Saw it. Not worth your spit Bill. *swallows*

As a proud Democrat, I was embarrassed to be somewhat related to Mr. Rall's political persuasions as I watched this tonight.

A***oles like Rall are just the extreme version of partisan politics. Their tactics, usually verbal, make a distorted cartoon of their opponents - and then they believe the cartoon. That's how you generate lynch mobs, or Krystallnacht, or 800,000 Tutsis dead by fanatic hand craftsmanship.

Any media organ that takes Rall seriously enough to treat him as a 'political commentator' is deliberately cashing in on his despicable extremism. There's no basis of fact or analysis to his 'cartoons' - just fabricated bile. Tar and feathers are appropriate.

Tom,

He didn't just "somewhat relate" to you and other liberals. Whether it's true or not, Rall is what America hears when it hears "the left." America hear's a morning radio show from the left called "Morning Sedition." It hears Rhandi Rhodes swearing Bush helped plan 9/11. It hears Chuck D and Margaret Cho childishly refer to the AG as "Ascrotch" all morning, giggling all the while. America hears the left shouting "We support the troops, but not the war!" and then doing exactly the opposite.

Say what you will of Coulter, Limbaugh, Hannity, et al. The voices on the right don't hate America, don't have contempt for its citizens, and do more than engage in crude jokes about liberals. There are people on your side who hate America and are actively rooting against the US in the War on Terror. Despicable. The more the left shows its true colors, the more the ranks of the GOP grow. The Democrats are adrift...small wonder, as they haven't had a moral compass in any leader since FDR.

Ivan,

Ted Rall and Ann Coulter are two peas in a pod. Add in Michael Savage and you have a threesome.

Michael Savage, Ann Coulter, Michael Moore... all deplorable people in my view.

But Rall goes beyond them all. He is truly the worst of the worst.

"The Democrats are adrift...small wonder, as they haven't had a moral compass in any leader since FDR"

Even though I totally agree that the Democrats are adrift, I can't help but mention that HST ranks right up there on the moral compass scale with FDR. In fact, I think his moral compass surpasses that of any other president in the 20th century bar none. FDR was probably the greatest leader we had in that century and thank God for that but when it comes to honor, conviction, and the courage it takes to do the right thing no matter what the polls say, Harry Truman takes second place to no man in this past century.

Ivan,

Understood - somewhat - but that doesn't mean that Sean Hannity, Rush, whomever aren't just kowtowers for the most part for the party line. If for the same cause, the Democrats wanted to go to war, and were leading Congress today, and the President did not, then they would never succumb to the fact that it might be the right thing to do. They would be damned to hell all day long on those talk radio shows. All because of partisanship. Being declared one way or the other isn't about being a follower. It's about having a general standard of beliefs of which you tend to follow. The only reason most people declare in a lot of states is that it lets you vote in primaries. Other than that, it's pointless for a lot of those who aren't necessarily "independent" but don't tow the line of the party they identify most with.

If you don't agree with certain things that your Senator or Congressperson or President says, then so be it. Hell, I would have voted for John McCain in the last election over Gore, and I'm a Democrat. The problem is that everyone groups Democrats as "ultra-liberals" who just happen to be the voices. Just as not everyone wants to get "Hannitized" just because they swear by the elephant. Until this is fixed, we'll live in a society where everyone just screams and yells at one another about stupid things and no one ever sits down and breaks bread at the table.

The same reason that the Democrats have the screaming voices and the Republicans have the screaming voices as representation is the same reason that the "moral minority" in this country has our government on a witch hunt of sorts to get rid of anything they randomly decide is indecent. Our problem is we ONLY identify with the little guy - never taking into consideration that right or wrong isn't the issue - it's the good of the people that should be taken into consideration. Who ever thought that the Republican adminstration would be, in effect, creating a "big government" like they are right now.

[/soapbox] Sorry for rambling, just had to get that out.

I too viewed the interview with Rall. Bill had it right. Mr. Rall was smarter than ALL the people in the administration. Than all the intelligence services in the country and in Europe. Mr. Rall, an editorial cartoonist. is way above the rest of us and can see things with much more clarity.
Isn't that the feeling you get from Streisand, Michael Moore, George Clooney, et al...
To question them for corroboration seems beneath them.
I hope I never have a chance to have my path cross with Mr. Rall. I don't think the exchange would be limited to the verbal variety.

