Trudeau Defends Rove Strips, Says Changing Them is 'Not Acceptable'
By Dave Astor
Published: July 26, 2005 5:02 PM ET
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000992006
NEW YORK Why did Garry Trudeau use Karl Rove's "Turd Blossom" nickname in
Tuesday and Wednesday's "Doonesbury" strips?
"Given that I'm writing for a general audience, I try not to use crude or
vulgar language gratuitously," replied Trudeau, after E&P e-mailed him
several questions this afternoon. "But in this case, I felt that
[President] Bush's nickname for Rove was illuminating. 'Turd blossom' has
so many connotations, none of them flattering. It's a small masterpiece of
nastiness."
About 10 to 12 newspapers pulled or edited the "Turd Blossom" strips,
according to an Associated Press story. Trudeau is OK with the pulling
part, but not the editing part.
"Editors obviously have a responsibility to determine what's appropriate
for inclusion in their papers," said the Universal Press Syndicate
cartoonist.
"The syndicate and I accept that from time to time individual editors may
object to particular strips and decide to drop them. What's not acceptable
to us, however, is for editors to alter the content of a strip and
represent it as what I sent them. In most cases, changing the dialogue
compromises its meaning or rhythm or humor. Sometimes, the strip no longer
even makes sense.
Who benefits from that? We'd prefer that an offending strip be dropped
altogether."
In today's "Doonesbury" comic (which can be viewed here:
http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html?uc_full_date=20050726
an aide tells Bush: "Sir, we're still getting pretty beat up on the Rove
revelations. We can't get traction on any other issue. It's just the leak
thing 24-7!" Bush responds: "Yeah, I know. Karl's sure been earnin' his
nickname lately." Aide: "Boy Genius? I'm not so sure, sir." Bush then calls
out to Rove: "Hey, Turd Blossom! Get in here!"
Does Trudeau think many newspaper editors and readers are aware that "Turd
Blossom" is a real nickname for Bush's close advisor, not one made up by
the cartoonist?
"My assumption was twofold -- that many people already knew it, and that
most others would infer it was real from the way I teed it up," said
Trudeau. "I also felt that those in the latter group would be as tickled to
learn of it as I was."
The cartoonist did say he was careful to limit himself to a couple of "Turd
Blossom" mentions. "Twice seems enough for readers to enjoy," he observed.
"I don't want to push my luck."
Trudeau, whose "Doonesbury" strip appears in about 1,400 newspapers,
acknowledged that it can be difficult for editors to decide what language
their comics readers will tolerate. He noted that "public mores are in
constant flux."
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