>> From the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.
[ Pause]   >> Sarah Duke: Good afternoon!
I'm Sarah Duke and along with my colleague, Martha Kennedy.
I'm one of the curators of Popular and Applied Graphic Art here
at the Library of Congress and in-charge of collecting caricature
and cartoon which is why we brought you all here today.
We thank the AAEC for joining us today.
We think that we're a good match.
The Library of Congress has been collecting cartoon art
since the 19th century and we've amassed in the prints
and photograph vision, a collection
of 128,000 cartoon prints and drawings.
About, we have the prints and photographs online catalogue
which features about 1.4 million items
out of our 15 million item holding and that does not include most
of the work of Herblock or many
of the 2000 editorial cartoonists represented
in the Art Wood Collection.
So we always encourage you to come back and make use of the collections
of the prints and photographs division of the Library of Congress.
I, we've been promoting caricature and cartoon in particular since 1978
when we the, the Caroline and Irvine Swan Memorial Fund came
to the Library of Congress and that promotes us
to do exhibitions including the one that will open on September 22nd
Down to Earth Herblock and Photographers Look
at the Environment and I especially invite you all to come back
to the graphic art galleries on the ground floor
of the Jefferson Building and come to view that exhibition.
It'll also be available online from the Library's exhibitions page.
You are all invited, those of you who're 16 and up are invited
to the prints and photographs division for this,
a display of presidential election cartoons from, from 1836 to 2, 2008.
The prints and photographs division is in room 339 on the other side
of the building between the blue and the red elevators.
Finally before I turn over the floor, I'd like to say
if you ask a question after this presentation then you're giving the
library permission to film
and broadcast your image, forever and ever.
And at this point I'd like to take the opportunity
to introduce the president of the Association
of American Editorial Cartoonists, John Cole, who is a graduate
of Washington and Lee University where he started his career
as an editorial cartoonist.
In 1985, he was hired by the Durham Morning Herald and in 2005,
he joined The Times-Tribune in Scranton,
Pennsylvania where he currently,
from which he currently draws his cartoons
which are distributed internationally by Cagle Cartoons.
And his one book to his name, perhaps more which I love this title
because you cartoonists come up with such great titles for your books,
Politics, Barbeque, and Balderdash.
And without further I do, I'm going to turn
over this event to John Cole.   [ Applause ]
>> John Cole: And welcome.
This is the, I guess the formal opening
of the 56th annual convention of the Association
of American Editorial Cartoonists.
This is sort of a soft opening, we haven't the public in to,
to here our panelists today and they're presenting an inky
and pixel view or pixel edit, it'll be pixilated if we're later
in the day I think, but it is a little too early for that.
The of the 2012 campaign, we have Ted Rall of Los Angeles Times,
Lalo Alcaraz of Pocho.com, Steve Kelley of the New Orleans,
New Orleans Times-Picayune and Scott Stantis of the Chicago Tribune
and I believe we're going to just to,
oh I want also especially thanks here to Martha Kennedy
for helping arrange this, this has been great.
Mark and best thing, I, I know that Sarah is a huge fan of cartoons
because I follow her on Facebook
and I really enjoy her daily political cartoon of the day.
You know she has great taste in a, in old, in classic cartoon art.
But anyway, I guess we're going to lead off with Steve.
[ Applause ]
>> Steve Kelley: I think, well now that the things over here
and the microphones over here and how I'm going to do all this.
Alright, greetings and thank you all for coming out.
This is supposed to be a smack down between the left
and the right politically just
so you understand what we're trying to accomplish here.
The idea is you're going to hear from these as you look at the stage
up here, this is your left.
You know who is the farthest to the left that's and the guy
in the bow tie of course farthest to the right.
Who would have guessed that, right?
Okay, and then Lala and I are kind of we're,
we're, we shade a little bit.
So our hope is that by showing you these cartoons and by speaking
to you about the, the current, the, the, big brew ha, ha,
the national presidential election that we can help you decide
for yourself which candidate to vote against, so that's,
that's the whole idea here.
I'm, I'm just going to motor through some cartoons, each of us is going
to do that and we want to allow plenty of time
for interaction with the audience, okay.
So if you direct your attention to the screens and we're just going
to look at some of my cartoons and then I'm going to pass on.
This is just the summing up the election and then we go,
I wanted to show you a little something about the congress
because let's face it is not, you know the problems
that the country is having is not just about the, the candidate,
this is kicking the debt can down the road.
Trumps pull out is disappointing, I'm glad Newt is running,
but I really hope Sarah Palin would get in, where you're a public
and you're getting so desperate,
actually I'm a political cartoonist, which is.
As Sarah Palin, I have that fire
in my belly she said, I know the feeling.
It's, the really great thing to do is to take a,
a politician's actual words and use them to make fun of him
and during President Obama's last state of the union address, he,
he actually uttered these words,
"We've come too far to turn back now."
That's Donald Trump over there on the right Mitt Romney.
You guys hold him down and I'll cut off his hair.
[ Laughter ]
>> Steve Kelley: It's Romney with the bane capital
and Obama's pointing at him, "America, I smell something fishy."
