A FOR email from this morning says it well. When are Democrats going to wake up and stop running away from the “L” word? You can’t outRepublican Republicans–especially not this merry crew

There’s no one left. Watch any news channel, read any interview every single Democrat is saying the same thing. “I go to Church,” “I’m a Christian,” “next time we need a canidate who can speak to the christian conservative.” If the new Democratic plan is to replace the conservative Republicans as the Republicans begin to dabble with dictatorship, then who represents me…shouldn’t everyone feel represented in a democracy? Shouldn’t everyone have a voice? Isn’t that the idea? I like to think that when a majority of the people make a decision it’s usually a good one, but is this the worst fuck up by a majority of Catholics since Galileo?

Unite? Never!

I received the following missive from a conservative Notre Dame student (anonymity protected in recognition of his all too rare civility in expressing disagreement:

I waited for your blog to be updated on November 2nd. And then on November 3rd.

Finally, today, I see a response and I am disappointed. I did not expect that

you, of all people, could move past the results shown on Tuesday, but I hoped

that you would. I continue to hope that the nation will unite behind Bush–as

well as help steer him on the best path if he moves away from it.

Forgive me for being unforgiving, but George W. Bush is a geocidal maniac. He killed more than 100,000 people. But even if I were inclined to look past his status as one of the worst serial killers in human history–and my heart just isn’t big enough, I’m afraid–does Bush strike you as the kind of guy looking for advice and counsel to help him along the best path? Does his idea of the best path seem similar to mine? Yours?

Democrats owe Bush exactly the same level of loyalty and unity as John Kerry would have received from the Republicans in Congress and on talk radio. You remember–the kind Bill Clinton enjoyed, when Rush Limbaugh counted down the days under illegitimate occupation we were suffering under the yoke of Bill. That level of unity.

Bush Thinks Mandate is a Gay Porn Magazine

Now the twit is claiming a mandate? Even if he really did win 51-48–a highly doubtful proposition, considering the hijacking of Ohio–you have to be pretty high on Karzai’s heroin stash to think that constitutes a mandate for radical Republicanism. 70-30–now THAT would be a mandate. And even then, would it really be a great idea to completely run roughshod over the aspirations and beliefs of 30 percent of the citizenry?

Don’t answer that.

Column is going up shortly, or so I’m told.

American Postmortem Miscellany

To paraphrase a friend, the people now have the government they deserve. The trouble is, so do we.

I’ll be filing my cartoons and column for this week later today; they should start going up overnight. My thoughts and reactions will follow during the coming days and weeks.

My progressive friends: I know you are disheartened. So am I. A record turnout should have ensured a Kerry sweep. And there’s no doubt that we will never know whether the Ohio vote count was legitimate. One thing is certain, however:

Bush is still not the legitimate president of the United States. He ran on an incumbency he never earned.

We must remain informed. We must keep working to educate and organize the citizenry. We must reform the Democratic Party. (Please, Terry MacA, step down!) Now, when the hour is darkest, is the most important time to stay focused on what must be done. Don’t mourn, organize!

Now the shitstorm begins. Calls for a consumpion tax or flat income tax, privatizing Social Security and invading Syria (the Bushies shut the embassy in Damascus) are being heard. The neofascists are wilding. Keep your head down. America’s time will come soon eough.

By the way, a French edition of my book “To Afghanistan and Back” is now available.

You Know What To Do

On December 20, 2000, the US Supreme Court illegally halted the 2000 presidential vote count in Florida. Since then we have been ruled by a dictator with no more legitimacy than Saddam Hussein. Today it is the duty of every patriotic American to restore democratic rule to the United States by casting a vote for any candidate other than George W. Bush. This especially includes Republicans, who should reject such anti-GOP policies pursued by the Bush Junta as deficit spending and wars of colonial aggression. Party labels do not matter today. Today there are only two kinds of Americans: patriots and neofascists. You know the right choice.

America, and the world, are counting on you.

Book TV on C-SPAN

A talk and Q&A session I gave a few weeks ago at Seattle’s Elliott Bay Book Company will be broadcast on Book TV on C-SPAN2 on Monday, November 1 at 7 pm Eastern Standard Time. The subject was why and how the US invasion of Afghanistan was every bit as unjustified and oil-motivated as the attack on Iraq.

