Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for October 02, 2012

Rick, at least you have Joanie.

And a rewarding relationship with his son.

I don’t know who to feel more sorry for – the loser campaign worker who was left behind or poor Rick who doesn’t get any respect professionally or at home. But they need to immediately leave that pathetic place (Romney headquarters) and go out for a drink.

Not funny. We already know that, only too well. Go ahead, diss your readers more, Trudeau. We just live to be insulted. Nothing better to do than engage in circular firing squads. “Blow up your TV, throw away your papers, move to the country, build you a home. Plant a little garden, grow a lot of peaches, Try to find Jesus, on your own.” John Prine was onto something there.

Rick also has his keyboard. Nix drowning in alcohol. He can still fight with his words. Watch the debate. Take notes. Write a kick-asterisk critique. Submit the work to HuffPo for publication.

Hey, maybe if Redfern gets talking to that lowly volunteer he will find out something that will be really earth-shaking! I’d really like something very good (like that) to happen to poor Redfern!

Ouch!

Its could be worse for Rick, he could be living in his mother’s basement.

Being a journalist myself, I have great empathy and respect for Rick. Garry is dragging him by a long rope hooked to a pickup.πWhy? To develop his talent? His character? πA journalist is a journalist, just as a bricklayer is a bricklayer, a banker is a banker, a barrister is a barrister, or a politician a politician. Unless you want to retire him, don’t suggest another line of employment, such a guitarist / singer / songwriter. That’s like telling basketballer Michael Jordan to start playing professional baseball. In fact, worse.πWrite the story, Redfern. You were born to write faithful and true news stories, not hack pieces based on incredibly inaccurate, skewed and biased, unfair and unbalanced GOP “talking points” for Faux News. That’s Roland Hedley’s job. Why would you ever want to be like him?πStart with the four W’s and the H. — Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?πWho? MItt Romney.What? Hires a campaign manager who acts like Schrödinger’s cat — simultaneously “in” and “out” of his office. When? On the eve of Romney’s first debate with Obama.Where? Denver, Colorado.Why? Because, as the Bible says, a man who is unfaithful in small things — such as, hiring a liar for a campaign manager — he will be likewise unfaithful in great things — such as dealing with the Iranian-Israel bomb thing. Romney might drop a few big ones on Iran and start a thermonuclear WWIII in which we might have to fight BOTH China and Russia, along with Iran.How? Vote, baby, vote! Vote for the steady-hand Obama, rather than the reckless, extremist Romney.πFlesh it out with colorful words and a few knockout punches, a kick-asterisk ending. And publish it on HuffPo.πThat’s the way you do it, babyboy — from one journalist to another.πPS: a political comic strip IS a form of journalism. That’s why many newspapers put Doonesbury in the editorial / opinion pages rather than the comic strip page. Who knows what Garry has in store? Maybe, as elizjs suggests, He’ll learn some explosive inside info from the “lowly volunteer” who has nothing to lose.

" What does he think of bloggers who blog for free on his comic strip page in the guise of comments?"πWho cares? At any rate I don’t agree that Garry is “… insinuating that bloggers who blog for HuffPost for free are basically useless ….”πI think he’s using the highly complex character Rick as a way of teaching us something about ourselves. How do we behave when the chips are down? Do we take refuge in alcohol or other drug? Do we try to be someone we aren’t?πIf Rick’s not a “think piece” with great integrity, he’s nothing. Or, rather, he’s like his simple son, Jeff.

Redkaycei Repoc — That supposed Bush quote (the Constitution is just a goddamned piece of paper) was published by exactly one source, Capitol Hill Blue. The author, Doug Thompson, has withdrawn his claim. (http://www.factcheck.org/2007/12/bush-the-constitution-a-goddamned-piece-of-paper/) Factcheck.org makes it plain that Thompson eats his words to the exclusion of almost anything else in his diet. I know you will continue to use this Bush “quote”, but now you know the truth.

“I know you will continue to use this Bush “quote”” — “(the Constitution is just a goddamned piece of paper).”πI’ve never used it, never thought it even sounded like Dubya, and have always wondered about its supposed source.πSo, thanx, wagnertinatlanta.

FactCheck.org says that the Bush story regarding the consitition as being just a piece of paper is untrue.