I, I, I'm starting to figure out which way this room goes,
it's getting a little some subtle indications,
ah there's the President and that's the economy over there,
it's all well did and oh well you know if you'd,
you're zoom in there close enough.
Ah, this is flip blocks, you've got governmental healthcare
and same sex marriage and Romney tells the president,
"You get used to them."   And these are Obama care sparklers.
Aren't they pretty?
There's that Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney and this is the tea party,
she is leaning and saying, "You're really not my type,
but your wingman makes you irresistible."
>> That's a good Ryan.   >> Steve Kelley: Oh thank you.
Do you support Chick-filet CEO on traditional marriage
or do you favor activists call for a nationwide boycott?
I miss the separation of church and fast food.
Family net worth of 40% in three years,
do we support the failed policies that got us into this mess
or the failed policies that haven't gotten us out of it?
A lot of times I can do cartoons that kind
of you know score both sides forward because we're in this pickle
and they're supposed to be getting us out
and they're really not a, accomplishing that.
This is why it's best that the president isn't going
to the London Olympics.   He didn't win that.
We just say that I anticipated that reaction from this crowd, okay.
U.S. Open that's either about the golf tournament
or the president's new immigration policy.
Romney-hood and Obamaloney candidates trade barbs,
I think both sides should stop the grade school name calling
and get back to the fictitious platitudes voters care about.
Meanwhile in the pole vault,
that's Job's on rather short pole vaulting form.
And this is when George Bush came out and announced that he was
in favor of, of Mitt Romney for president.
Now if things don't go well in November, I can blame Bush.
It's Harry Reid on the Mars Mission.
Why are we spending 2.5 billion to dig up dirt on Mars
when we could be using it to dig up dirt on Romney?
Sir, with the race tightening some democrats say you should look
for another running mate.   How could I do that to Barack?
And finally, ah this is the economy [inaudible] in the men's room.
How about seconds?
Now I'm going to pass it off now to my very good friend Lalo Alcaraz.
[ Applause ]   >> Lalo Alcaraz: Oh yeah.
Who said conservatives aren't funny?   I always say that.
But oh, but Steve Kelley was very funny.
I knew Steve Kelley when I was actually he,
we were both in San Diego and I went up to him
and I always tell him embarrassing stories about myself, but I went up,
I went up to my convention and I told him, "Do you remember me?
I was a college student in San Diego City.
I came up, came up to you, told you, you were a big racist."
And he goes, "No I don't remember."   I got, good, sighs.
I'll just leave that story there.
So according to my own bio, I am the most prolific Chicano artist
in the country.   I do comic strip called La Cucaracha
and this was my 09/11 tribute you know, not very political,
just kind of a sometimes you, you got to pull back
and just do a commemorative cartoon.
Or you do this cartoon, I totally ripped off on Chris Rock, who said,
"This you just have a empty chair up there with the name,
Osama bin Laden on it at the D&C."
Here's Mitt Romney in silent vigil, Osama bin Laden.
Here's an older cartoon I did on 09/11.
How's that for special effects, Steve Kelley?
This is my, my Twin Tipis cartoon.
I, I did this a year after, this is one year anniversary of 09/11,
so wasn't like I did it last week and it was
to mark the real genocide, not
that the twin towers tragedy was not a tragedy, but there is,
there is lots of big terrorist like acts that have occurred
on American soil and one is the treatment
of the native American people on this continent.
[ Laughter ]
>> Lalo Alcaraz: Self deport, self abort,
we're the party of self reliance.
Here's Bill Clinton during his speech at the D&C,
doing what's everybody wanted was a democrat to come out and just
like say facts and blow the Romney lies away.
Here's Chris Christie, down there Mitt Romney's back there and saying,
"Don't forget to mention my name Chris."
This guy's running around Republican Convention,
it's not easy being a GOP convention, minority seat filler.
[ Laughter ]
>> Lalo Alcaraz: Mitt Romney's money.
Kicking it in the Camen's.
I have a friend on, on Twitter, his name is MexicanMitt Romneez
and he is the member of the 1% Percent and if you don't follow him,
he is, he was named by politico
as the number one top fake political Twitter account of all time
that means in the universe in perpetuity forever, amen.
And he's a very good friend of mine and I'm a, I'm behind him 100%
and he is very hilarious and you should follow him at MexicanMitt.
Show me your papers, the curiosity rover.
And I think I, I've, I, I think I've,
I've blew through all my election cartoons.
This is the Mexican election, it's an election
and here's the secret service scandal in Columbia.
Columbia we're not just known for drugs anymore.
I promise you the president has a big stick
and yes we can see [inaudible] Barack Obama giving the [inaudible]
United Farm Workers presidential medal of freedom and let me try
to end on Dream Act, hold on occupy, hold on, show me your papers,
Arizona, Brown Pride, oh that's Jerry Brown.
Somebody got mad for portraying me, portraying Brown Pride as a Cholo
or a homeboy and I said, "That's not a homeboy,
that's a 76-year-old white man Jerry Brown dressed as a homeboy.
And I think I have, oh yeah, call me out of touch
but [inaudible] sure are graceful.   And I'm still, alright I'm done.
Thank you.   [ Applause ]
>> Scott Stantis: Oh God the inner webs.
