WaPo Cartoonist Toles' Demeaning Depiction of AG Gonzales

April 9th, 2007 7:27 AM

What better way to start the week than with a rousing round of WIARHSI, or in this case, an entertaining variation thereof: What If a Conservative Cartoonist Had Drawn It?

Check out Tom Toles' editorial cartoon in this morning's Washington Post. Toles depicts Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, complete with East L.A. hairstyle, having to be taught to pronounce the name of the department over which he presides in preparation for his congressional testimony.

It looks like Toles tried to give himself some cover by having Gonzales say he knows what a department is [though perhaps not what "justice" is]. Perhaps the cartoonist would try to argue that he was mocking the presumably white administration official who was coaching Gonzales, not the AG himself.

But again, WIACCHDI? What if a conservative cartoonist had drawn an Hispanic official in a Dem administration in precisely the same way?

Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net