Ted Rall's Good Taste
by Ryan Sager
Mon, 7 May 2007 at 2:44 PM
updated Mon, 7 May 2007 at 2:50 PM
I'm not sure if this fits into the category of A-n C-----r — where it's best not to even highlight the idiocy and offensiveness of someone who feeds off of outrage. Nonetheless, I feel compelled to take note of this latest Ted Rall cartoon, titled: "Will John McCain Become Our Second Alzheimer's President?"
The title's offensive enough, but the panel highlighted above (the last one of the strip), shows Mr. McCain in a t-shirt that says: "I confessed to war crimes and all I got was lousy poll numbers."
This really can't be read as anything other than making fun of Mr. McCain for having broken under North Vietnamese torture. One might recall that Mr. McCain, after days of brutal beatings and two suicide attempts, signed a patently absurd confession to war crimes drafted by his captors — not exactly the stuff of flippant humor or legitimate, substantive political attack.
Here's a detail of the shirt:
Ted Rall has spoken out against campaigns to drop columnists like Ms. C-----r — and for obvious reason. His offensive cartoons in the wake of 9/11 led to his work being dropped from many venues.
I don't agree with Mr. Rall that private entities deciding to drop columnists or cartoonists is a form of censorship. But given the narrow distribution of Mr. Rall's cartoons, it's hardly worth anyone raising a hue and cry about him. It is, however, worth recalling from time to time that while you can be unfunny sometimes, and you can be tasteless sometimes, it is rarely a good idea to be both all the time.
That's Mr. Rall's downfall.
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