If you don’t get the reference, this is a hat-tip to the old Charles Atlas bodybuilding ads that used to run in comic books when I was a kid. Thus the washed-out off-register colors. I love the way this one turned out.
The Insult That Made a Man Out of Obama
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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I love it too!
I don’t want to sound like an “Obama Apologist” like the lower right corner, but did you see Peter Kuper’s play on this? George Bush, Hero of the Desert! It actually was worse…
Though, IMO, why didn’t “Obama” just abuse the “Patriot Act”. Call any CEO’s/execs “Economic Traitors” if they are US Citizens, any non-USA ones “Economic Terrorists” and totally take BP. I don’t mean “Take over the cleanup” I mean take the entire company and all its property. Stockholders lose 100% of their investment. The company is run “At cost plus 10%” so it just provides cheap gas, driving the price down a little, but still makes money to pay for the ongoing economic damage.
Existing companies will be terrified and think ten times before showing BP’s level of contempt for the economy/environment and just say “Business has ups and downs” to a new class of stockholders who suddenly find “Suspect” a company that’s only reported “Record Highs” for the past X years.
Then, with wide bi-partisan support, that act of treason, the “Patriot Act” will sunset the second Obama leaves office. Two birds, one stone.
Anyways, I like how this is still a cultural icon. Sadly, the Atlas estate sued “Flex Mentallo; Man of Muscle Mystery” over an obvious and should have been protected “Tribute” comic series.
Ha! Very good. This works for John Kerry who served in Viet Nam as well. I’ve noticed that effeminate liberal (redundant?) men have less balls than their wives. Especially John Kerry who is living off of his wife.
Ted: Why do you choose to explain the reference to Charles Atlas? Don’t you trust that your readership is knowledgeable enough to ‘get it?’ Oh, wait. Yeah. You’d HAVE to explain that to June 14, 2010 at 4:53 PM. I was quivering with anticipation for its comment, “Ha! Very Good! etc.” What a clown!
Gestalt, your very unwise idea would drive a couple million of retired Brits, whose pensions depend on this formerly state-run company’s stock, very mad at Obama and Americans in general.
OTOH, that doesn’t mean oil companies shouldn’t have to compensate all people harmed by an accident like this. Too bad Republicrats and Demoticans joined hands in limiting their liability.
To bucephalus…
Horse of Alexander, or Caligula?
What if someone took a hostage with a gun? So you gave them a million so they didn’t shoot the person? Then they spent it all and took another hostage, and a few of their friends got the idea too?
You’d want the politician who said “Just pay him the million” jailed, or at least out of office and ruined professionally, right?
Yet, we’ve allowed this “Economic Hostage Taking” this “Too big to fail”. IMO, that is one major thing a “Monopoly/AntiTrust law” is for; to prevent a company from getting so big it can get away with open, blatant corruption because even if it breaks enough laws that there’s not enough police and politicians and newspapers to buy or threaten, it can threaten to “Take the Economy with it”.
But they only have the money and the power if we let them have it.
We don’t need the “Rich Elite” anymore. They’ve set up a system where everybody is half or twice as qualified as is needed for any job and they take effectively half the pay then they’ve trained for because up to ten people beg for it and if they forced wages higher it would just go overseas (on tax subsidy) quicker.
Just take it from them. Let the existing staff run it, they can make low prices, pay good wages, and without the need to pay CEOs and stockbrokers, etc. it’ll be easy.
As far as the “Brits” go. Uh, aren’t you right wingers calling yourselves a “Tea Party” now? When do you care about any Breton? IMO, that country needs an economic punch in the gut. What’d happen is it’d be “Mad Max” for a few years, then the Queen would take power again and just “Disenfranchise” the corrupt bankers of all their power, money and shuffle things around.
We don’t have all this economic ruin in the world because of ‘socialism’, it’s because all the “Rich Elite” conspire to make us poor.
Gestalt,
I used to be the greatest senator (or politician) from Rome (or anywhere) in a different blog. Now I’m just a humble equine servant of a crazed warmonger.
I fail to see through your convoluted analogies, but I’ll tell you this: I’m not a right-winger, unless you consider anyone to the right of Che Guevara a “right-winger”. I don’t buy into the “too big too fail” either, unlike your mainstream American politicians from both sides of the same coin. Don’t worry about the “punch in the gut”: the Brits are going go through a bleak couple years, probably more so than the French and the Germans, but a lot less than the USA.
Not that I think it enjoyable or deserved, it’s just inevitable, and you have Greenspan and his cohorts to thank for.
I love watching Barry play the tough guy. It’s laughable when he says he wants to kick ass. If it weren’t for George Soros, Barry would still be working at Baskin Robbins; spitting in the vanilla ice cream no doubt.