Boris Yeltsin is dead. Many, I think, were surprised he was still alive. Perhaps he was pickled by the constant flow of alcohol he evidently consumed midway through his Presidency of Russia towards the end of his retirement. Who knows? The fact is after he handed the Kremlin keys over to Vladimir Putin in 2000 he never really resurfaced in the public limelight again, becoming largely forgotten.

It's only on reflection that I realize he was a character that shaped many editorial cartoons. Here are just a few I drew as he neared the end of his reign in a drunken stupor:

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Of course there must be credit given to the man who began his rise to stardom by toppling a Communist coup designed to reverse the democratic reforms initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev.

While he will undoubtedly go down in history for liberating Soviet citizens, he may be better remembered in the old "free world" for his trashing the old USSR, and thereby ending any remnants left from the cold war years. He oversaw the disintegration of the old Soviet Union and became Russia's first democratically elected leader. Then he tried to bring in goofy economic policies which only empowered corrupt oligarchs and angered legislators, and when things didn't go his way he brought back old style Soviet tactics to deal with dissent and ethnic unrest. Blasting the Parliament buildings with cannon fire isn't exactly the most democratic way to debate things with opponents, although Yeltsin seemed to think it was, and he got away with it. He also got away with pinching the bums of women politicians and bureaucrats; hamming for the cameras while visiting Berlin and by grabbing a conductors baton and leading an orchestra; playing the spoons on the head of Askar Akayev, the president of Kyrgyzstan; and staggering around in his underpants shouting for pizza in the hotel room during his first summit meeting with Bill Clinton.

Upon further reflection I connect the Yeltsin years with the Clinton years... and can't help associating those figures, as much the buffoons they were, to that relatively harmonious period of time in the pre-9/11 world. No wonder Bill Clinton loved to bear hug Yeltsin. But once Boris was gone, the good old days of close relations clearly started to wane. Seven years on Vladimir Putin continues to rule Russia at a far sobering and utilitarian pace. What freedom Yeltsin brought in, much has been clamped down upon by his successor. Here's one I drew shortly after Putin came to power in Russia:

A new book is out in the store shelf devoted to editorial cartoons killed by editors:

Amazon.com summarizes the book as an intriguing selection of one hundred cartoons, many never-before-published, that were censored or suppressed for being too controversial, featuring the work of Gary Trudeau, Doug Marlette, Paul Conrad, Mike Luckovich, Matt Davies, Ted Rall, Norman Rockwell, Anita Kunz, Edward Sorel, and other notable artists...

...like me.

...and here's the cartoon he's talking about:

At the time I wrote on my website: "This one won't be printed in The Spectator. Editors felt the image was too lite to comment on the passing of the Pope. I didn't put up a fight. Cartoonists know all too well that even the very act of caricaturing the Pontiff is verging on blasphemy in the eyes of some devout Roman Catholics. It has been sent out to other newspapers through my syndicate and it'll be curious to see if anyone picks it up. I guess the other problem was that at the time of completion the old man hadn't yet kicked the bucket. It's bound to be an interesting few weeks to come leading up to the selection of a new Pope."

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Here's (sound file) an interview of the author David Wallis from April 20, 2007, where he talks on New Hampshire public radio about the book. He talks about my cartoon around the 6:15 mark. Transcript.

Here's the story on the NPR website.

Pope Cartoons are one of those issues which always provoke letters. You can read other blog entries here and here.

Some context to any out-of-towners wanting to know about this curious cartoon...

A week ago I wrote about the entertainment aspect of legislative debate that is essential to liven up the tediousness of the democratic process. To those who earnestly express their outrage against humorous political ads or forceful blows during question period, I say, lighten up.

So Hamilton City Council was the stage this week for a split second of action that made some headlines in the Hamilton Spectator. Events turned sour after Councillor Bob Bratina was rambling on about something during council proceedings when Mayor Eisenberger interjected to speed things up. The resulting hissy fit from the smooth talking morning man /  city representative was beautifully captured on film.

It reminds me of my 5 year when she needs to clean up her crayons upon being told it's nap time. Seeing it all unfold with a grown man... now that's entertainment.

 

Occasionally I'm called upon to do caricatures of people, particularily those who are retiring or moving on to bigger jobs. Here's a picture (by Kathy Gayder) of Ian McLeod, the outgoing CFO of The Hamilton Spectator. He's moving on to head the finances of Metroland, the parenting company of the Spectator as well as several other dailies and community papers. In this cartoon I drew him as the King of the bean counters, whereupon he sits on a hill of beans. All the best, Ian.

Ask people for their opinions concerning those Conservative Party pre-election ads directed against Stephane Dion and the reaction you'll receive is usually one of absolute disgust. Like someone has been forced to watch the worst kind of porn. Pure filth. "How low can the Tories go", they'll protest, or it's "American style attack ads", as a means to condemn the party while connecting it to that horrible neighbour to Canada's south. "Is this where political decorum has fallen to in Canada", people will rhetorically ask before they warn that, "it's going to backfire on Harper."

Please. The Dion ads were amusing, and they were hardly as offensive as some repulsive things we're surrounded by in our everyday lives that ought to make people outraged. "Do you think it's easy to make priorities", the Liberal Leader famously whined. Apparently, you can download that quote off the Internet and program it as a cell phone ring.

To me it's hard to condemn these so-called "attack ads" on politicians when it's a cartoonist's job to go after them daily in cartoons. Isn't adversarial jousting supposed to be part of our Parliamentary system?

In my mind our political forums have two key ingredients:

a) the boring part -- a forum for thoughtful intellectual debate (behind the scenes in committee rooms and on the floor of the legislatures which would send most people to sleep);

and,

b) the exciting part -- a theatre which provides a verbal battleground for outwitting your adversary -- be they put downs during Question Period, or commercials aimed against your adversary on tv in 20 second soundbites or newsclips.

I suppose there are limits to the art of playful chiding when it starts to look like bullying because the other side can't/won't play the wits game. The Libs think they're taking the high road by not striking back, but instead they're just looking like wimps. This weeks' episode of This Hour Had 22 Minutes did a perfect parody ad of where the Liberals find themselves right now. The Liberal's simply need to play the game.

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