pm ET by Eric Boehlert
The right-wing site thinks the wildly offensive cartoon (click here), which seemed to equate Obama with a crazed, dead chimp, is no big deal. Not that we're surprised. The Golden Rule of the Republican Noise Machine is that nobody from within is ever supposed to apologize or even mildly criticize the hateful rhetoric that's often produced.
We did get a kick out Power Line's defense though, which was, what's the big deal because critics compared Bush to a chimp in the past. It's quite similar to Michelle Malkin's defense today after getting her photo taken with a smiling activist who was holding an Obama/swastika sign. Of course Malkin didn't apologize, because some loonies on the left had used swastikas to attack Bush. So what's the big deal.
But back to Power Line:
One can only marvel at the Democrats' new concern for civility in political discourse. After all, while this cartoon had nothing to do with Obama, we do have a lot of experience with people referring to a President of the United States as a "chimp."...Graphic depictions of President Bush as a chimpanzee were legion; a Google Images search turns up page after page of examples.
Here's the thing, the Post cartoon in question depicted the chimp shot through the chest and dying on the sidewalk. When Power Line finds a cartoon published in a major metro American newspaper that associated Bush with a chimp dead on the sidewalk and his body riddled with bullets, than Power Line might have a point. Right now, it's just defending the indefensible.
UPDATE: Maybe Power Line should get credit for at least addressing the topic. Over at NRO's The Corner, conservatives have posted more than four dozens items today about news and buzz-worthy topics. What's been completely ignored by the writers themselves? Perhaps the hottest media story of the day; the Post cartoon. NRO writers apparently have no opinion whatsoever.
Why do I have a hunch that they do have an opinion, but just don't want to offend a newspaper that sometimes publishes them?
There should be no defense of this cartoon. If it isn't racist, it is in very poor taste. There is nothing funny about the portrayal of anything dead in cartoons, let alone that of a primate.
I think I know what they were trying to get at with the cartoon, but alas, it comes across super offensive, and borderline illegal (if someone can make the connection between the dead chimp riddled with bullets, and that said same chimp being a facsimile for Obama). It is just in bad taste. And, worst of all, it's not even funny, or satiric in nature. It's just dumb.
Another excellent example of the hidden racism in America that has expanded. Have you forgot about the New York 's Greenwich Village bakery Lafayette French Pastry offering a "Drunken Negro Cookie" in honor of the inauguration of Barack Obama. This is how racists and bigots get their kicks and use these opportunities for recruitment. And for you who disbelieve this is racist, insensitive, or whatever; wake up and smell the coffee that is what the racists want you to do. Pretend such hatred doesn't exist unless you slapped in the face or worst yet, lynched, murdered, and hanged.