Michael Ramirez made more than one mistake with his cartoon supporting the President, his toon actually turns history upside down. Ramirez based his drawing on famous news footage from 1968 that showed a South Vietnamese Police Commander putting a gun to a Viet Cong suspect's temple and pulling the trigger. The shocking and extremely bloody assassination was broadcast around the world, turning even more people against America's war on Vietnam.

Ramirez re-writes history with his cartoon... he portrays Bush as the suspect about to have his brains blown out. Ramirez is telling us that Bush is being unjustly attacked by people who wish to "politically assassinate" him over his policies in Iraq. His cartoon equates critics of Bush with ASSASSINS. Despite the fact the Michael Ramirez's cartoon is an attack against the critics of Bush... the Secret Service is considering the pro-Bush cartoon in the Los Angeles Times as a possible threat to the President!

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Officials See Threat in Bush Newspaper Cartoon
Mon Jul 21, 2003

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Secret Service is studying a pro-Bush cartoon in the Los Angeles Times, showing the president with a gun to his head, as a possible threat, U.S. officials said on Monday.

The cartoon, based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph from the Vietnam War, depicts Bush with his hands behind his back as a man labeled "Politics" prepares to shoot him in the head. The background of the drawing is a cityscape labeled "Iraq."

"We're aware of the image and we're in the process of determining what action if any can be taken," John Gill, Secret Service spokesman, said.

An official who asked not to be named said: "The Secret Service does take threats against all of their protectees very seriously and they have an obligation to look into any threat that's made against any of their protectees." The official did not elaborate.

The 1968 photograph on which the cartoon is based showed the instant before South Vietnam's national police commander pulled the trigger in a summary execution of a Vietcong prisoner on the streets of Saigon. The brutality of the image was credited by many with helping to turn U.S. public opinion against the war.

In a statement issued through the newspaper, Ramirez said that he used the image because it represented to him the "political assassination" of Bush. "President Bush is the target, metaphorically speaking, of a political assassination because of 16 words that he uttered in the State of the Union," he said, referring to the controversy over Bush's accusation that Iraq was trying to buy uranium in Africa. The White House later disavowed that statement, saying it was based on faulty documents. Critics of Bush have accused him of hyping intelligence to build a case for war in Iraq.

"Those with political motivations are using the uranium story as a method to attack the president," Ramirez said. A spokesman for the Times said the cartoon represented the cartoonist's opinion and not that of the paper.

for years michael ramirez has been an embarrassment to LA's chicano community with his
idiotic right-wing cartoons that occasionally appear in everything from the national review to the
nra website. in our community he is the perfect example of what Mexicans call a "vendido"
("sell-out") or a "tio taco" (similar to the African-American "uncle tom"). so he's getting
what he deserves for turning his back on his community and bowing down to a shithead
like bush. i hope they throw him in the clink for a couple of days and maybe his old
conservative ass will get a clue. karma and justice are around the corner. thank god the
la times actually had the ganas ("balls") to hire lalo lopez and this is a sign from "god"
(or at least the ss) about what you can and can't get away with these days in the so-called
"land of the free" with respect to free speech, post-patriot act.

que viva la raza!

"in our community he is the perfect example of what Mexicans call a "vendido"
("sell-out") or a "tio taco" (similar to the African-American "uncle tom"). so he's getting
what he deserves for turning his back on his community"

Thank you. That's right. If you have an opinion that doesn't fall in line with those of your same race and/or background and/or community, then you are a "sell-out". So much for this "independent thinking" of which your side claims to embrace. A chicano who doesn't fall in line with the other chicanos. A black who doesn't fall in line with the beliefs of other blacks. Sounds more like "group think". That's because it is "group think".