Can’t agree with your interpretation. I think GT is saying that a lot of unpaid bloggers are much better than the worthless idiots who are paid big bucks to bloviate on tv and radio.

No one’s picked up on the “So are all my roomates!” Getting in an economic dig, there, as well. Once upon a time I lived with two other guys in a 3-BR apt. “All” implies more than three to a space— sign of the times.

" more hate for Obama . . . because none of the right wing haters can come up with any real reason they do not like him only half-truths and pure lies about him"You can’t completely discuss this issue without discussing the role of Fox News. Fox has been relentless on this for four years straight.Whether it’s true, half-true, insinuation, or flat out lie, the Fox policy has been attack and blame Obama continuously, for anything, everything, real or imagined, day-after-day. To the point of absurdity. It’s no wonder people like OleEd are frothing with incoherent rage.The irony is that now the only valid criticisms of Obama’s policies (and there are real criticisms to be made) come from the left, because the right has dissolved into meaningless sloganeering, as we can read here every day.It’s ‘comedy’, but this 4-minute clip of Jon Stewart perfectly summarizes the Fox ‘coverage’ for the last four years (3 minutes in): http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/fri-august-31-2012/rnc-2012—-the-road-to-jeb-bush-2016—-republican-time-travel

I would absolutely love to see proof of the tutor thing, but not expecting any. Allegations are not proof.

I saw a guy on the street yesterday wearing a tin foil hat. He said that Romney is an alien from the planet Venus and that when he is elected president, the Venusians will fly in and officially take over the Earth. I started to disagree, but then I realized that there is no arguing with some people.

I see Rick, consumed by despair, following a vey negative path. An affair, drugs, something bad. I sense it coming, don’t you all?

Brainwashing?

I respect you and your viewpoint. However, things are not better now than when Pres. Obama took office. Thr job outlook is terrible. Here in North Carolina the jobless rate is almost 11%. That doesn’t account for themany who have dropped off the unemploynebt rolls and given up. If they were included, the jobless rate would be around 18%. This is clearly a tragedy. Plus, many of the companies that used to provide health insurance are charging more and more for participation or not providing at all. Those of us who are older can not afford health insurance now and I don’t foresee being able to when it becomes mandatory that I have it. And, I cannot afford the four thousand dollar tax. Please, do not tell me I’m better off. If you are, God bless you.

I have no doubt that many of Obama’s critics are racist. However, I still remember Clinton’s critics, who were often completely nuts. Clinton was even accused of murder, among other things. Was this fair? Of course not, but it happened. I don’t think Obama is the first politician to have critics who are unreasonable, though the racism does give it another dimension, in the case of Obama. For many of us, things have improved with Obama and we know that he needs more time to straighten things out after the fiasco which was the Bush administration. I wish I could change the fact Bush got us into Iraq, which was a war that we didn’t need to get into, which bankrupted us for years. Yet now the GOP is worried about the deficit and want us to believe that it is all Obama’s fault. Although we have not improved the economy to the extent that we would like, it has improved and it will continue to improve if Obama is re-elected.

“I’m a lowly volunteer, too.Just NOT in politics!!”πIn what, babygirl? If the question is not too intrusive . . . .

At PI———“The U.S. sometimes strays off course and needs GUIDANCE. Being a democratic republic, our country’s guidance comes, or should come, from the people, acting UPWARD, not from some monarch or fascistic dictator acting DOWNWARD on the people.”Bless you sir, no truer words have ever been spoken.

So therefore we should vote for Romney? Obama? What’s your point?

Hey, where’re all the trolls skulking? This thread is getting dull. GuardSgt? OleEd? Somebody?

What “appeasement”?

And are you really naive enough to think that everything that happens in the Middle East is under the control of the U.S. government?

The deposed dictators were evil bastards, but the threat of torture and death without trial was great for keeping order. Get used to the Middle East being “messy” for a while…it’s inevitable with their new freedoms.

How long did Obama spend going to school in a madrasah? One day? And how do we know that the “proof” pic wasn’t photoshopped? There has been so much politically-motivated, virulent, racist nonsense “proving” that he was/is a muslim, that the truth seeker must be very very careful to find the facts. Just the facts. The facts alone. Please. Thank you.

