|
March 02, 2006
Linda Renaud ,
Obnoxious. Obsessive. Opinionated.
That's how political cartoonist Michael Ramirez, the featured speaker at the Pacific Palisades Republican Club's election-year kickoff brunch, described himself on Sunday at the Riviera Country Club.
"The difference is I get paid to be obnoxious. Politicians are just obnoxious," Ramirez said in his opening remarks. "Editorial cartoonists are like pit bulls trained to attack at the slightest provocation. I sometimes feel like this hybrid between Edward R. Morrow and the Son of Sam. You need to know who the enemy is to draw conclusions, then draw blood. I'm an equal opportunity offender. If I haven't offended you yet, I will soon."
Ramirez's take on political, social, and economic issues was in evidence throughout his hour-long presentation, which included showing three dozen of his cartoons from a career that included a Pulitzer Prize.
During his talk he tackled the national deficit, Social Security, unemployment, Hollywood, 9/11, abortion, affirmative action, sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, HMO's, and the war in Iraq.
However, Ramirez made no reference to the ongoing controversy over the Mohammed cartoons that have been written about but not yet shown in the U.S. mainstream press.
"While we all have our own perception about what is going on that is filtered through our experience, there is at the bottom the simple truth, which is what I look for," said Ramirez, a Republican.
The cartoonist's controversial work appeared for eight years on the op-ed page of the Los Angeles Times, until it was dropped at the end of December. Known for his conservative views, Ramirez is now a senior editor and the editorial cartoonist for Investor's Business Daily. He is syndicated by Copley News Service and published worldwide in more than 550 newspapers and magazines.
"My job is to absorb, analyze, then attack," said Ramirez, who considers himself a better writer than artist. "However, I'm not na've enough to think I can change people's minds. Whatever I am trying to say has to be clear to the reader. That is who I am writing for. The goal is to draw them into the debate."
One of Ramirez's concerns is the U.S. political system, which he sees as reactive, and "government that is too big. We now have more people producing red tape than producing products in this country."
He said he also sees an America suffering from an identity crisis, and increasing racial tension. In his talk, Ramirez defended the Bush administration, challenging the notion that the U.S. rushed to war with Iraq when there were "over 50 nations" in support of the effort initially.
"And there were weapons of mass destruction," he insists. "We went there to try and find out where they went."
Ramirez, whose father was a first generation Mexican-American and mother Japanese, speaks four languages. He graduated in fine arts from the University of California Irvine in 1984. When he entered UCI he was planning on becoming a doctor, like each of his siblings (two brothers and two sisters.
However, he began drawing editorial cartoons almost immediately for the student newspaper, New University, which merged his other interests: politics and history. After graduating, he went to work for The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tennessee, where he won the Pulitzer in 1994.
In 1997, the year he was president of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists, he was recruited by the L.A. Times, which Ramirez considered a great accomplishment: the son of a migrant worker succeeding three-time Pulitzer winner Paul Conrad.
The cartoonist said he starts his day around 5 a.m. when he turns on the television news "to see what's going on." He's a ferocious reader and does copious amounts of research because "it's important to take in all sides."
He joked that to "get all sides," he reads The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal, as well as publications such as Mother Jones.
"You can't draw a cartoon you don't believe in," is how Ramirez sees it. "I remember there was a controversy over whether airline pilots should be tested for drugs. I drew a pilot dressed as Hamlet and the caption read: 'To pee or not to pee.' An editorial cartoon without a message is merely a cartoon. That's why what I do is on the editorial pages and not the comic pages."
Before and after his talk, Ramirez autographed copies of his cartoons and was asked by several young Palisadians to assess their own cartooning efforts, which some brought along for Ramirez to sign. Attending the event was former gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon, his wife Cindy, along with their 13-year-old son Griffin, a freshman at Harvard-Westlake.
"There's a real void now that Michael's not in the L.A. Times," Cindy said. "I miss him."
Also attending were longtime Palisadians Ann and George Smith, who have belonged to the GOP club for three years.
"We're fans of Michael's," said George. "It's a shame the Times let him go."
|