I'm an old conservative guy, we don't believe in that.
Anyway, I'm Scott Stantis with Chicago Tribune.
To, to give you, I want to kind of give you a base idea
of where we're coming from, from the right.
Jeff MacNelly when he would give a speech, the great cartoonist,
would always quote, "Excuse me, Dave Barry and there haven't any cocktail
in Washington and this beautiful view of the monuments
and the capital at sunset," and Dave Barry looks at and he goes,
"You know, you know this is so wrong, this view is just awful."
MacNally goes, "What, what, what do you mean?"
He goes, "There are no smokes tax.
They don't make anything, but trouble here."
And yes, the bow tie did come from the conservative shop
at Sears, just, just so you know.
I'm going to go through these very quickly so we can Q&A,
my stuff is not nearly as fancy as their's, there's no animation,
so I'm just going to show and read.
This is my first, this is a basic Barack Obama, of course he,
he was a smoker, claims he's not anymore and a person
and a politician tell you something, you can believe it.
So he's just got pack of cigarettes and filters bending, say,
"I just can't seem to quit."
Of course on the right, on the Republicans you have Dole,
saying McCain, Mitt Romney saying, "It's my turn."
What can go wrong, this is my view of the president, it's Fidel Castro
in Cuba actually did say, we're throwing out our old economic model
and the President is leaning say, "Ooh, can I have it?"
And our debt in 2012 passed 100.3% of GDP,
so you have Zorbama the Greek.
Oppa, anytime you can say Oppa, it's a good cartoon.
This was after the mid-term elections
when the Republicans took the house.
I just love this has let the honeymoon commence.
Yeah I just thought that was funny.
And so the left, the nanny state and all that stuff,
so of course you have I'm not sure what the hell he is,
the Mayor of New York, Bloomberg,
outline big gulps o stave off obesity and there's a statue
of Liberty with the Liberty, Big Gulp.
Bloomy saying, "Drop it Chubbs," and it's the nanny.
This was when Trump endorsement Romney and Trump is saying,
"You had me and I don't care about poor people."
Let me take a quick break here and say, "I don't like as a,
as a conservative Republican,
working on both Regan campaigns in 80 and 84.
I, I have serious Republican [inaudible].
This Republican party really makes me very uneasy
and makes my teeth itch, so if you see something
that seems inconsistent that's why.
This is of course we must consider deep cuts
to your $70 billion green defense budget, that's a true number.
President Obama saying and it's working so well
and the next thing is it's a submarine and somebody's saying,
"Strike the solar panels."
And GOP was looking for anyone, I mean good god Santorum?
Really? So you have the elephant right away and Mitt saying,
"Something like this could make a lesser fellow questions has in,
inevitability" and of course city story will take on more
and more conservative views,
so I took on the sweater vest, he goes what.
This is the front runner.
I mean this is the third time the guy has run for president.
Do you think he gets some of it right?
But then back to the left there's Obamanomics this small business
and you didn't build that.
And of course my case for re-election is clear.
You have free guns for bad guys, the economy commerce departments,
the leaks, the death of course.   Oh, what, one too far.
There we go.   Solo twisters and he's losing.
And this is something that really disturbs me.
I, I really wish someone will present some way of finance,
finance campaign, finance reform that makes sense,
but the super packs, they're now saying it's going to be
over a billion dollars a candidate, we're talking about $2
to $3 billion campaign, something is very, very wrong.
And of course, here you have fast and furious,
the truth with executive privileges as the cork and the non-smoking gun.
You have the Obama campaign,
the news came out that we're spending more than we're taking in
and the White House going, And?
This, this was early on in Syria, Assad and President Obama seeming
to be rather impotent with our two friends, meeting and saying,
President Putin a word if I..
Not, not the good time, I'll call, I promise,
and the Chinese president saying,
"Some people have no respect for a true artist.
Bravo, bravo."
So and this is the Wall Street showed a,
there's a baby ball market, this is 4th November
so I can tax you into steak, giddy up.
And again this is Mitt Romney at the door, the merman at the door
and he's just, knock, knock, knock...
Okay, you win.   He's going, it's now a good time?
And of course Akin, God bless him, was talking about legitimate rape
and this is when they're thinking when Isaac was going
to hit Tampa during the convention and he's looking with the elephant
out to the storm saying, "I'm told it's not a legitimate storm."
And of course let the humanizing commence.
And this was the first cartoon I covered Tampa and the Democrats
in Charlotte and this was the first one
of the [inaudible] okay convince me, which seemed to me what was coming
out of the [inaudible] Uncle Sam looking at Romney and Ryan.
And here coming from the democrats is,
"Are you better off now then you were four years ago,"
and an unemployment's is going, "You bet."
And during the Democrat convention,
the national debt zoomed past $16 trillion and so using,
as Steve mentioned you like to use the oppositions words
against them using their slogan forward
and this is you can read it now, you can go to my blog
at chicagotribune.com/stantis but this was I put everything together
after covering all the stuff and it's are you better off today
than you were two weeks ago and having lived
through all that yet, so thank you.   [ Applause ]
>> Ted Rall: Hi everyone!
