The British daily The Guardian covers the news from the liberal point of view in the grand British tradition of partisan reporting; its counterpart, the Telegraph, does the same for Conservatives. I normally enjoy reading both papers as they unapologetically highlight the news from their own honest perspectives, unlike our own newspapers that fake objectivity while slanting their product. Also, I find that the Guardian usually features better writing than many of their American cousins.

One of my least favorite parts of the Guardian are their in-house editorial cartoons, drawn crudely by Steve Bell. They're mostly dull, unimaginative, knee-jerk leftist hack jobs. (In fact, editorial cartooning is the one journalistic area in which I feel Americans far excel.) Today's Bell cartoon seems especially egregious to me, as you'll see:

I have no beef about the image of George Bush, although I think the hairy knuckles around the turkey's neck lacks a certain amount of subtlety. President Bush is a big boy and a legitimate target for ridicule by editorialists, no matter how puerile they or their criticisms might be. However, the assignment of the turkey to our armed services that operate under deadly circumstances to the best of their ability goes too far. No one can doubt that Bell intended to disparage the troops, first by picturing them as one of the dumbest animals on the farm, and second by insinuating that as a whole they commit crimes which require presidential pardoning. It's a cheap shot by a talentless hack.

I'd expect something like this from Ted Rall, and perhaps I should have expected it from the Guardian, but I find it insulting, childish, and terribly disappointing. If Bell wants to insult George Bush and Americans as a whole, that's one thing. Insulting the troops in this manner demonstrates nothing but cowardice and a lack of moral fiber that ill befits a newspaper that aspires to international influence.

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