The Left's Shameful Slurring of Monkey Cartoonist

Racist caricature of Condi Rice,
as found on many left websites

For eight years, the left has portrayed Condi Rice in racist and sexist graphics. Now, leftists are angry about a cartoon that mocks Obama – who they wrongly think is the main author of the Stimulus Bill.

The shameful attacks on New York Post cartoonist Sean Delonas continue. It is fed only by ignorance and a hypocritical effort by the Left to portray opponents to Barack Obama's economic policies as racists. To the Left, anybody who disagrees with them about nearly anything is a "racist" or "Nazi.")

The cartoon in question shows two cops standing over a chimpanzee that has been shot dead.

The Sean Delonas cartoon that riled the Left

One cop says to the other, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next Stimulus Bill" as smoke comes from his pistol. The poor ape lays dead, riddled with bullet holes.

Ignorant people nationwide jumped to the wrong conclusion that Delonas's cartoon was portraying Barack Obama as a chimp (many incorrectly say "monkey").

Among those idiots is Julian Sancton, who wrote about the cartoon in a slanderous article at Vanity Fair. That article was titled "Sean Delonas: Stupid, Racist, or Both?"

In his article, Sancton wrote, "I'm struggling to find an interpretation of this that doesn't odiously compare Obama, who just signed the stimulus bill yesterday, to a monkey, resorting to one of the most wretched racist stereotypes."

But Sancton is the one who is stupid. He himself noted that Obama signed the bill. Obama did not write the bill; somebody else did. It's important to note that the cartoon cop says "They'll have to find someone else to write the next Stimulus Bill." He did NOT say "someone else to sign the next Stimulus Bill." That's important, and that's why the Delonas detractors are all stupidly wrong.

Again: Obama did not write the Stimulus Bill. Who did?
White guy David Obey (D-WI) is the bill's primary author.

As the New York Times pointed out, "Indeed, it was Mr. Obey, the third-most-senior member of the House, who, in large measure, shaped the bill, in concert with other House Democratic leaders."

So, if the cartoon compares anybody to the author of the Stimulus Bill, it's David Obey and/or "House Democratic leaders" collectively, not Barack Obama.

I wrote about this on Wednesday ("Obama Not Monkey Who Wrote Stimulus").

"One of the most wretched
racist stereotypes," unless
it's done it to a white guy

Is it not also racist to portray a white guy as a chimp? It's been done thousands of times to George W. Bush. Why is it only black people who can scream racism? We're all apes, right?

Today, I received a hysterical (as in panicked, not funny) email from a woman who lives on Chicago's north side (we'll call her "X").

She's a serial emailer, a social justice warrior, and an idiot. She loves to send and forward mass emails. I usually read them, then delete them after a good chuckle. But not this time.

Today's email from "X" was a forwarding of an ignorant rant from "colorofchange.org," and it moved me to respond "to all" with an explanation as to why they are so obviously wrong about the wrongly infamous cartoon.

The full text of X's email and my response are below; only names and email addresses have been removed. I have also inserted my notes. Graphics here were added by me for this post and were not included in my correspondence with "X." Excerpts from X's email appear below as indented blockquotes in italics.

As you read the letter from "X," ask yourself why she and others did not protest when their fellow Liberals depicted Condoleezza Rice and other African-Americans in racist ways.

Dear X, 

I respectfully disagree with you. Although I agree that portraying a black person as an ape or a monkey is just wrong, the cartoon in question simply did not do so. Here's why:
The cartoon says that they'll have to find someone else to write the next Stimulus Bill.

Well guess what - Barack Obama may have signed it, but he did NOT write it. Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin, a white guy, is credited as the primary author. Others contributed to the writing of it. So if anybody could be seen as being compared to a monkey or ape, it would be the white man David Obey.

That being said, the cartoonist made no reference to Barack Obama. The implication of the cartoon is that even a chimpanzee could have written the bill, a commentary on the quality of the legislation. You can disagree with that; perhaps you like putting the nation into debt for a trillion dollars. That's not the point. The point is that there was nothing racist about that cartoon.

Only an ignorance of who actually wrote the bill - and of who did not - could lead one to panic and assume (incorrectly) that it was Barack Obama.
X, where were you when Condaleezza Rice was being portrayed by the Left in vicious, racist cartoons and photo manipulation? There seems to be a hypocrisy here, and an overblown one at that.