I have to apologize little bit in advance for my voice this morning,
this afternoon and for my lack of ability to tell time.
I am Ted Rall, I do cartoons for the Los Angeles Times
and for syndication and my website's rall.com, I always like to put
up my, my hate, my hate quotes in these things.
Okay, Americans we rule the world.
I hope the President I didn't vote for arms the rebels we know nothing
about against the regime we also nothing about in Syria
which I can't find on a map until I forget about it.
Columbia scandal again,
finally Obama created 20 whole jobs, but they're in Columbia.
Romney needs to move right to shore up the GOP base.
Obama needs to move right to get swing voters.
What about left wing voters?
They need to move right to catch up to Obama.
You can tell that's why I say all the way on the left here
and I'm wearing the red shirt.
But I would vote for the Kenyan born,
Alinksi loving radical socialist caricature of Obama.
US troops, I got one, US troops will stay in Afghanistan
until at least 2024, you haven't heard that but it's actually true,
Obama saying, "Someday this will all be yours, may be the grave."
Romney was a bully high school campaign gold, let's discuss it
after the sanctions briefings on Iran, Burma, North Korea,
Cuba and Zimbabwe because you know like where bullies anyway.
This is Obama with his, with his staff figuring
out what the new campaign poster should be this time,
could be worse prevented a depression, four more years,
we're going to need more coffee.
Mitt Romney says that if he paid more taxes than required,
he wouldn't be qualified to be president, he actually said this.
So I said, "chinsiness is the way of life."
If I did more than, more than the bare minimum, he tells his wife,
I wouldn't be qualified to be your husband.
In the future after the economic and environmental and military collapse
of America, the last two Americans gather on their last patch
of American land to consider what to do next.
How about another war, I'm down with that.
Republicans downplay their unpopular stances on social issues
to seduce voters, too severe may be basic white instead go
with the baby doll dress, that you're supposed to laugh at that.
This was after the shootings at in a Aurora,
Colorado at the movie theater, the Obama generic tragic comment
and which is suitable for all occasions, "I'm deeply saddened
by this senseless tragedy.
At this difficult time our hearts go out to the people of...
the victims, their families and friends, let's note that they are
in our thoughts and prayers.
The country is with you, we support you..."
Mic's cold, yeah.   What're you doing?
Waiting for my heart to come back from wherever it went out to.
I hate that, the hearts go out you, stupid.
Alright, Paul Ryan says he won't take away your social security
or Medicare if you're already old.
How are people under 55 supposed to avoid a future of dumpster diving?
Hmm, press on wrinkles, gobs of aging cream, fake driver's license,
security young, no, no, no pre old.
Obama defends the new aggressive tone of his campaign, "Don't worry,
Hi kids. Obama, Obama's failure to help foreclosure victims seem
as number one threat to his re-election campaign.
The coming to a victim, help I have a family.
No can't do, your paperwork is missing and it's bean bonk.
The truth comes out about the death of Osama bin Laden in the new book
by the ex-seal, no chance to surrender, no dignified burial,
just a cheap mafia rub out before sleeping with the fishes
and so this is from the Sopranos, Christopher Multisanti chopping
up a body, also I have a goomba, he tells Michelle as she walks
in on a chopping of heads.   Here we go again.
That right wing talk is just to get elected.
Look at his past, he was reasonable, he's smart, educated.
After the election, he'll move back to the left,
looking down that we've been through this before
and I'll wrap up with this one.
Shortly after a new president takes office, he can't do anything,
he has to save his political capital,
short just into the first term, he can't do anything.
The other party controls Congress during the re-election campaign.
He can't do anything, he needs
to get re-elected, then he'll do something.
At the beginning of the second term, he can't do anything,
a lame duck has no political capital.
At the end of the second term, he can't do anything,
he has to get his party's nominee elected to succeed him.
Shortly after the new president takes office, he can't do anything.
He has to save his political capital, that's it.
[ Applause ]
>> [inaudible] someone's got a mic right.
>> Someone talk.   >> Someone talk.
>> Anyone having any questions, comments?
>> John Cole: The panel will now accept questions from the audience.
[ Inaudible ]   >> Oh thank you.
Yes, back in 1994 I don't know if you saw me, not in 94,
recently on the [inaudible] talking about self deportation.
I created a fate, the governor of California was [inaudible].
Yeah, yeah the governor of California name Peopleson
and he was very anti-Mexican immigrant specifically he was
running on this proposition 187 and we as satirists were so kind of sick
to our stomachs in hearing all the racism and all
that Arizona style racism that was happening in California back then
that we, we, we, we decided
to create a fake republican Latino group called Hispanics for Wilson
and because Peopleson also had a group called Latinos for Wilson
and they're consisted of three Cuban-American attorneys
that were paid off to these Latino supporters
and so long story short we created this fake group.
I was the leader Daniel D Portalo and I heard immigrants
to self deport and we, we created self deportation centers
so that people, people would just get sick of all the racism
and go back to Mexico and we also wanted to deport the Chinese back
to Mexico, we didn't care you know.
We also called for the deportation of [inaudible].
At that time in her Mexican music staged is used
in attracting too many Mexicans in the country
and also Marinos were declared biological weapon.