P.S. Thanks to several Friends of Rall for emailing me corrected URL information.

Three Years Later

Well, well—Osama’s back, and just in time for Halloween! And he’s got something new for Americans: an admission of involvement in 9/11, something that until now we’ve had to take the Administration’s (cough) word (hee hee!) about. Perhaps Colin Powell will cough up that white paper he promised back in September 2001 showing the government’s evidence that Al Qaeda was involved. (Egyptian Islamic Jihad, of course, recruited the hijackers. But you already knew that. Didn’t you?)

Two new interviews with yours truly have just been published.

Genius cartoonist Stephanie McMillan (“Minimum Security,” ATTITUDE) asked all the right questions for Fort Lauderdale City Link.

There’s also an interview for the Comixpedia Community, in which I responded to questions posed by community members.

If you live on the West Coast, I look forward to meeting you at one of these upcoming appearances. Changes and additions will be posted here should they occur.

October 15

Time TBA

Friday Harbor/San Juan Islands

Fairgrounds

Will include slide presentation

October 16

12 noon

Elliott Bay Books

101 South Main Street

Seattle, Washington 98104

(206) 624-6600

October 17

Danger Room Comics

201 West 4th Street

Olympia, Washington 98501

2:00 pm: I will be interviewed and take questions and answers from the audience in the banquet room at Plenty (200 4th Avenue West, corner of 4th & Columbia, across the street from Danger Room).

3:30 – 5:00 pm: I will be signing and sketching at Danger Room Comics

NOTE: This appearance may be broadcast nationally via C-SPAN.

October 19

8 pm

NOCTURNAL (sponsored by Reading Frenzy

1800 E. Burnside

Portland, Oregon 97205

Please note address – NOT at Reading Frenzy’s store, but at Nocturnal

They, not I, call it the “Ted Rall Book Release Extravaganza”!

Ted Rall, Jefferson Smith, and a special guest from City Hall!

Join Reading Frenzy for an evening of civic engagement and political activism with cartoonist/commentator Ted Rall, author of Wake Up, You’re Liberal! (Soft Skull, 2004) and Generalissimo El Busho (NBM, 2004). Ted will be joined by Jefferson Smith of The Oregon Bus Project, and one of our favorite public officials (TBA)! Speakers will be followed by a lively Q&A session, and book signing. A few of our favorite local community organizations as well as some of Portland’s finest political cartoonists, such as Kevin Moore and Scott Bateman, will be on hand to display and discuss their work.

October 20

7:30 pm

Modern Times

888 Valencia Street

San Francisco, California

October 22-25: Los Angeles-area appearance

October 26: Possible Las Vegas appearance

New York Times Book Review: EL BUSHO Rocks!

The New York Times Book Review has reviewed GENERALISSIMO EL BUSHO: ESSAYS AND CARTOONS ON THE BUSH YEARS. And they like it!

Here’s what they wrote in yesterday’s issue:

THE BOOK: ”Generalissimo el Busho: Essays & Cartoons on the Bush Years,” by Ted Rall (Nantier Beall Minoustchine).

WHAT IT’S AIMING FOR: Overthrow of the United States government.

WHAT IT ACHIEVES: Oddly, some valuable historical perspective.

ANALYSIS: Ted Rall, a cartoonist and columnist for Universal Press Syndicate, is more hostile to President Bush than most members of Saddam’s inner circle, as this collection of his work from recent years makes scaldingly clear. There’s nothing really humorous here; the satire mixed into Rall’s screeds is far too bitter for that. In a piece from October 2002, he calls the military mission in Afghanistan ”Operation Enduring Failure.” In another 2002 piece, he refers to the Bush administration as a ”circus of hypocrites.” The best part of the volume, though, is its earliest material, centered on the 2000 election. Rall, unlike practically everyone else, allowed the president no honeymoon. He labeled the election stolen early and often. The resolution of the whole mess was far too casual for his taste; there was, he felt, too much at stake. Given all that has happened since, it appears he was right.

NUMBER OF TIMES IT’LL MAKE YOU LAUGH OUT LOUD: None. The fume-o-meter, however, for both pro-Bush and anti-Bush readers, will be close to exploding.

BETTER USES OF THE $19.95: None.