To set the record straight, Ramirez inherited his last name from a male ancestor - I believe his father is or was Mexican. But he is of mixed racial/ethnic ancestry; I believe he is half Japanese and I doubt very much if he thinks of himself as a "Chicano." A last name does not necessarily mean anything in this country; there are people with German names because they had a male ancestor who came here in the 1600's. Does that make them "Germans"? In any event, he certainly is a right-winger.
Bureaucratic regulations seem to be the main cause of this affair. Apparantly Secret Service regulations require them to investigate any cartoon depicting violence against a President; this hardly means that they actually think that this reactionary cartoonist is encouraging assassination.

To think that someone has to follow the political views dominate of his/her racial, ethnic, or religious background is infinetly ridiculous. Firstly though, as a Republican myself, I find Mr.Rameraz' work disturbing. Although he claims it to be "pro-Bush" many things do not add up. If such a cartoon were truly pro-Bush, it would have never been included in Pravda. The L.A. Times is a useless hunk of liberal propaganda. I am schocked, first of all to see such a right-wing cartoon made it past the L.A. Times editor. Besides that, I find it shocking to think someone would liken the situations of politics to that of an assasination that occured during the Vietnam War. I find this disturbing as well. Back to the naive young human who commented on Ramirez earlier. To say that Ramirez is traitor to people with his common racial background is horribly ridiculous. The United States Of America is a free country where people of all different religions and races choose indepentantly what they want to believe. I believe whoever said that is naive and am glad he/she is a Democrat so not to make Republicans look bad.

The LA TImes is not a liberal paper. The only thing liberal in the times is maybe part of the editorial section and one or two of their foreign policy columnist like Robin Wright. It's funny how conservatives think any media that does not spin the world like fox news or the weekly standard is liberal.
The times covered all of the Clinton Monica garbage but because they come out with a legitimate sexual battery story on Arnold they are called liberal and one sided. If you right wing fucks only want to read conservative propaganda go to http://www.newsmax.com or read the editorial section of the Wall Street Journal or the Washington Times. But stop crying about the times because they do real stories, and not just right wing propaganda from the white house, or corporate spin written by PR firms.
I myself get my media from the right center and left. Yes Bush Admirer I listen to Sean Hannity because KPFK is playing music or some new age crap and I get tired of the bland NPR. I'm amazed at how many ingnorant people actually take Hannitie's retorick seriously. He is about as credible as Phil Henry on KFI, people take him seriously too and I don't see any differnece between the two. I also watch CSPAN to see our slected officials in our so called democracy, as they stand by and let Bush and Company rape our government for their own personal enrichment.
The bottom line is that our government has no credibility because it is bought and paid for by wealthy corporations who send their lobbiest with lots of cash to make sure our leaders act in their best intrests not we the peoples best intrests. And they also happen to own all the media which is why you wont see anybody speaking out about this travisty with the exception of non corporate media like Bill Moyer of PBS or Amie Goodman of Pacifica.

Actually, the shooter in the original film was on the side of the US. The "victim" was our enemy.

Ironic, isn't it?

Based on that, they most likely acted upon the cartoon.

The original photo and an NYT article on the police general who shot the Viet Cong is here.

"Mr. Loan [the policeman] insisted that his action was justified because the prisoner had been the captain of a terrorist squad that had killed the family of one of his deputy commanders."

So Bush was being portrayed as the terrorist, and "politics" as the police. And Ramirez was trying to express sympathy for Bush? Maybe he should have sold it to Al Jazeera.

"in our community he is the perfect example of what Mexicans call a "vendido"
("sell-out") or a "tio taco" (similar to the African-American "uncle tom"). so he's getting
what he deserves for turning his back on his community and bowing down to a shithead
like bush."

at least he's in this country legally. and unlike the mexiclone herd has his own opinions.

"que viva la raza! "

Sorry. English is the official language of the USA, not hisponic gibberish. raza back across the border.

Oh, brother...I know this is old business, but what a bunch of hooey to go after Michael Ramirez on such a technicality as who was the shooter in the original cartoon...the truth is the cartoon depicts the truth about the hatred and revenge-seeking left in this country and you who are guilty are trying to avoid the real issue (as you do so often) by focusing on a minor one. Your biggest threat is conservative talk radio, and boy, would you people like to shut that down.