And so it was a mockery while [inaudible] hysteria
that went full bloom in Arizona, now in Alabama also
and other parts of the country, so.
And yes I, I'm 100% sure that, in 2 months or maybe six weeks later
after we came on international television
as Hispanics [inaudible] picked up the self deportation concept and ran
>> Well, let me just, can I just make a comment on that
because the, the right...   >> John Cole: By all means.
>> Just to speak to.   >> Equalsome.
>> Yeah just because there are people in this country
who are opposed to illegal immigration, so there're people
who are opposed to say illegal right-hand turns, that doesn't mean
that they are opposed to all right hand turns just the ones
that aren't legal and I don't personally see anything wrong
with the country enforcing its borders, lots of countries do
that including our neighbors and so I mean it's very easy to say
that someone who opposes illegal immigration is a racist,
but I don't think that that's the case not with Governor Wilson
and not with Mitt Romney.   I just, I don't believe that.
I think that these are people
who want the nation's immigration laws respected.
[ Inaudible ]
>> Ted Rall: Well, I agree that every country has the right
to depends its, protect its national borders
and you're not really a nation state unless you do.
But it's such a coincidence that all the people who are so interested
in protecting the borders are racists in other ways
that have nothing to do with protecting borders, I mean they tend
to be nativists, they tend to be right wingers,
they tend to be people who want
to eliminate affirmative action programs.
So it's just an interesting coincidence that there aren't a lot
of say left wingers who are obsessed with this issue.
[ Laughter ]   >> John Cole: Scott Stantis.
>> Scott: Okay.   A, I don't want to [inaudible].
But you know, you can paint someone who believes that illegal means
against the law, the, the boarding patterns and you, you,
you imply that every border now and [inaudible] is a racist, every.
I mean you, it's a, it's a broad brush
that doesn't work protecting your voice particularly
in post 09/11 world is important, it became more important after that.
Well, that's it.
>> Okay when you guys are campaigning
against illegal Irish immigrants then call me.
>> Ted Rall: No but the, the Dutch pissed me off, then they must be.
>> Dirty Dutch is another subject.
>> Yeah actually it's kind of related.
I'm wondering, from my recall when Obama was first elected,
there was a discourse among political cartoonists
that how they are going to portray him?
[Inaudible] and you know four years
on I was wondering how that's evolved for you guys and how
in general, whether there's any instances where this issue came
up in your own work around.
>> This absolutely came up and I have to admit that a lot
of our members were lazy and they took a racial stereotype
and they used, if you look at the president,
he has a very thin top look for instance.
He's actually a pretty handsome guy except for those, big honking ears.
So yeah, it was a, it was a worry curve, you know a lot
of people were tensed up and looking for offense where none was meant,
but I will be the first to admit here for our membership that a lot
of them are lazy and they drew him in a fairly stereotypical
and rather despicable way.
>> Well there's a very long edition of the characters
that sort of traces [inaudible]
>> Yeah you know personally I, I just never give a crap about it,
I mean I don't, I don't care what color somebody is.
No I really don't.
I, the whole idea is to judge a man by the content of his character.
>> Excuse me.
If, if you cannot draw a caricature of somebody without,
with without [inaudible].
If you can't draw a caricature of someone without actually coloring,
that you know that you can't draw caricature of Barack Obama with,
with and, and leave the skin exactly the same color
and as you would everyone else's [inaudible].
It would look just like him.
>> But, but wouldn't, wouldn't Barack Obama take a fence
at the fact that you were dropping the color
out of your skin there's nothing wrong with the color of your skin.
>> Of course it isn't, I'm certainly saying [inaudible].
>> I don't know that my readers are, are really take into consideration
where Kate Palmer was where she grew up.
>> So I'm saying there are, there are many,
many African-Americans live in my home town,
in fact it sets a majority and they're American and I,
I when I started drawing I realized what makes a person look
like you know for myself is not the color of their skin but the shape
of their face, the shape of their eyes, their nose, their what,
what their hair looks like and incidentally you know later
on if you, if you thought of that [inaudible]...
>> Well real quick [inaudible] larger discussion if I have
on cartooning and that is cartooning rights.
I worked for the Birmingham News for 13 years.
>> I mean I don't feel right [inaudible].
>> What's that?   >> [Inaudible].
>> 77% of African American and so, and now I come up to Chicago,
the head of the teachers' union, [inaudible] little bit of a strike
out there and I drew and I actually had a cartoon poll the other day,
I should have included, I didn't.
And it was, it was the head of the teachers' union and he said my,
my [inaudible] was he drew her fat, and ugly.
>> You know [inaudible] making her look fatty old
and that's what she was and [inaudible]
and then have also read books
that men have a hard time caricaturing women and you,
you shouldn't have [inaudible] because they're just like me.
You know they have features and stuff like that, okay.
[inaudible]
>> Ted Rall: You know I think you know, I think that it is important
to obviously try to be as sensitive as possible.
You know one, one way that kind of I think people like may be Lalo and,
and Steve and I kind of benefitted
by having somewhat abstract drawing styles which limits the exposure
that you have to the accusation
of being accusing racial inferences stereotypes in your characters.
