Murdoch Apologizes For Cartoon

At long last:

As the Chairman of the New York Post, I am ultimately responsible for what is printed in its pages. The buck stops with me.

Last week, we made a mistake. We ran a cartoon that offended many people. Today I want to personally apologize to any reader who felt offended, and even insulted.

Over the past couple of days, I have spoken to a number of people and I now better understand the hurt this cartoon has caused. At the same time, I have had conversations with Post editors about the situation and I can assure you - without a doubt - that the only intent of that cartoon was to mock a badly written piece of legislation. It was not meant to be racist, but unfortunately, it was interpreted by many as such.

We all hold the readers of the New York Post in high regard and I promise you that we will seek to be more attuned to the sensitivities of our community.

All of which proves that New York's governor threw those of us under an oncoming bus far too quickly. Maybe his will be the next apology. It should be. But I'm not holding my breath.

I Will Miss The New York Post And Governor Paterson

I will miss the Post because I am finished. I will never buy it again. Never. I confess that the New York Post was my favorite reading material after I had tried a case and the jury was out deliberating. It was perfect for that. It was perfect for long term waiting. And I will miss Governor Paterson, because he's demonstrated again that he's just another glad handing political hack.

I wasn't alone in being offended by the recent cartoon showing policemen shooting the Chimpanzee author of the stimulus bill. Far from it. I thought Al Sharpton was particularly on point about it:

Al Sharpton, the Baptist minister and civil rights activist, called the cartoon "troubling at best, given the historic racist attacks [on] African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys".

He added: "Being that the stimulus bill has been the first legislative victory of President Barack Obama ... and has become synonymous with him, it is not a reach to wonder: are they inferring that a monkey wrote the last bill?... The Post should at best clarify what point they were trying to make, or in fact reprimand their cartoonist."

In fact, Governor Paterson himself told a local television station that it was "very important for the New York Post to explain what the cartoon was intended to portray".

And I wasn't alone in thinking that the Post's bizarre non-apology apology was inadequate and that its reaching out even in its "apology" to take another poke at Al Sharpton showed a serious lack of sensitivity to the issue at hand. What kind of apology concludes with this?

there are some in the media and in public life who have had differences with The Post in the past - and they see the incident as an opportunity for payback.

To them, no apology is due.

Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon - even as the opportunists seek to make it something else.

Today, I read that Governor Paterson accepts the Post's non-apology apology, and that he's called for

a discussion about satire of public officials.

"It might be a time to open up a dialogue on just where that line is, where good clean fun and degradation are," Paterson told reporters in Manhattan.

He was responding to a Post editorial cartoon Wednesday that many saw as portraying President Barack Obama as a chimpanzee. The Rev. Al Sharpton, state senators and other African-American leaders have called for boycotting the newspaper.

Paterson disagreed, calling the Post apology "very honorable ... At this time when tensions are running high, with the economy down and also even the media outlets having to lay off people, it is an act of sensitivity."

A discussion of satire and the line between fun and degradation? How about a discussion of insensitivity and racism in the press? Oh no, not that.

So, Governor, we should continue to support a Newscorp paper that at best has zero sensitivity to issues of race in America, and at worst is blatantly racist, because to do otherwise would lead directly and inexorably to the loss of jobs?

What about the 47 other steps that can be taken before a first job is lost, Governor, like asking Rupert Murdoch to save some jobs by issuing a real apology, like asking Rupert Murdoch to save some jobs by disciplining the management people and cartoonist responsible for this cartoon, like directly speaking out about the inadequacy of the non-apology apology rather than giving us this "very honorable" nonsense. And what about taking a position about this that doesn't allude to your own "victimhood" at the hands of comedians and cartoonists?

I note in passing that this is another Paterson reverse of position. First the Post has to explain; then its inadequate non-explanation is just fine. Have we seen this before from the Governor?

