I probably shouldn't even bother writing about any of this, but there's been a kerfluffle over this cartoon. I looked at it, it didn't really make me laugh or inspire any particular thought. If I was Pat Tillman's family, I'd be pretty pissed to see a complex and interesting human being reduced to caricature for political purposes. He doesn't sound like he was racist at all. Why was it necessary to say that he was? Why is necessary to insult a dead guy to make a point that this administration lies about its motives and goals? Bush may be after the oil fields of the Middle East, but Tillman sure wasn't.
I didn't support the war on Afghanistan at the time (wussy Berkeley 1960s product that I am!), but logically... if their government was hosting Bin Laden, and there was a pretty good linkage established (especially compared to the sorry excuses for this war), I can see why people like Tillman would sign up for the military in good faith. And once you're in, you go where you're told.
The right-wing media is all over this one. It occurs to me that they have also reduced Tillman to a two-dimensional figure for their purposes, like he died to excuse every sin this country has committed in the course of the war on terrorism. It also occurs to me that with the news this week being what it is, they might find other directions to direct their ire. But no. I suspect Ted Rall serves as a useful distraction from the smelly pile of failures that is the Bush administration and their track record of the last three-plus years.
Tillman died for our sins, and Rall cartooned for them?