If you're using a more traditional caricatures style like Scott does,
you know it's, it's more treacherous, it's more dangerous.
When you, you know, you use more shorthand
than more abstract drawing styles, one of the reasons that,
aside from the fact I feel [inaudible]
that I developed that style and so.
>> I could say just speaking personally one
of the earliest cartoons I do about Obama after he won is to expose me
to the, the what a, what the rear will bring to the cartoon
and I do a cartoon of Obama you know at the bottom of a mountain.
He was a mountain climber and the mountain went
up into the clouds lightening everywhere to the expectations.
He had a length of rope, he had a pick axe in one hand and a length
of rope in the other and the length of rope dangled.
So he uses very small in the caricature but the length
of rope dangled down below him.
I started getting letters from California of saying, people saying,
"You put a tail on President Obama."   And what, no I didn't.
It actually said, look at the cartoon that's like, but that's,
that's what you got to be careful of.
You know you, you, people will read things into a cartoon
that you would said that you have never intended
to so I never intended.
>> Obama time too, readers will infer racism
because they don't appreciate message of your cartoon.
When I did the day after the election,
I drew Barack Obama fist bumping Martin Luther King.
And it was, I mean it was people loved it, everybody loved it,
no one complained about it.
But the caricature that I did then of Obama is virtually identical
to ones I've done in countless cartoons
where people have accused me of racism for my depiction
of the president and I like well there's,
this is exactly the same drawing of him that I did
and no one had a problem with it.
So you, you do have to realize it every reader, all of us walk
around with biases not, not racism but biases against the ideas that,
that other people present
and sometimes they overtake our rational side.
>> J.K. question.   >> Question for all four of you.
Lalo's self deportation thing is probably the best example,
but I've seen cartoons, I've seen cartoons from each of the guys
where they eventual, it eventually becomes true,
real politicians were behaving this way.
How do you keep up with [inaudible]   >> That's a great question.
>> Yeah.
>> I have to say it's, it's pretty tough, I mean it,
you just kind of roll like note takers,
sometimes you know [inaudible].
>> We're artists, we draw what we see.
>> [inaudible] generally [inaudible] was probably the,
a moment in my career like that.
After that Gore versus Bush recount controversy, I,
like many Americans believed that Bush was illegitimately installed
by a judicial [inaudible], so I drew him like a, like a General Pinochet
or some other you know South American dictator like with ribbons
and medals all over, and, and, and medals all over and the hat you know
and you know it's kind of like that kind of like that.
And you know it didn't take for a long time people just, they,
they looked for nine months, they looked at that picture
and did not understand why the hell I was drawing him that way
and then 09/11 happened and as soon as the new Bellicose Bush emerged,
it just fit you know everybody was like oh my gosh,
but with caricature you know and everyone assumes that it's
for 09/11 but it's really not.
And then as it went on I kind of wanted to up and,
and you know because Bush got crazier
and crazier legalizing new torture and [inaudible] corpus.
So I, but I couldn't you know, I had boxed myself into a corner
because I had made him the most ugly person I possibly [inaudible]
couldn't go further, so it makes me sad.
>> I, I also want to say really fast that I get heat once from 1%
of feminist and I worked for a [inaudible] a governor
of Arizona as a mental mummy.
I mean I think she's a demon that should go back to hell now
and it shows in her face I'm sorry.
She is like just evil personified and it just shines
through glorious kind of a way.
>> I don't think she's evil I think she's stupid woman.
[inaudible].
On a local level the, for me it was the Governor
of Alabama the time was Fob James,
this guy's name is Fob, I'm not kidding.
And for some reason I do [inaudible] he said that we're taking care
of civil rights in schools and children first,
which was children off that.
We're taking, we always take care of it and we don't want
to talk about [inaudible].
So I tooned him as tinker [inaudible].
He had a tutu and a wand.
Ever since that time I could not draw him with, if I did draw him
without the wand and the tutu I would get scads to mail.
The funniest part of the whole story it was a [inaudible] called
after he lost his election bid.
He says, "Yeah you know some gave the governor a wand for Christmas".
Well that's, that's kind of awesome that's funny
because yeah it really hurt me [inaudible].
[ Laughter ]   >> In the back.
>> Do you feel that the 2012 presidential election are easier
or [inaudible]?
Do you use [inaudible] that are prior elections
that you have worked on?
If you so why?   Thank you.
>> I, I would say yeah I mean in 2004,
John Perry, it was John Perry right?   He was a snoozer.
>> Yeah he was your Mitt Romney
>> Yeah, he was our Mitt Romney, and I expected Mitt Romney to be
like that of, Mitt Romney although he looks like human clipart,
he keeps on giving he just, he was saying crazy crap.
And so its, yeah makes, makes it a lot easier, but...
>> Yeah I'm so happy this year.
[inaudible] both candidates so much you know,
I mean Obama is a betraying right wing, war mongering,
Guantanamo leaving open, ignoring the economy, bad person
and Mitt Romney is even worse.
He's like a, he's like the monopoly man,
he might well have a monocot [inaudible].
[ Laughter ]
>> Actually [inaudible] although may be the third time
in my entire life I will say this, I agree with Ted.