One had to wonder, in the wake of the Caroline Kennedy/Kirsten Gillibrand fiasco, whether the Governor could do anything more to hurt himself. And now we have our answer. He's intent on rendering himself unelectable. And he doesn't need my help to do that. I will miss him.

Score One For the Oligarchy

I live in NY-20, the district allegedly represented by Kirsten Gillibrand, and have lived here in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains for more than 22 years. Maybe that has made me cynical. It means I lived here when it was part of militaristic Gerry Solomon's conservative fiefdom. You remember his most memorable contribution to the nation: a law that if you plead guilty to a non-criminal possession of marijuana for personal use, you lose your federal financial aid for a year. Great policy, Gerry! Salute! And then it was represented by his hand picked, militaristic successor, John Sweeney, him with the DWI arrest with a woman, not his wife, allegedly sitting on his lap. When he ran against Gillibrand it was in the wake of allegations that he (still) beat his wife. Great politics, John. Salute!

And now, Kirsten Gillibrand, daughter of a political family and apparently a friend of Alphonse D'Amato, has been selected by Governor David Paterson, who was never elected and who replaced client 9 and is the son of a political family, instead of Caroline Kennedy, daughter of a political family, and Andrew Cuomo, son of a political family, to succeed Hillary Clinton, a member of a political family, in the Senate. Score yet another one for the oligarchy.

Faced with the obvious, that being a political blue blood remains the most important qualification for the Senate, many people who consider themselves Democratic or progressive are now busy making excuses for Kirsten and describing if not how great she'll be in the Senate, how she'll turn out to be ok. You've heard it all. Here, for example. She'll move to the center, and maybe even to the left. She does good constituent work so her 100% NRA rating doesn't matter. She's for/against marriage equality. She's for/against the war in Iraq. She's for/against the environment. She's for/against the Stimulus package. She voted against the bailout/New York. Others have described all of this far, far better than I care to.

The part of this I find most instructive is all of the excuse making. Folks on the left or the just to the left of center are making excuses because we don't want to confront the obvious. The obvious is that Kirsten, who is not on the left, who is not really in the center, and who is a blue dog, is in the Senate from New York because she was already a member of a certain club, and that club is from whence people who are also in the club promote other club members to the Senate.

Chances are, dear reader, that you aren't in that club. And that you never will be. Nor will your children. And it's not because you're not a talented and nice person. And it's not because you wouldn't like to do public service. And it's not because you know nothing about politics. It's because you don't have the money or the time or the connections (any two of these 3 might give you a chance to be in the club). I hope you're not surprised by that. In fact, Barack Obama might prove the rule. He's not old school. He had time and made connections. He didn't have money. An unusual two out of three, but 2 out of 3 nonetheless. This appointment, however, is old school. It's money and connections paying off.

In baseball kids begin getting ready for the Big Leagues when they are 7 or 8 or 9. They advance as their skills grow. There are Little Leagues that feed into minor leagues that feed into the major leagues. Ability matters. Baseball, unlike politics, is a meritocracy. You supposedly cannot play for the Yankees if you cannot catch and throw and hit. Even if you're rich. Even if you father owns the team. That's quite unlike politics. You can still get ahead in politics if your family is already in the business, and if you have money, lots of money, and if you or your family have friends in the club (friends like Al D'Amato, David Paterson, and Hillary Clinton). It doesn't necessarily matter whether or not you can speak in coherent sentences (are you reading this, W?) or can legislate or can perform any of the many other tasks supposedly involved in being a public servant. What matters most is your pedigree.

I'm delighted that Barack Obama doesn't appear to be from the oligarchy. That makes it all the sadder when New York's Senator, appointed after his election, is chosen in the old school way. New York and the nation deserve better.

Such is the state of the American democracy. You can dress up Gillibrand's ascension and coronation however you like. And you can talk about how you're going to give her a Populist Primary and defeat her in 2010. But, alas, I think all of this is just self deception. What we need to notice here is that the oligarchy is still strongly in control. And that we're without the resources to do anything at all about it at the moment, yell and scream as much as we want.