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Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Those damned investigations

What's Mallard raving about today?

The Media, Enemies Lists, Racism.

Now Mallard is claiming that liberals feel over-frequent usage constitutes racism? So, any thing which gets discussed frequently is racist. For example, "Who will win the Super Bowl?" is racist. As is "Who will be the next Top Chef?" and "How was your day?"

Also, of course, "Do you think Mallard Fillmore has lost his mind?"

Fox, of course, hasn't launched an investigation. Not only are they actually the only network talking frequently about a fictitious enemies list, but they also couldn't care less if anything is racist as they already give a platform to batshit insane people raving about eliminationist fantasies and conspiracy theories several hours a day.

26 comments:

Tog said...

Is the "appearance of a White House enemies list" really being "discussed so often?" Because frankly, outside of MediaMatters references I don't linger around Freeper sites, watch FOX News, or listen to yip-yap--I mean, talk--radio, and the only mention I ever see of it is in this idiot comic strip.

...And yet again, I must ask "so what's the big damn deal?" and point out that every Republican administration in my life has had a publicly-aired enemies list, including the administration that made "White House enemies list" a household phrase.

Get over it, Tinsley. We're all too familiar with your very own enemies list, and now, your raving delusion that you're on one yourself. It's gotten old.

Kip W said...

I'm impressed that he managed to tie together two of the tedious themes that only he ever harps on. It's like he was able to fart and chew bubble gum all at the same time!

We should acknowledge this important milestone in his development, since there are so damn few of them.

Michael said...

Every one of Tinsley's strips can simply be boiled down to "NO U!!!1"

exanonymous said...

I'm not sure why neocons are so hysterical over an white house email address that asked that people forward information they found questionable about health care reform.

Because by their logic, every bank and financial institution in this country with online banking capabilities is also suspect of having an enemies list. As are Amazon, Paypal, Ebay, and any other online store.

ALL of these ask that their customers forward suspicious emails. And take more action: they will sometimes even shut down the sources of phishing sites if they can.

Of course, Mallard is probably taking the simplistic view where anyone the WH does not adore is on an invisible but tangible "enemies list". Come on Mallard, let the hippies keep the monopoly on demanding everyone love everyone!

Rootbeer said...

In other news.... this just in.... racism... wooo....

word veri: trammi. The name of a very nice "lady" that Bruce met when he was forced to take public transportation.

Andrew Johnston said...

Way to be fresh, Tins. This "enemies list" nonsense was circulating through the right wing a good five months ago. Maybe he's finally lost orientation to date and time. Just you wait, in January he'll start ranting about Clinton for no reason. Then, Mallentines.

Lagomorph Man said...

Do people actually believe Obama spends his days at his desk, writing down the names of people who made fun of him?

If so, where did they hear this? I've certainly not heard of any enemies list outside this "comic" strip.

GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. said...

This one is actually kind of amazing--we get three imaginary wingnut bugaboos ("enemies list," "raaacism!" "librul media") in one short comic, all in the interests of another patented Tinsley non-joke. I feel like this may be the quintessential Mallard Fillmore strip.

dlauthor said...

A quick alert to the editors of the four or so comics pages that still actually feature Mallard Fillmore: this strip is on the verge of collapsing on itself and becoming a self-referential, self-satisfied, right-wing singularity. If the word "dithering" should appear, please move the other comics clear of the event horizon or they will be sucked into a black vortex from which not even humor can escape.

rewinn said...

Indeed, MF is a black hole; it absorbs newsprint and energy, and emits no light - only heat.

As Tinshley sinks within, Time Itself Slows Down! so he knows only of events occurs further and further in the past.

Eventually he will appear to the rest of the universe as frozen in time, endlessly shrieking.

Br-r-r-r-r-r-r!

Anonymous said...

As an occasional gadfly on this site, I admit I often read blog postings from Freepers, leftists, neo-con loons, etc., and I think it's safe to say only Mallard has this "enemies list" obsession. I've never seen anyone else even make the claim against Obama, but he just can't let it go. It's like that crazy Walter Williams for President boom he tried to launch - it existed only in his own head!

Frank Stone said...

The "appearance" of an enemies list? Is that like "the appearance of impropriety" or like "appearance from behind a curtain"?

If the former, it's just plain pathetic. If the latter, it's just plain delusional.

Iron Dragon said...

The weird part is that Obama could even theoretically argue a need for one given some of the stuff that has happened. People coming to town hall meetings with weapons, carrying signs that say 'time to water the tree of liberty'. But yeah, I am thinking that Tinsley may have either overproduced strips for this or is so devoid of ideas to attack Obama on based on policy that he is trying to conjure arguments out of whole cloth.

NickE said...

Don't know if this page is behind a firewall, but: http://tinyurl.com/yapxmqo

Pickets at Newsday decry hate crime cartoon

About 20 people picketed Newsday's office in Melville Wednesday, expressing anger over a syndicated cartoon in Sunday's paper that joked about a hate crime.

Carrying signs that read "Boycott Newsday," the protesters demanded that editor John Mancini be fired.

The demonstrators said they were outraged that a Mallard Fillmore cartoon strip appeared just a week after the one-year anniversary of the death of Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero in Patchogue.

