"From radical poet Amiri Baraka to singer Harry Belafonte and now cartoonist Ted Rall, too many people feel they have free rein to insult the dignity of Condoleezza Rice and have no problem injecting race into that abuse," adds King. "It's time for the civil rights establishment to stop allowing this assault on an accomplished black woman or they put their credibility at risk." I have to agree, or is it all okay because she happens to be a Republican, and somehow this political divide with the African-American political orthodoxy leaves her fair game for whatever racially-oriented slur that comes her way? And is straightening one's hair now some kind of racial offense?
I don't much care about the call for Rall's ouster - his idiocy serves to bring attention to the more absurd positions of some of the far left - but surely there should be an outcry and a call for an apology from the very organizations that would shriek loudest were Rice a liberal Democrat.
Laurence Simon REALLY hates Rall.
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Article comments
1 - Laurence Simon
I think that Rall hates himself more than I hate him.
2 - SFC SKI
He's not rude, he's edgy!
He must be right, he's making people mad!
He is not syndicated in my paper, so he can pound sand as far as I'm concerned.
3 - Tim Hall
Rall commits the ultimate cardinal sin; he's not actually funny.
Give me The Guardian's Steve Bell any day!
4 - NC
Good question. Where's the Mac Diva post on this one?
5 - Dan
Not only is he un-funny, he can't draw! His characters resemble the type of crude depictions one might see on public bathroom stalls, only with clothes on. He seems to be a very ugly bitter-minded person. A type that is, unfortunately, finding a home in contemporary main-stream liberal politics.
6 - Eric Olsen
Oh, I don't think he is a liberal archetype so much as a just-plain-dick archetype.
7 - Dan
Didn't say he was archetypical, just that he was welcome.
8 - Phillip Winn
Rall is "finding a home in contemporary main-stream liberal politics?" By what measure?
9 - Dan
"By what measure?"
By their acceptance of it of course. Seems like there was a time when lib's didn't countenence the vile slander of blacks as Rall exhibits. Liberals show their hypocricy when conservative blacks like Rice and Powell are thrown under the bus. You think the term "house nigga" is appropriate?
10 - RJ
Bellafonte calling Powell a "house slave" got big-time attention, but Bellafonte is black, so he got a pass.
Ted Rall is a white guy, so his use of such verbage should spark an outcry from black leaders. Because it doesn't, there is clearly a double-standard based on political affiliation.
QED. :)
11 - Eric Olsen
the silence is deafening
12 - Phillip Winn
Dan (#9), "By their acceptance"? Whose acceptance? What constitutes "acceptance"? Should all of his strips be yanked in the name of political correctness? Should he lose his job?
In a world in which the vast majority of Americans are mourning 9/11 (rewind with me a bit), and Ted Rall publishes a vile cartoon that inflames the world, how exactly should a liberal satisfy you that he doesn't agree with or accept Rall? Must he burn an effigy of him in the town square, or is it okay to continue on with the mourning and simply ignore him?
I think Rall is beyond the pale, but I hardly think that liberals have been accepting of him _because_ of his statements. Instead I think that they, as I do, believe that it is important that the right to express even fringe political views is defended.
And yeah, if the people who raise a hue and cry when public figures make racist statements were consistent, I would expect an uproar over this. And I don't expect one, because those public figures are not consistent, and never have been. They also don't necessarily represent the views of mainstream liberals.
Does Michael Savage represent your views? What have you done to make that clear -- he's made some disgusting statements in public. Does the first comment on this page represent your views? What have you done to repudiate it?
If you're talking about the "liberal" bogeymen invented by the RNC to raise funds, then sure, they just love Ted Rall. But if you're talking about the majority of people who voted for Gore in the last election, I don't think so, not at all.
13 - boomcrashbaby
Perhaps most liberals are like me and don't read Rall.
14 - Distorted Angel
The only place I've ever seen Rall's stuff is right here on Blogcritics. Most of my friends are unfamiliar with his work as well. Is he widely syndicated?
15 - Phillip Winn
Shhh, BCB, don't confuse Dan with any possibility other than "liberals = evil", m'kay?
:-)