SEND IN THE TROLLSπIsn’t it rich?Are we a pair?Me here at last on the ground,you in mid air.Send in the trolls.Isn’t it bliss?Don’t you approve?One who keeps tearing around,one who can’t move.Where are the trolls?Send in the trolls.Just when I’d stopped opening doors,finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours.Making my entrance again with my usual flair,sure of my lines, no one is there.Don’t you love farce?My fault, I fear.I thought that you’d what what I want.Sorry my dear. But where are the trolls?Quick, send in the trolls.Don’t bother they’re here.Isn’t it rich?Isn’t it queer, losing my timing this late in my career?And where are the trolls?There ought to be trolls. Well, maybe next year.

OK I’ll do the research. Links tomorrow. And I, too, am a truth seeker/

MADRASAH CLAIM RE OBAMA SPIKEDπAn early version of a rumor that Obama had “spent at least four years in a so-called madrassa, or Muslim seminary, in Indonesia”10 was found in an article published by Insight on the News, a magazine that was published by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate then owned by the Unification Church. Insight on the News ceased publication soon after the incident. Its editor, Jeff Kuhner, claimed that a person working for the Clinton campaign had told him that the campaign was “preparing an accusation that her rival Senator Barack Obama had covered up a brief period he had spent in an Islamic religious school in Indonesia when he was six”. Senator Clinton denied the allegation. When interviewed by the New York Times, Kuhner did not name the person said to be his reporter’s source.14Obama attended two schools during the four years he lived in Indonesia as a child (1967–1971). From the first grade until some time in the third grade he attended the Roman Catholic St. Francis Assisi School, where classes began and ended each day with Christian prayers. He was registered there as Muslim because of his stepfather’s nominal religion. At some point during the third grade he transferred to State Elementary School Menteng 01, also known as Besuki School, for less than a year. Besuki is a secular public school. Students there wear Western clothing, and the Chicago Tribune described the school as “so progressive that teachers wore miniskirts and all students were encouraged to celebrate Christmas”.151617Soon after Insight’s story, CNN reporter John Vause visited State Elementary School Menteng 01 and found that each student received two hours of religious instruction per week in his or her own faith. Vause was told by Hardi Priyono, deputy headmaster of the school, “This is a public school. We don’t focus on religion. In our daily lives, we try to respect religion, but we don’t give preferential treatment.”18 Interviews by Nedra Pickler of the Associated Press found that students of all faiths have been welcome there since before Obama’s attendance. Akmad Solichin, the vice principal of the school, told Pickler: “The allegations are completely baseless. Yes, most of our students are Muslim, but there are Christians as well. Everyone’s welcome here … it’s a public school.”19πSource Wikipedia. The bracketed numbers refer to documents that verify the assertion made.

Obama attended first through part of third grade at St. Francis of Assisi in Indonesia. He attended a government run school for half of third grade and fourth grade. He then went back to Punahou School in Hawaii, where my mother in law was once a teacher, though not while he was there. No one denies that he spent some of his childhood in a foreign country. So did many other Americans, many of whom are even republicans, but most seem completely unconcerned about this for some reason… I am shocked at how much this part of his life continues to be discussed. It isn’t as if he went around dressing up as a cop impersonating a police officer as Mitt Romney did, or humiliating a student in high school who had longer hair than Mitt happened to approve of…

OK PII am not yet tech savvy enough to provide the links so here is what I did. I went to Yahoo search and entered Barack Obama in Indonesia. Tons of articles came up, of course. Two stood out right away. First one was HubPages. It straightened me out on the Madrasa thing. However Obama did attend a Catholic school and a public school for a few years as an elementary student. There was some inconclusive discussion about him being a citizen of Indonesia, apparently not.The second one was called Vetting something African . It brought an obscure pulication from the ‘90s about Obama being the first African American “president” of the Harvard Law Review. The publication says “born in Kenya, raised in Indonesia and Hawaii”.See y’all tomorrow. I am still on the fence.

Tomorrow I will be checking out the zingers, I guess. And by that I mean the raspberry flavored snack cakes from dolley Madison.

GREAT strip today, GT! Actually, very non-political with a wonderful evaluation of bloggers (of all kinds)-they really are just “lowly volunteers.”