Jim Delmont’s “Critic @ Large” column in the Omaha City Weekly is always entertaining, but this week’s is particularly great. (Sadly, I couldn’t find it online, so you’ll need to pick up a copy of the OCW — with a great Beatles Rock Band cover story — to read it.)

Delmont’s work typically combines a beautiful mix of smugness and paranoia — I imagine someone in a velvet smoking jacket furiously typing while taking an occasional peek through the blinds. But his latest column, “Obama, Palin and the Future” is such a random grab-bag of conservative anger, it’s as if Delmont was worried that the nutty concerns in his fridge were nearing their expiration date and decided to toss all of them into one beautiful meal. A few tasty samples:

• It’s September 2009 and he’s still complaining about the coverage of the 2008 election and how the media completely neglected to point out Barack Obama’s inexperience, as if that wasn’t constantly referenced from approximately November 2007 through November 2008 as first Hillary Clinton and then John McCain made it a central campaign theme.

• He then launches into this sweaty-palmed McCarthesque rant about how liberals are taking over the media, colleges, high schools and now even libraries, “whose national meetings are veritable jamborees for the Democratic Party.”

• Liberals, according to Delmont, don’t believe in freedom of speech. Apparently, he says, they’re going to try to shut down Fox News and talk radio.
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10. This reject has its own follow up in this very countdown!

9.

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Lincoln has its very own birther property management company! Great catch, Mr. Wilson:

From an L.A. Times “analysis” story printed in Tuesday’s Journal-Star about the potential elimination of a public option (emphasis mine):

Families USA Executive Director Ron Pollack, a leading consumer advocate who has been pushing a healthcare overhaul for decades, said his group had been distributing a memo touting the “10 Reasons to Support the Health Care Reform Bills.” A government plan was only one of them.

A government plan was only one of the 10 reasons to support the health care reform bills. What were they expecting? That if a public option were truly important, they would have listed it several times?

I was working on a cartoon recently that includes a public figure whose time in the spotlight will soon be ending, and it got me thinking about how that kind of farewell happens quite a bit once you’ve spent a few years cartooning. It’s simply the nature of public life that time as a comment-worthy figure is bound to be finite.

Back in my Daily Nebraskan days, I had a lot of recurring characters — including L. Dennis Smith, Harvey Perlman and Danny Nee. But my favorite was Frank Solich. I couldn’t get enough of working him into cartoons, even when they had nothing to do with him. Frank and I left the university about the same time, and he was gone by the time I returned to Nebraska cartooning. Sadly, there was never going to be another excuse to draw him, even though I’ve tried. (Ironically enough, I’m not sure I ever actually drew him — I took some kind of sick joy in cutting out photocopied pictures of him and gluing them into cartoons.)

Similarly, once I started at the Lincoln Journal Star, Mayor Colleen Seng quickly became one of my favorite subjects. Almost accidentally, she evolved into a sort of iconic shorthand, with her poofy white hair, glasses and flower-print dress. Sadly, she decided to retire. Chris Beutler just hasn’t been as interesting. Ken Svoboda was another favorite. Fortunately for me, I can’t imagine that Jon Bruning and Dave Heineman are going anywhere anytime soon.

Jeff Koterba, Paul Fell and Steve Breen shared some of their favorite Targets of Cartooning Past with me:
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Remember how Ben Nelson was worried about a public option because it would work too well and drive all the private insurers out of business? Well now he’s opposed to a public option because it wouldn’t work at all.

I’ve been sending some emails to the powerful lately and thought I’d share the correspondence with you good folks!

On August 13, I received an e-mail to the Nebraska Democratic Party which included this line:

Now, one might think that with ample targets like [Johanns, Terry, Fortenberry and Smith], out-of-state liberal activists hoping to pressure Nebraska’s delegation into supporting health care reform would have no need to fall back on cheap tactics like knocking longtime Democrat Sen. Ben Nelson, who has made a welcome renewal of his commitment to comprehensive reform.

