“Most media misquoted him…”? All the reports I saw said Nugent was intimating if Obama was reelected he’d try to kill him, which would lead to him either being killed by the Secret Service or arrested before he could try.

If that wasn’t what Nugent meant, what was?

(And I’m sure Wise was equally put out by all the protests and backlash the Dixie Chicks received for daring to say they were embarrassed by George W. Bush.)

***

I figure this is as good a time as any to talk about something I’ve noticed about editorial cartoons- specifically those done by conservatives.

Terry Wise is white, judging by the self-portrait on his page. In this cartoon he puts his views in the mouth of a black man.

No big deal, right?

Well, Chris Muir is white, judging by his Facebook pic on the Day by Day homepage, and who’s the most vocal conservative in his strip? As far as I can tell it’s the sole black person.

Scott Stantis is white, and in Prickly City the conservative voice of reason is the young, apparently black girl.

And there used to be a conservative weekly(?) strip called The Leftersons (which I discovered, in all places, in the San Francisco print edition of The Onion (at first I thought it was satire)) where the conservative voice was, wait for it, the black family living next door to the clan of liberal stereotypes. And yeah, the creator was white. Or is white, I should say, since he’s probably still alive.

Where am I going with this (as if it wasn’t obvious)? Once is happenstance, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern. I just listed three ongoing strips done by white guys who put their voices into black people, and I’m pretty sure I’m forgetting about another example (I know Mallard Fillmore has a recurring cook who appears grey, but I’m not sure if that’s his ethnicity or some weird coloring decision).

I would ask why this is, but I think the answer is obvious: there isn’t exactly a surfeit of African-American (or Asian-American or Hispanic) conservatives, and the most recognizable ones are Alan Keyes, Michael Steele and Herman Cain. Republicans have as much a problem with minorities as they do with women, and for many of them their response is to pretend they don’t. Why, look at all these minority conservatives in comics! Clearly they’re all based on real people and give us a hint of the diversity of the modern Republican party! It’s not all white males, noooooooooo.

So yeah, this is something I’ve noticed for a long time and have wanted to mention. I have no real point to make, other than to point out this is a thing. And if/when the next conservative strip comes along, don’t be surprised if it’s a) done by a Caucasian and b) the voice of reason in the strip is black.