If Ted Rall dies before I do, and I'm able to make the trip, I will travel to his funeral and spit on his grave.

I'll chip in for a bus, I'm sure there are enough of us to fill it.

Yep, Bill, I caught that same line, "I'm just a good liberal democrat."

Given the bile spewed from Democrats ranging from oh, just to name a few, Ted Kennedy, Robert Byrd, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Charlie Rangel, all the primary contenders (ahem, losers), Terry McAuliff...sorry, I could go on for hours, my thought when I heard that from Rall: Yeah, sounds about right.

Ivan -

It's stupid of you to assume that left wing wackos "hate America" and right wing wackos like Ann Coulter love it.

Ann Coulter hates everything that this country stands for - she hates freedom - she hates diversity of ideas, she hates outsiders... So does Michael Savage...

I did not like Ted Rall's cartoon - but it disgusts me when people like you assume that it means that, because I have different views about politics and economics than you do that I hate our country.

There's "different views" out there all right. On the economy. On politics. On abortion. On child porn if we want to get technical about it. But I get the feeling the Mr. Rall gets to live in an insular and solipsistic world he's created for himself and that wandering too far outside of it might just get his ass kicked. First it was the Terror Widows strip, and then it was making fun of Daniel Pearl's wife and there've been a slew in between before this one on Tillman which everyone could just see coming a mile away. Rall says what most good liberal Democrats think and are smart enough to keep to themselves.

In case no one caught Protein Wisdom's Rall impersonation, harsh language but if you've ever read Rall's scrawl it's probably not too different than your reaction if you're a decent human being:
http://www.celluloid-wisdom.com/pw/archives/003025.html

Harsh? Sure. But no more offensive than the AP defending him by saying he "risked his life" to write his conspiracy book on Afghanistan. Yea. He risked his life like I risk my life driving a car everyday.

For that he gets accolades and syndication and the admiration of the people who are too afraid to say how they really feel.

Ted Rall is simply the Ann Coulter of the Left - nothing more, nothing less...

Both are equally radical ideologues who do not represent the views of most Americans

apoplectic -I resent your assertion that Ted Rall represents the views of most liberals - that would be like me saying that, because Ann Coulter is an unpatriotic, cowardly, racist, nazi, that you are too - And I DO NOT BELEIVE THAT.

Tillman was an idiot.

Ted Rall is simply the Ann Coulter of the Left - nothing more, nothing less...

Oh really? So Coulter has called for the deaths of American soldiers? Coulter has called real heros idiots and pawns. Coulter has insulted every military service member many times over? Stop with the sheer bulls**t. Coulter and Rall are nothing alike, you just throw that line up there so you don't have to defend a dear liberal hero.

apoplectic -I resent your assertion that Ted Rall represents the views of most liberals -

Get out and look around, then. Everywhere I turn in Seattle I see people expressing his very words in their own statements and actions. Just because Rall happens to be the most virulent example doesn't mean that a huge chunk of the Democratic Party doesn't agree with him. And to be frank, nothing that I have seen or heard from the Left is leading me to believe that they feel otherwise. Your words are a poor debate for the actions that I encounter daily.

Steve: The rules that Mr. Hobbs has laid down for commenting on this blog prevent me from adequately expressing my opinion of you. I do hope that by some magical chance we can meet face to face and I can let my actions speak for me.

Raging Dave, you really are off base on your comments.

1. Coulter HAS called for the deaths of people before. She has at times wished that Timothy McVeigh would have attacked The New York Times building.

2. Coulter has insulted soldiers before. Here's one instance:

http://www.hypocrites.com/article10974.html

3. "Everywhere I turn in Seattle I see people expressing his very words in their own statements and actions. "

Oh, so just because you "saw it", that makes it true, huh?

Your logic, to put it gently, sucks.

"Steve: The rules that Mr. Hobbs has laid down for commenting on this blog prevent me from adequately expressing my opinion of you. I do hope that by some magical chance we can meet face to face and I can let my actions speak for me."

Well, since Raging Dave assumes that Ted Rall speaks for all liberal people, should I then, assume that Raging Dave speaks for all conservative people?

I won't. I'm not a trashy person.