Frank Rich

There’s a small reference to me in tomorrow’s New York Times.

Brilliant media and culture columnist Frank Rich writes:

To conservatives, anyone who opted for even modest restraint in Reagan coverage (like The New York Times, with its three-column headline announcing his death) was guilty of insufficient sentimentality; anyone who criticized the man was a traitor. “Thoughtless, mean, hateful” were just some of the epithets heaped by Fox’s Sean Hannity on a rare Reagan dissenter who showed his face on TV, the political cartoonist Ted Rall.

Fahrenheit 9/11

My best friend the film critic saw it at Cannes. He says it’s great; we should see it.

That said, there’s something a little odd about the way publicity for this film has been handled that demonstrates how disorganized and plain stupid the American Left is so often.

There was a sneak preview of the film a few days ago here in New York City. One would think that Michael Moore and the film’s promoters would want people like me to attend. Who knows? I might write something up.

In reality, I receive more offers and free tickets to attend right-wing and Republican functions than from liberals. I didn’t get invited to the screening, an advance DVD, or jack shit. Many of my fellow liberal-minded cartoonists and columnists say they get treated the same way. Is it any wonder that the majority’s progressive message can’t get out? We’re disorganized as hell.

Moore DID invite, however, right-wing Fox demagogue Bill O’Reilly.

Nice priorities, Mike.

Errata Slip For This Week’s Column

Several readers wrote to point out a glitch of omission in this week’s op/ed column:

Great column on the potential downfall of Kerry picking McCain as a running mate. One minor historical quibble, however. You mention 1796 as the last time a cross-party ticket was elected. I believe in 1864 Lincoln was re-elected on a “National Union” ticket with Democrat Andrew Johnson as his running mate. This even emphasizes your point, as that match didn’t turn out that well, either.

They’re right.

Killed: Great Journalism Too Hot to Print

I have an essay in a anthology of essays killed by newspapers and magazines called KILLED.

My essay, about Father’s Day, was killed by the New York Times Magazine in 1997 because it struck one of the editors a little too close to home. There are also 23 other awesome killed essays, mostly by better and more famous writers than me, so check it out and buy it!

The Pointless Death of David Johnson

In the grim calculus of death and mayhem in the Middle East, the videotaped beheadings of Nick Berg and Paul Johnson are somehow supposed to count as “told you sos” for the prowar right wing. The brutality of the killings, coupled with the grisly footage thereof, are supposed to elicit disgust, not just for the men who murdered these men but by extension to the Iraqi resistance and Muslims in general.

Obviously the murderers are first and foremost to blame. But a share of the responsibility also lies at the feet of those who have made America so despised throughout the world: presidents, policymakers and spooks past and present. They made “American” a dirty word. They made Americans targets.

It’s also true that Mssrs. Berg and Johnson took a risk by, respectively, traveling to the active war zone of occupied Iraq and, in Mr. Johnson’s case, working in Saudi Arabia—a nation ruled by a widely despised U.S.-puppet dictatorship under siege from internal dissidents and outside Islamists. Having a risk go bad doesn’t make one responsible for the consequences, but the risk should be acknowledged. Both men would be alive today had they chosen to work in stable, democratic nations.

Johnson’s killers are naive if they believe that Americans or their Saudi puppets will release prisoners or alter any of their policies in response to his beheading. Ditto with the Al Qaeda group that killed Berg. Americans are revulsed by these deaths, but they don’t change anybody’s minds. Supporters of U.S. foreign policy under Bush view the deaths as confirmation that Arabs are inhuman; opponents see them as further indicators that we should act to become less reviled.

As we consider these gruesome murders, we should consider them on par with the gruesome murders of 800+ American servicemen and women and close to 100,000 Iraqi and Afghan civilians and soldiers killed during Bush’s two wars. Bush’s hands are dripping with their blood, just as surely as the men who drew the knives across Berg and Johnson’s throats. They’re all tragic; unnecessary and pointless. The difference is that their deaths aren’t on tape.

And even if they were—as we see in the case of the still yet to be seen Anu Ghraib videos—the American media wouldn’t broadcast them.

The Critics Chime in on WAKE UP, YOU’RE LIBERAL!

I’ve been nervously awaiting critical reaction to my first all-prose political book, WAKE UP, YOU’RE LIBERAL: HOW WE CAN TAKE AMERICA BACK FROM THE RIGHT.

Early indications are good.

As you might expect, Press Action takes issue with my belief that the Democratic Party can be saved. But overall they like it.

And Las Vegas City Life calls it “a powerful, persuasive call to arms.”

When’s the Right Time?

Dan Rather spoke for many last week when he suggested that the time for a balanced, non-gauzy analysis of the Reagan presidency would be after he was interred.

That was last weekend. Which means we should expect a sober look at the good, the bad and the ugly. This week.

So where is it? A search of major newspapers finds that the number of pieces offering a critical look at Reagan this week is:

Zero.

Which is why I and Christopher Hitchens and others offered our corrective to the Republicans’ mass masturbation ceremony last week. Because, when it comes to speaking ill of the Republican dead, there’s really never a right time.

