Looking Forward, Backward

Here's a quick look a what we have planned for the immediate future, along with a quick look back.

First of all, we've been posting a higher volume of cartoons than usual over the last month. With the election over, we will be returning to our normal pace of three or four new cartoons a week. We've picked up many new readers over the last couple of months, so we hope everyone will continue to visit.

The big project at the moment is our second book, Black & White World II, which we hope to release before Christmas. The planned book will feature a knock-out, full-color illustration of Uncle Sam by John. It will contain cartoons starting from September 2002 and going all the way through this week's presidential election. That means over 400 cartoons. Most have appeared on this site but a few have never been seen, including one or two that missed the mark. We will make an official announcement as soon as the book is available for ordering.

The book will, of course, contain our John Kerry cartoons, which gives us an excuse to look back at some of them.

The above cartoon is from April 2003 [Year corrected.--Ed.] and was a reference to the fact that certain Democrats had assumed defeatist, anti-Iraq war positions before the quickly successful overthrow of Saddam's regime. It's the first appearance of John Kerry in our cartoons. Who knew that both Kerry and Senator Tom Daschle would suffer so badly? Judging by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's comments yesterday, it's safe to say that she still hasn't learned from the experience. I almost feel sorry for the donkey.

The above cartoon is from June 2003. It was long before we knew that Howard Dean would be a contender. Or that Dean would eventually not be a contender. Or that Ralph Nader would run and present problems for Kerry. The cartoon makes it appear that we're somewhat prescient. We're not. No, really.

The above cartoon is from January 2004. Kerry had stated at the time, "Everybody always makes the mistake of looking South. Al Gore proved he could have been president of the United States without winning one Southern state, including his own." At the time, Glenn Reynolds noted appropriately: "Um, no. Al Gore proved that he couldn't win the United States without carrying one Southern state, including his own." And Kerry has proven it again.

The above cartoon is from February 2004. With Bush winning over 50% of the popular vote, it turns out that Kerry wasn't as mainstream as he thought.

That's it for the retrospective and preview of the next book. We'll resume posting new cartoons in the next day or so.

We're extremely happy that George W. Bush defeated Kerry, mainly because we take it as a mandate for America to pursue its war against Islamists. But we will continue to prod Bush to return to the Bush Doctrine, to quit his multilaterist tendencies, to keep church out of state, and to cut socialist spending instead of increasing it. In other words, we still have a lot of cartoons ahead of us.

Speaking of of the Bush Doctrine, TIA Daily brought to our attention this New York Post editorial by Ralph Peters: And Now, Fallujah.

TUESDAY'S decisive popular vote wasn't just for George W. Bush. It was for our troops, as well. The American people sent a message to the world: We know we're at war. And our men and women in uniform are going to win.

We, the people, voted to fight.

The first military mission facing the president is the destruction of the terrorist presence in Fallujah. That city-state of terror has become the unifying symbol for our enemies, more vital to the Middle East's fanatics than the fate of Osama bin Laden.

Last spring, the administration made a fateful mistake, stopping short when our Marines were on the brink of victory. This time, our president -- with a mandate from the American people -- isn't going to stop until the last assassin lies dead in the last cellar.

But he needs to get on with the job. We should move against Fallujah immediately -- with the support of Iraq's interim prime minister. We have an ideal window for action while our enemies, from al Qaeda and the French to al-Jazeera and the BBC, are bewildered by their failure to dictate our election's outcome. Their vicious attempts to change our government failed. Now they're wondering what on earth to do.

While they're scrambling, we should be shooting.

UPDATE -- November 5: Reader Michael Kreutz in Germany sent us this noteworthy NewsMax report: 'Millions' of Iranians Celebrate Bush Victory.

Posted by Forkum at November 4, 2004 05:51 PM