"This was insulting," said Fernando Mateo, of the not-for-profit advocacy group, Hispanics Across America. "It touched a chord. This is totally unacceptable."

The cartoon, penned by Bruce Tinsley, was titled "Liberals: The Early Years." It depicted a larger dinosaur chasing a small one. The bigger one says, "I'm not chasing you because you're a pachycephalosaurus. . . . I'm chasing you because you're delicious." The smaller dinosaur responds, "Oh, thank goodness. I was worried that this might be a hate crime."

"It's something serious," said Marcelo Lucero's brother, Joselo Lucero, 35, of Patchogue. "This is no joke for me. It was a tragedy."

Newsday issued a statement Wednesday that said the cartoon should never have been published. "We expect the cartoons we publish, many of which are nationally syndicated, to amuse, stir and entertain, but never to offend," said the statement, signed by Newsday spokeswoman Deidra Parrish Williams. "Hate crime is a serious issue. This nationally syndicated cartoon should never have run and we have expressed our concern to the syndicator."

In an e-mail to Newsday, Tinsley stood behind the cartoon. "I take your newspaper's concern seriously, and your readers' perceptions even more seriously," Tinsley wrote. "But at the same time, as a cartoonist and former reporter, I don't steer away from controversy."

Mancini defended Newsday's stories about Long Island immigration issues. "We stand by our coverage," he said.

Tog said...

carrying signs that say 'time to water the tree of liberty'

Holy crap, I missed that one. And yet I'm not surprised one bit. (But remember, kids--the question that really matters is: was the terrorist ISLAMIC?!?)

Michael Foley said...

I have a theory that every time Tinsley gets called out for using words like "Oriental" to describe a person, he runs home and draws another strip about oversensitivity to racism.

Tog said...

Ah, new post came up while I was typing.

I don't steer away from controversy

Yeah, no kidding, Tinsley. You roll around in your own filth and then jump up on the dinner table and shake yourself. And you're incredibly proud of yourself for it.

Bad choice of phrase there, Tins: steer.

Michael Foley said...

Wow, cool article Nick. As Tog said in the thread, the punchline of that one was, "I'm not beating you to death because you're gay...I'm beating you to death because I'm secretly terrified of f****ts!!"

dlauthor said...

In an e-mail to Newsday, Tinsley stood behind the cartoon. "I take your newspaper's concern seriously, and your readers' perceptions even more seriously," Tinsley wrote. "But at the same time, as a cartoonist and former reporter, I don't steer away from controversy."

Translation: "Up yours, brown people." *opens up new can of 'research.'*

dlauthor said...

One thing, though: I dislike the statement that comics should never offend. All political comics offend someone. Most comics of any decent sort offend someone. Hell, even Peanuts probably pissed off some people. The difference is, those cartoons tend to do it with style, rather than the grade-school vindictiveness of your standard neocon. And that they also tend to be backed by writing and/or drawing talent and the desire to put in a little actual effort before knocking off to the local bar when it opens for the day.

Drogon Saurischian said...

Perhaps this has been discussed before, but it's become patently obvious to me (and I admit I'm slow on the uptake sometimes) that "racist" has a very clear, albeit not formally-defined meaning in Tinkley's world. Given this lack of formal definition, I'll proffer one up here:

racist
- (adj.)
1. of or relating to those things a dipsomaniacal conservative cartoonist believes that the imaginary liberals in his head will find offensive, but which the similarly imaginary "Real Americans" in his head will find commonsensical
2. a tired rhetorical trope that through gross over-usage has lost any potential utility it may have once provided as the occasional ironic coda to a conservative comic strip involving a duck

Bill the Splut said...

Man, is there ever going to be some pro-hate crime mockery and not-at-all racist racism in Mallard in a coupla weeks! It's been proven by "the illegals" that he's on their enemies list! I'll bet he's researching the balls out of this one right now!

WV: latol; French for toilet, as in "Ahh, monsieur Tinsley's sanity has certainly gone down la tol, mais oui?"

Factinista said...

Of course Tinsley's loving the attention from the protests. This is the first time he's been in a controversy that's existed outside his own head.

Violet said...

Interesting choice on Tinsley's part to employ a driving metaphor. Yeah, I don't steer away from controversy. Or, you know, telephone poles, kids on bikes, whatever.

Iron Dragon said...

On the one hand I see the argument that says that comics can and should be controversial. But, it also depends on where Mallard is supposed to be in papers. If it's carried in the same section as standard political cartoons, then it can probably get away with more, but if it's with the regular comics then there are probably other standards. And I would say that the comic in question was rather odious.

Frank Stone said...

"In an e-mail to Newsday, Tinsley stood behind the cartoon. 'I take your newspaper's concern seriously, and your readers' perceptions even more seriously,' Tinsley wrote. 'But at the same time, as a cartoonist and former reporter, I don't steer away from controversy.'"

Wouldn't you know it -- Brucie finally comes up with something truly hilarious, and it's not in his comic strip.

WV: Judaw: Martial art Brucie threatens to use when faced with the prospect of a bar fight, e.g., "Y'better wash' out, man, I know JUDAAAWWW!!"