Leaving Baghdad

I’ve been saying it for more than a year: no occupying army has ever been viewed with anything other than distaste by its subjects, and Iraq is no different.

Now Michael Hirsh, writing in Newsweek, has dug up a poll of Iraqi public opinion the Colonial Provisional Authority tried to keep secret—because it shows that the people of Iraq, contrary to statements from the White House and their media parrots, hate our guts and want us to get out of their country.

The first survey of Iraqis sponsored by the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority after the Abu Ghraib prison scandal shows that most say they would feel safer if Coalition forces left immediately, without even waiting for elections scheduled for next year. An overwhelming majority, about 80 percent, also say they have “no confidence” in either the U.S. civilian authorities or Coalition forces. Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed also said they believed violent attacks have increased around the country because “people have lost faith in the Coalition forces.”

The poll numbers were reflected in the anger seen in the streets of Baghdad after a series of car bombings on Monday. While U.S forces and Iraqi police hung back, crowds set some of the vehicles on fire, threw bricks and shouted insults at U.S. soldiers. According to the poll, a mere 1 percent of Iraqis now feel that the Coalition forces contribute most to their sense of security; only 18 percent described Iraqi police the same way. By contrast, a total of 71 percent said they depended mostly on their family and friends and neighbors for security.

The poll results, which have not been released publicly but were obtained by NEWSWEEK, indicate that the April publication of photos depicting the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison accelerated a long-term decline in support for the U.S. occupation. Of the Iraqis surveyed, 71 percent said they had been surprised by the Abu Ghraib revelations. Most, however, said they now believe the abuses were widespread. Fifty-four percent agreed with the statement that “all Americans behave this way,” and 61 percent said they believed no one would be punished for the abuses. A CPA spokesman said Tuesday that he had not yet examined the numbers.

The poll reflects an inexorable decline in support for the U.S. occupation since the fall of Baghdad over a year ago. In November 2003, 47 percent of those surveyed still expressed confidence in the CPA; those figures plummeted to 9 percent in April and 11 percent in May. In the latest survey, 81 percent of Iraqis also expressed “no confidence” in Coalition forces. Seventy-eight percent expressed the same grim opinion of the outgoing CPA, which is slated to dissolve when sovereignty is handed over to the interim government on June 30.

There is no good news out of Iraq, and it’s only going to get worse. There is zero chance of this misadventure working out. Let’s bring our troops home, begin to restore honor to our nation and start to atone for what we’ve done.

Then brace for the blowback: Iraq, and possibly Turkey, in civil war. All courtesy of Bush and his media suck-ups.

GENERALISSIMO EL BUSHO Hits Stores Next Week

WAKE UP, YOU’RE LIBERAL: HOW WE CAN TAKE AMERICA BACK FROM THE RIGHT is my new political manifesto that tells Democrats, the Left and progressive organizations how they can make a comeback and why most Americans are liberal–but don’t know it.

But if you’re looking for my infamous cartoons and columns from the soon to come to an end Bush era, you also need the perfect companion piece: GENERALISSIMO EL BUSHO: ESSAYS AND CARTOONS FROM THE BUSH YEARS, which is being released in both hardback and paperback.

EL BUSHO contains more than 60 columns, speeches and non-archived essays about the stolen 2000 election, 9/11, the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq and the neofascist Bush regime’s attacks on our precious freedoms. These are clarion calls from the wilderness, declarations of anger and patriotism issued from the front lines of political battle. These cartoons and essays resulted in calls for my being imprisoned or executed by public officials and were, until recently, among the few mainstream voices of dissent in this country.

Sprinkled liberally (of course!) throughout the 208-page tome are my best and most notorious cartoons from 2000 to 2004. Bear in mind: there are currently no plans to issue a book that just collects my cartoons.

You can order EL BUSHO now through Amazon or get it anywhere where books are sold except WalMart.

Democrats Under Siege

As Generalissimo El Busho’s polls drop, the Bushies are becoming desperate. Which means that to espouse left-of-center politics these days is a dangerous business.

People like me, Michael Moore, Al Franken and Bill Maher have been targeted by right-wing hate groups and their repugnant anonymous warblogger allies. Their goal is to deny us an income and a voice by deluging our employers with hate email–99% of it from people who don’t actually read the publications in which we appear. Because the right can’t win the battle of ideas, they’re forced to resort to the next best thing: silencing their opponents.

Make no mistake: it’s neo-McCarthyism, and it’s been in full swing since 9/11.

There is, however, something that you can do.

When you see a cartoon or movie or column or other form of expression that you agree with, don’t just smile and turn the page. Send an email or, better yet, a real letter to the editor. Thank them for supporting work you enjoy and/or consider important, and ask your friends to do the same. If you have a website or liberal-minded blog, post a link so other likeminded souls can do the same. And, of course, buy their books. Among cartoonists, readers are notorious for requesting cartoon collections that they don’t support by purchasing.

I’m still getting emails from readers of New York Times Digital and MSNBC.com asking where my cartoons went. If these fans and others like them had written to say they liked my stuff when it was still around, they probably wouldn’t have to ask now.