Perhaps the Secret Service should join the FBI in finding something to do and getting, you know, a clue or two.
Cartoon in Times Prompts Inquiry by Secret Service (LA Times, July 22, 2003, registration required):
An editorial cartoon in The Times that depicted a man pointing a gun at President Bush prompted a visit to the newspaper's offices Monday by a Secret Service agent, who asked to speak to cartoonist Michael Ramirez. The agent was turned away. A Secret Service official said the inquiry was routine, according to Karlene Goller, an attorney for The Times who met with the agent and later spoke to an official in the agency's Los Angeles office. The government asks questions of anyone publishing material that might be construed as a threat against the president.
Frankly, you need to be working very hard indeed to construe the cartoon -- or, really any cartoon -- as a threat against the president.
Surely the Secret Service doesn't investigate each and every editorial cartoon featuring the president and weapons. That would leave them hardly any time for actually guarding his physical self.
(One would also note that, judging from the cartoonist's explanation of the content, he's actually one of the president's supporters. My, my, my.)
Posted by iain at July 22, 2003 01:49 PMComments