I wrote:

What exactly is “cheap” about an actual Nebraska business owner facing actual problems expressing his viewpoints on Nelson’s actions in the healthcare debate?

The Nebraska Democratic Party’s response:

I also wrote to Senator Ben Nelson on August 12:

I have three questions:

1. Senator Nelson has said that a public insurance plan would cut costs too much, driving private insurers out of business. Given that he does not support a form of savings that he himself identifies as saving a substantial amount of money, yet he insists that cutting costs is necessary, what specific policy does Senator Nelson support to cut healthcare costs?

2. Sen. Nelson and Sen. Johanns have both described the advertisement featuring Mr. Snider as “fiction” and “misleading.” Information presented in those advertisements was sourced, so I am unclear as to what was erroneous. Can you tell me what, exactly, you find to be either fiction or misleading, and what the truth is in those instances?

3. Senator Nelson has insisted that a healthcare bill be bipartisan. Senator Grassley, a key figure in bipartisan talks, has begun spreading the lie that Democratic healthcare bills include government-forced euthanasia for elderly people. Given that Grassley is willing to lie about Democrats’ proposals, why should I assume that he’s a good-faith negotiator in the Senate Finance Committee?

Thank you.

Senator Nelson’s response:

The same day, I sent one to Senator Mike Johanns:

Hello Senator Johanns,

I read your recent press release in which you characterized the health care ads about Senator Nelson as “misleading.” I was wondering what specifically about the advertisements was misleading, and if you could then tell me what the truth is in those instances.

Thank you.

Senator Johanns’ response:

Thank you for contacting my office to express your views and concerns. I will be sending you a written letter of response.

It is an honor and a privilege to represent the people of Nebraska in the United States Senate. Feel free to contact my office at any time, and continue to visit my website to send me your ideas.

Sincerely,

Mike Johanns

United States Senator, Nebraska

I also wrote one to Terry Kroeger, publisher of the Omaha World-Herald on August 7:

Hi Mr. Kroeger,
My wife and I canceled our subscription to the Omaha World- Herald after learning of your paper’s policy of not accepting wedding announcements from same-sex couples. We’ve been thinking about resubscribing, but I wanted to check and see if your policy has changed on this issue.
Thanks,
Neal Obermeyer

Kroeger’s response:

I will be out of the office until Monday, August 10th. I will check e-mail messages but probably not immediately.

I hope you found this as enlightening as I did. Thanks for joining me on this dip into the mailbag!

I got blasted in two letters this week for this cartoon:

Cartoon in poor taste

I thought Neal Obermeyer’s editorial cartoon (LJS, Aug. 10) was in especially poor taste, and you should not have run it. Regardless of how you feel about the topic of abortion (in any form), referring to the ruthless murder of Dr. Tiller as a “hint” condones lawless behavior and insults Tiller’s survivors.

The editorial page may be wide open, and I support your right to free speech, but that right comes with some social responsibility and you failed to show any restraint. Shame on you.

Mark Forster, Lincoln

An insult to faith

I must take strong exception to the Neal Obermeyer cartoon published in the Aug. 10 Journal Star. To label the slaying of Dr. George Tiller a “hint” is an affront to those on both sides of the right-to-life question who believe in the rule of law in this country, and suggests Obermeyer’s approval of the accused killer’s actions. The gunning down of Tiller in a church was a cold and cowardly act of murder – nothing less. To call it anything else insults all people of faith who believe there are no exceptions to the sixth commandment.

Alexander Currie, Lincoln

The murder of Dr. Tiller was clearly supposed to send a message to other doctors that continuing to perform these services will put a target on your head. Threats of violence are inexcusable. What I was attempting to do with the cartoon was expose the awfulness of this reality by putting it in a sort of silly, flippant context (sort of like in previous cartoons like this and this), juxtaposing something serious with something truly mundane in hopes that the contrast would emphasize the vileness of the situation. I clearly failed.

Enjoy this online comic about the healthcare bills so far. I got a kick out of Wax-Man, and I’m admittedly anxious to see what happens…