Only as far as we want so much on the right to believe
that Romney is conservative.
He isn't, I mean there's a video record of this thing,
actually [inaudible] of the moving pictures, cameras recording we ran
for senate when he was Governor of Massachusetts.
In the left you have the same delusion going on,
you hope this guy is a leftie and he isn't,
so the issues make this campaign very compelling,
the candidates do not.   >> I will say this.
If I were bankrupt and I were to seek financial advice from somebody,
I would prefer that it came from someone who graduated
from Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School at the same time
and made, your question I go to Harvard Business School,
George Bush went to Yale.
And when and got two degrees simultaneously
and ran a company very well and turned around a lot of companies
that were failing and turned them into successful companies, I,
I think personally this is just my opinion and you can hate me for it
if you want, but I believe that the country is fortunate
to have this man applying for the job at this point
in history, that's just my opinion.
>> I would also ask Mitt Romney for hair grooming tips.
>> They're great hair.
>> I was at a, I was at a, a debate between Ann Coulter
and James Carville ear, earlier this year, my alma mater
and James Carville I thought made a, made a transient observation
that he feels sorry for Mitt Romney
because Mitt Romney is a same man being forced to act crazy,
you know because of the party is pulling him so I don't think
who knows what he really thinks in his heart of hearts, but anyway.
You have another question?   >> Yeah thanks.
This is more of philosophical question I guess
[ Inaudible ]
>> I hate to keep seizing the microphone, but I, I do have a,
a coherent opinion on this and that is that political cartoons are just
like written columns and other opinion pieces except
for one critical fact and that is that they are consumed
by everyone who comes to the page.
100% of the people who go to an editorial page, read the cartoon,
a few of them read the columns, a few of them read the editorials,
a few of them read the letters, everyone reads the cartoon
because it's so, it's visual, it's accessible
and often times it's amusing and so we, we do have a very important role
to play and, and I think that we are
if not opinion makers we're certainly purveyors of opinion
and inspirers of conversations about things
and that's really the only chance that we have as a country
and a community if we're completely divided along partisan lines
is discussion.
And you know to degree that cartoon inspired discussion I think
that they help.
>> Can I, can I say something, Scott and I do comics strips
in daily newspapers also.   Hello.
>> I got a comics strip.   >> You got a comics strip?
Oh, I'm sorry.   I'm [inaudible] to see you.
Don't write about Mexican students.
But you know, I don't know if you guys both
of you feel the you sometimes I you know,
a lot of my comics are Latino centric, but lot of the politics
with left meaning and when, and I have my steady group,
stockers slash hate letter writers
that just cannot stop reading my comics strips,
you know they want me deported or whatever and, and, and they,
they would write me or [inaudible] whenever I say anything
about Romney [inaudible], but when I do one of the occasional cartoon
that paints may be both sides as jerks, oh my god they come gushing,
hey what all you know you're saying now, you're, you're completely okay
in my book, and then they say like you
like Mexican bastard [inaudible] you know what do you do.
>> Strangely you Mexican bastard.
[Inaudible] in my constant links [inaudible] you might imagine
and what I do give, I have characters
that can discuss the issues in both sides.
The problem is and I'm touching on what you're saying, the culture is
so polarized in a lot of ways that if you dare to do that and dare
to say the other side may have a point,
basically I think they are wrong and that's okay but, but they,
there's a previous to what they're saying,
oh my gosh I think my conservative membership card revoked dozens
of times because of that.
I agree with Steve, I think what the [inaudible] cartoon should do is a
real conversation may be my ambitious goal to [inaudible].
I want you to piss you off or have you saying, yes,
that's my goal each and every day.
More than that I want you to know why you said yes
or why you got pissed off, I want you to think and cartoons,
humor you have to pretty smart to understand both the frame and so
if you made into the [inaudible], if you've gone that far.
Congratulations and what did the cartoon and you get it, great.
If I teach you to think and, and it doesn't matter how you did it,
but if you think and you can solidify the rationale behind the
beliefs then I think I've done a pretty good job,
may be bigger than I expected.   >> [inaudible].
[ Laughter ]
>> Digitalization is changing things as cartoons migrate more
and more to the inner webs.   There's going to, there seems
to be more segmented along cardiological lines,
I mean newspapers are of course an opportunity for a left wing cartoon
to be read by a conservative reader or vice versa but that just not,
that's existing whether someone is online for example you know all
of us except Steve is simply by [inaudible] one
of the major syndicates and what they do
on their website is they're starting to segregate their cartoons
like this what editorial cartoons left, editorial cartoons right
and they promote them that way.
So you know it's going to be easier and easier online for
and that's the way it's going to be you know liberal readers are going
to seek out liberal editorial cartoons and vice versa and so.
I think so the web is becoming less and less of an opportunity for us
to have that national, national discussion.
>> And I find on the [inaudible] there's still the standard group
that always just will read all the comics on the side
and I get the same people saying, arguing with themselves,
it's kind of neat that you create community
to people that love [inaudible].
Yeah, yeah and also I'm selling merchandises that's [inaudible].
>> Okay, I think we have time for one more question.
Right there.