To those who disagree with me, I ask you: Who do you think wrote the Stimulus Bill? After you search for yourself and discover that it was not Mr. Obama, will you send around an email apologizing for the libeling of a cartoonist who is innocent of your charges?

Respectfully, Chicago News Bench

On Thursday, 2/19/09, X wrote:

From: X
Subject: about that New York Post cartoon
To: [X's group]

Yesterday, the day after President Obama signed the stimulus bill, his first major piece of legislation, the New York Post ran a cartoon depicting the bill's author as a dead monkey, covered in blood after being shot by police.

Another racist depiction of
Condi Rice by Democrats

MY NOTE: This was not Obama's "piece of legislation," as the New York Times explains. He signed it, but he did not write it. In the face of intense criticism, The Post's editor is standing by the cartoon, claiming it has no racial undertones, that it's not about Obama, and that it was simply referencing an incident earlier this week when police shot a pet chimpanzee (an argument that pundits and analysts simply aren't buying).

MY NOTE: SOME pundits and analysts aren't buying it, but plenty of others are. It's impossible to believe that any newspaper editor could be ignorant enough to not understand how this cartoon evokes a history of racist symbolism, or how frightening this image feels at a time when death threats against President Obama have been on the rise.

MY NOTE: It's difficult to believe that people can be so ignorant as to who actually wrote - and did not write - the Stimulus Bill. Notice that "X" offers no substantiation of her claim that death threats against Obama are "on the rise."

Please join us in demanding that The Post apologize publicly and fire the editor who allowed this cartoon to go to print: The Post would have us believe that the cartoon is not about Obama. But on the page just before the cartoon appears, there's a big picture of Obama signing the stimulus bill.

NOTE: The cartoon is NOT about Obama. See above. A reader paging through The Post would see Obama putting pen to paper, then turn the page to see this violent cartoon. The imagery is chilling.

NOTE: An ignorant reader who is unaware that Obama did not personally write the Stimulus Bill.

There is a clear history in our country of racist symbolism that depicts Black people as apes or monkeys, and it came up multiple times during the presidential campaign. We're also in a time of increased race-based violence. In the months following President Obama's election there has been a nationwide surge in hate crimes ranging from vandalism to assaults to arson on Black churches.

There has been an unprecedented number of threats gainst [sic] President Obama since he was elected, with hate-based groups fantasizing about the killing of the president. Just a week ago, a man drove from Louisiana to the Capitol with a rifle, telling the police who stopped him that he had a "delivery" for the president.

NOTE: Today's young black males kill more young black males in a year than the Ku Klux Klan killed in its entire history. Between 1882 and 1968, historians have documented more than 4,700 lynchings of African Americans, mostly in the South.

In 2005, the latest full year of FBI statistics, almost 8,000 black Americans were murdered, mostly by other black Americans. I lost count years ago as to how many times I heard Liberals tell me they'd love to shoot Dick Cheney or George W. Bush. But I guess it doesn't count as hateful if the threat is made against white men, particularly Republican white men.

There is no excuse for The Post to have allowed this cartoon to be printed, and even less for Editor Col Allan's outright dismissal of legitimate concerns. 

NOTE: There is no excuse for your vile lies about this cartoon, or your defamation of a cartoonist, based on your ignorance of who authored the Stimulus Bill.

But let's be clear about who's behind The Post: Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch, the Post's owner, is the man behind FOX News Channel. FOX has continually attacked and denigrated Black people, politicians, and institutions at every opportunity, and we've run several campaigns to make clear how FOX poisons public debate.

NOTE: Let's be clear about who is behind the slanderous, libelous email. It's ignorant, race-baiting, hateful Leftists who don't care about the truth and are willing to crucify an innocent cartoonist just to score political points.

We don't expect much from Murdoch. However, with enough public pressure we can set the stage for advertisers and subscribers to think long and hard before patronizing outlets like the Post that refuse to be held accountable.

NOTE: I urge anybody interested in truth and justice to contact ColorOfChange.org and ask them why they are so ignorant about who wrote the Stimulus Bill and are so willing to defame the New York Post cartoonist.