McRingtail Comics

Damn. John Cox and Allen Forkum announced today that they’re no longer going to be doing editorial cartoons. (h/t LGF)

Like most folks, I came to know Cox & Forkum’s work through Little Green Footballs where it was featured with some regularity. While editorial cartooning, unlike the MSM in general, had enough independence to occasionally call a terrorist a terrorist and a Democrat an appeaser, few other cartoons so thoroughly took on the post-9/11 landscape as did those penned by Cox & Forkum.

Their regular targets, among many others, included the cult of western self-hatred, the anti-war left, the GOP’s spending death-spiral, and the primitive leading the country that’s at war with us. Along with the IBD’s editorial cartoons, C&F saw the country’s problems and enemies with a rare and cutting clarity. Which is why the blogosphere is poorer place tonight for their retirement.

Apparently, Hillary’s idea for buying votes has already been tried before; a history lesson courtesy of Power Line here. Even Democratic Underground’s denizens are unimpressed with Mrs. Clinton’s baby-bond idea, though it should be noted much of their concern is that the idea will lead to overpopulation, thus harming Mother Gaea with more human infestation.

Anyway, don’t we already have something that gives away public funds for spawning irresponsibly? I think it’s called welfare.

Michelle has video of Edwards’s quote-of-week. James Taranto wonders whether Edwards’s comments are racist or just irresponsibly demagogic (second item). Probably the latter, but if it were a Republican saying this, he’d have the burden of proving it wasn’t the former.

From a Daily Kos post meditating on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Columbia University (h/t LGF):

I know I’m a Jewish lesbian and he’d probably have me killed. But still, the guy speaks some blunt truths about the Bush Administration that make me swoon…

[...] I want to be very clear. There are certainly many things about Ahmadinejad that I abhor — locking up dissidents, executing of gay folks, denying the fact of the Holocaust, potentially adding another dangerous nuclear power to the world and, in general, stifling democracy. Even still, I can’t help but be turned on by his frank rhetoric calling out the horrors of the Bush Administration and, for that matter, generations of US foreign policy preceding.

She later claimed it was satire, but I think we all know better. Anyway, it’s not like she was the only one impressed by Ahmadinejad.

The left anymore is putting a lot of stock in the idea that the enemy (Iran and Islamists in general) of their enemy (Bush) is their friend. This in spite of the fact that they know the former would gladly slit their useful idiot throats.

Update 9/28/07 at 9:55am: Jonah Goldberg this morning has a terrific essay on A’jad’s Columbia visit, free speech, and cowardice masking as principle. Ed Morrissey expands on Goldberg’s essay here. Key point:

Freedom of speech does not confer upon anyone the right to be published. Nor does it impose on other citizens the duty to listen or to acknowledge the speech. Most importantly, it does not grant an immunity from criticism for the speech one gives — because that would also constrain free speech.

One would think this obvious. But since so many universities and editorial writers keep insisting that every tyrant and crackpot with an America-hating chip on his shoulder is entitled to a forum, it’s a point worth repeating.

Like one of our earlier cartoons, this strip is probably lost on our out-of-state readers. Delawareans that know Biden the Lesser, however, will appreciate its subtle genius.

While we’re talking about Beau Biden, I notice that despite the press personnel he employees at the DOJ (more than his Attorney General predecessors, I understand), there’s been nary a press release this summer, and none this past month. On the other hand, his campaign website just keeps on updating.

Well, I guess it’s all about priorities. The current office isn’t one. The next election — maybe for his dad’s senate seat — is. Suffice it to say, this isn’t the kind of commitment to the job that one hopes for in a state’s chief law enforcement officer.

I should stress this isn’t to knock Beau’s phalanx of press hacks. I’m sure they’re all busy at taxpayer expense keeping references to the boss’s multitude of bar exam failures off his Wikipedia page.

(Not too busy, though — they didn’t edit out that his middle name is “Robinette”.)

Yes, General Petraeus’s testimony before Congress was nearly two weeks ago, so we’re more behind on this than we’d prefer. On the other hand, thanks to the revelation that the New York Times gave MoveOn.org a family discount of 60% on the latter’s full-page “General Betray Us” ad, the strip gets grandfathered in as timely.

Bonus Schadenfreude as the NYT’s ad discount looks an awful lot like an in-kind political contribution, despite their constant and shrill support for campaign finance reform.

Against my better judgment, comments are now open.

Duncan and Little Annie Allah think comments will boost traffic.  And Simon was lisping about how they will foster right-left understanding throughout the internets.  By contrast, my own cyncism of vox populi in the Internet age is nicely summed up with a few of our older strips here and here.

Some caveats: A Ring Ringtail reserves the right to delete any comments we deem worthless; ARR also may shut down comments completely at any time. Comments are unmoderated, so naturally opinions expressed in the comments do not reflect those of the ARR. On the other hand, the fact that certain comments aren’t deleted does not imply our endorsement.

And with that out of the way, enjoy.  We’re morbidly curious to hear from you.

Updated at 4:13pm, 9/21/07: Looks like older posts which originally weren’t comments-enabled have to be turned on individually.  I really don’t feel like editing every post I’ve done since May, but have opened comments on the last few strips.  As noted above, comments will be open on posts going forward.