>> I have a question for Mr. Stantis abut about how you got
to [inaudible] Chicago Tribune
after they have got position empty for so long?
>> I knew where the editor's kids went
to school [inaudible] white band.
I believe I can, I get asked, [inaudible] how did you it?
What's the trick?
I said, well may be they like my work.
[inaudible].
For those of you who don't know what the question,
Jeff MacNelley was amazing, genius cartoonists
for Chicago Tribune passed away in year 2000 and a lot
of ruckus was raised because of that they didn't know position,
in fact they dedicated the MacNelley room in the Tribune Tower
and I wrote a column [inaudible] for that.
Now this true story, during the interview launch,
I [inaudible] 12-page editor and the editor of paper [inaudible] turns
to me and verbatim, post a paragraph from that column.
[inaudible] how dare I do this.
It's a travesty, going you still believe that?
Because he talks, and I looked at him and said,
yeah because I can guarantee
that Jeff MacNelley wanted that position filled.
So and that and perhaps somehow that they still hired me,
so that's it with first [inaudible].   >> Okay.
>> Just a quick one on this.   [ Inaudible ]
>> It's very powerful but if it's 4 o'clock your deadline is 5.
>> Thank you so much.   >> One question right there.
>> It's not as complicated.
It's not as complicated, how do you decide what to write about
and how do you choose which side you want to be on?
[ Inaudible ]   >> That's, that's our next panel.
>> You know I, I just will say,
went to Atlantic the other day somebody called me in my office.
I work in New Orleans and so even though the state of New Orleans,
is very republic and the city of New Orleans is very democratic
and that's where the, the heart of the circulation of my paper is.
And so my cartoons run a foul the readership a little bit more often
than someone else might.
So someone called and said, "You need to know who your audience is."
And I said, "Ma'am, I don't have an audience, I have a philosophy,"
and that's, that's the whole point is that you're not,
you're not trying to please people, what you're trying to do is
to express your opinion, you need to have core values and everyone
in here has what grade are you, are you all in?
>> Eighth.   >> Eighth grade.
Well I, I just want to say that you all in particular that you should,
you should read lots of different opinions
and formulate what you believe in your heart for yourself.
Don't, don't sit in a crowd of people
and let you know the crowd ethos take over you and you think
like them or don't think automatically reflexibly the way
your parents do.
Read, get informed and develop your opinions
and you can have any opinion in this country
as long as you can defend it.
I mean you can have opinions that you can't defend,
they are all over the place.
It's, it's much better to have an opinion that you can defend
and then I mean you can disagree with people you always will, but.
>> See that's right.
The, the thing you have to know what you believe,
you have to know why you believe.   >> That's right.
>> Then and the only way to know why you believe something is to,
is to study or read.   >> Right, reading stuff.
[ Inaudible ]
>> I think in terms of what we, speaking for myself,
I [inaudible] probably the most cartoonists you know what do we
choose to, to cover I mean
in a given day there might be a hundred stories
that you can do a cartoon about right or write a column about
and so you know what you would write with one thing about.
And for me I'm always trying to, trying to do is
to bring something new to the discussion.
You know I mean if I think you know I have a point
of view that's pretty much the same as everyone else's
like after 09/11 a lot of people's opinion on 09/11 was a terrorist act
when people killed 3000 people and so I didn't think
that was a really interesting opinion even though it's widespread
opinion and one that I share it so I didn't do that cartoon
like [inaudible] when 3000 people get killed.
So I like you try to bring something new
to the discussion even though I'm a leftie, I want to make people think
about an issue in a new and different way and that's what I look
for in other people's cartoons and some
of my favorite cartoonists are conservatives as well who too unable
to do that, it's not about the to, to the ability
to be original is the most important thing.
Mean if you're going to just contribute nothing
to the discussion, don't do it.
>> I grew up on the US-Mexico border and my parents were immigrants
from Mexico and the immigration system in the US all
over the place [inaudible] it's all over the mass,
so to me the defense immigrants' rights and their treatment
as human being is my core,
regardless of what law's passed here, what law's passed there,
laws change but human beings are always human being
and deserve human rights and probably main concept
and of course there is I can turn a Marty Grover cartoon
into an immigration [inaudible].
>> On a more practical standpoint I agree,
I think we all agree a zillion things today now in the internet.
You can access to every paper on the planet, you have a few that you read
and you find that one issue that as Steve mentions the one thing
that you care about, the one thing that touches your core
and it can be a small issue, those are tough to do if you're
in a popular art like we are because you've to explain
to a larger audience what it is you're talking about.
But once you can do that and you can move forward that's my,
I'm discussing part which [inaudible]
to process [inaudible] and so that's a...
I read a bunch of newspapers and my wife who sits
across the breakfast table for me has to hear me say every God son
of a gun, [inaudible] looks like Swiss cheese and then you go board
and you can't try and think as, as Ted mentioned to be as original
as you can and expressing your outrage of that issue.
It's that simple.
>> Alright, with that we need to wrap things up.
Thank you so much for coming and thank you again to the Library
of Congress and Sarah Duke and Martha Kennedy.
>> Good job gentlemen.   [ Applause ]
>> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress.