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Draw of the Luck

Aired December 30, 2002 - 11:51   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: He has one of the best jobs in journalism, poking fun at anybody who dares to make the news. Mike Luckovich is editorial cartoonist for "The Atlanta Journal- Constitution," and he's here with his top-10 newsmaker cartoons for 2002. And we've had the pleasure of watching him for the last half hour, on set, drawing the news, as I've been reporting it.
MIKE LUCKOVICH, EDITORIAL CARTOONIST: Right. And well, here. Let me -- I did two. I did one, just during this last commercial. But first, let me show the first I did. You all asked me to do sort of a cartoon, summing up the year. And so, I was thinking about there's an old movie called "Weekend at Bernie's," about two young guys that are trying to act -- a guy has died, a rich guy, and so they're trying to act like he's still alive, so that they can enjoy his riches. And so, during this whole year, during North Korea and Iraq and the corporate scandals, the economy has been in the background. It's just been sort of this corpse that Bush and Cheney here are trying...

LIN: Corps smoking a cigarette.

LUCKOVICH: Yes. Well, you know, he's got a cigarette dangling out of his mouth. And so, I wanted to show that as sort of summing up the year. And then we had that, I don't know what these guys are called again, the Raelians?

LIN: The Raelians.

LUCKOVICH: Raelians, or whatever they are. And so, I did this over the commercial. We're looking for proof of the clone. He's saying, "Is this proof enough?" And you have the infant Raelian or whatever those guys are.

LIN: It's a mini me..

LUCKOVICH: Yes, yes.

LIN: It's a mini me human clone.

LUCKOVICH: Yes. This is some quick drawing, let me tell you. I was trying to get this thing done.

LIN: That's some pretty quick thinking. Let's take a look at some of the newsmakers...

LUCKOVICH: All righty.

LIN: ... that we've been talking about here.

LUCKOVICH: Yes.

LIN: Arthur Andersen, you spared no one. All right, so there he is.

LUCKOVICH: Yes. Well, you have...

LIN: The president.

LUCKOVICH: ... this is a two-panel -- right -- and he's on the phone and he's saying, "After the realizing the public deserves to know the cost of war with Iraq, I thought of you," and you see this empty Arthur Andersen office and they are saying, "We've got a job."

LIN: Because it's all about me.

LUCKOVICH: Exactly, exactly.

LIN: All right. And Tom Ridge.

LUCKOVICH: Oh, now, this was one of my very favorite cartoons. This is when he announced the color-coded terror warnings and...

LIN: Orange, yellow...

LUCKOVICH: Orange, yes, all those.

LIN: ...green.

LUCKOVICH: ... and so, I've got -- a woman's watching TV and she tells her husband,"Shhh, Tom Ridge is about to unveil today's terror- alert color." As you see, he goes to the bag of M&M's.

LIN: Is that how he picks them?

LUCKOVICH: Yes, that's...

LIN: And we still do like green M&M's.

LUCKOVICH: Oh, exactly. And that would be the best color to be on, I think.

LIN: All right. And pedophile priests.

LUCKOVICH: Now, you know, I'm Catholic, and this is a tough issue for me..

LIN: Oh, yes.

LUCKOVICH: ... because I love the Catholic church. They do so much good for so many people, so many unfortunate people, and to have this thing going on, I just think it's just terrible. And so, I drew this cartoon. I've got Cardinal Law or someone like him, and he's got a group of pedophile priests I drew as wolves and he's saying, "You mean, I'm supposed to be protecting the sheep?" He was the shepherd for the wolves, I thought, in this case.

LIN: And what is this, evil...

LUCKOVICH: Well, now, Bush has shifted -- you know, Bush never even talks about Osama anymore. Have you noticed that? And he's shifted his focus, so he shifted his focus to Saddam. And so Osama here is in a cave and he's pretty bummed about that. So someone's trying to comfort him saying "Hey, you'll always be evildoer number one to us."

LIN: Tears at the heart.

LUCKOVICH: Poor Osama.

LIN: Yes. OK, how about David Copperfield?

LUCKOVICH: Yes.

LIN: Nice hair.

LUCKOVICH: Well, here we had this huge surplus, and now it be gone. And now we've got a huge deficit, and it's just -- it's so darn frustrating and then, plus, we've got that goofy tax cut that's going to take more and more money away. So I drew this cartoon. I've got Bush reading a newspaper, says, "Poof, $5.6-billion surplus disappears, and an aide is saying "David Copperfield wants pointers."

LIN: All right. And then...

LUCKOVICH: OK, now.

LIN: Oh what is it, Al Gore's sleeper cell.

LUCKOVICH: Yes, exactly. He never -- it was probably good that he got out. He didn't get people very excited. And so, I drew someone is saying, "He shaved his beard. That's a sign for us to activate." And it's, of course, it's literally, the Al Gore sleeper cell, some guy yawning and the other guy reading "Reader's Digest."

LIN: Oh, really. Oh, no, not another recount, OK.

LUCKOVICH: Moving on, we got...

LIN: And this.

LUCKOVICH: This is Harvey Pitt. Boy, this guy was so anti- reform, it was pathetic.

LIN: He does look like a pilgrim. I never even noticed.

LUCKOVICH: He does. And that's why I love the holidays because you can -- there are so many symbols that you can use. And so in this particular cartoon, rather than chopping off the corporate corruption turkey head, he's willing to go and chop off his own leg, so the corporate corruption turkey is thinking, "I love this guy."

LIN: How do you get these ideas, Mike?

LUCKOVICH: It's panic. It's...

LIN: Fear is a great motivator, I have found.

LUCKOVICH: Yes, it's late in the day and I'm thinking, oh, my deadline's coming up and I need to come up with something or else I'll never go home and so, I sweat and something just eventually happens.

LIN: So who's your next victim?

LUCKOVICH: Well, you know, I'm probably going to do another Rael -- I can't say the name of those.

LIN: Raelians.

LUCKOVICH: Whatever...

LIN: Think rye bread.

LUCKOVICH: ... you say it. I'll just -- you know, the clone group.

LIN: Yes.

LUCKOVICH: You know, that is just sort of a funny topic. I expected that guy, when he was on, to say, live long and prosper, because he's just kind of that offbeat type of person.

LIN: Oh, what's this that we're looking at?

LUCKOVICH: OK, now this was during the midterm elections. And it was based on, you know, the Democrats offered up some kind of old people, Walter Mondale and who was the guy, Lautenberg, in New Jersey, so.

LIN: Oh, that's right.

LUCKOVICH: So I've got a retirement home and a couple of guys and one says, "You know what we've got to look forward to after this after this, don't you?" And the other guy says, "The Senate?"

LIN: All right. Wassuup.

LUCKOVICH: Oh, now, this was such a great topic for a cartoonist and I want to thank, personally, Trent Lott for all he's done for us. I wanted to show the way that Trent Lott was really trying to relate to the -- to African Americans, so I have him saying "Wassuup" and...

LIN: And there he is.

LUCKOVICH: Yes.

LIN: All right. What about fruitcake?

LUCKOVICH: OK, now this was just last week and this was the big story, how North Korea has sort of stolen the thunder from Iraq a little bit. So another holiday metaphor, I've got a gentleman aide outside of Bush's oval office and he's saying, "Sir, I know you're focused on Iraq, but do you have time for a fruitcake?" And you see it's our Kim il-Jung, who looks a lot like Ernie from Bert and Ernie, the hair.

LIN: And you nailed it on the glasses. Thanks so much, Mike.

LUCKOVICH: Thank you for having me.

LIN: That was so much fun.

LUCKOVICH: I'll be back tomorrow, I believe.

LIN: You bet.

LUCKOVICH: Yes.

LIN: And have a happy new year, too, in the meantime.

LUCKOVICH: Thank you.

LIN: All right. We'll see you tomorrow.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired December 30, 2002 - 11:51   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: He has one of the best jobs in journalism, poking fun at anybody who dares to make the news. Mike Luckovich is editorial cartoonist for "The Atlanta Journal- Constitution," and he's here with his top-10 newsmaker cartoons for 2002. And we've had the pleasure of watching him for the last half hour, on set, drawing the news, as I've been reporting it.
MIKE LUCKOVICH, EDITORIAL CARTOONIST: Right. And well, here. Let me -- I did two. I did one, just during this last commercial. But first, let me show the first I did. You all asked me to do sort of a cartoon, summing up the year. And so, I was thinking about there's an old movie called "Weekend at Bernie's," about two young guys that are trying to act -- a guy has died, a rich guy, and so they're trying to act like he's still alive, so that they can enjoy his riches. And so, during this whole year, during North Korea and Iraq and the corporate scandals, the economy has been in the background. It's just been sort of this corpse that Bush and Cheney here are trying...

LIN: Corps smoking a cigarette.

LUCKOVICH: Yes. Well, you know, he's got a cigarette dangling out of his mouth. And so, I wanted to show that as sort of summing up the year. And then we had that, I don't know what these guys are called again, the Raelians?

LIN: The Raelians.

LUCKOVICH: Raelians, or whatever they are. And so, I did this over the commercial. We're looking for proof of the clone. He's saying, "Is this proof enough?" And you have the infant Raelian or whatever those guys are.

LIN: It's a mini me..

LUCKOVICH: Yes, yes.

LIN: It's a mini me human clone.

LUCKOVICH: Yes. This is some quick drawing, let me tell you. I was trying to get this thing done.

LIN: That's some pretty quick thinking. Let's take a look at some of the newsmakers...

LUCKOVICH: All righty.

LIN: ... that we've been talking about here.

LUCKOVICH: Yes.

LIN: Arthur Andersen, you spared no one. All right, so there he is.

LUCKOVICH: Yes. Well, you have...

LIN: The president.

LUCKOVICH: ... this is a two-panel -- right -- and he's on the phone and he's saying, "After the realizing the public deserves to know the cost of war with Iraq, I thought of you," and you see this empty Arthur Andersen office and they are saying, "We've got a job."

LIN: Because it's all about me.

LUCKOVICH: Exactly, exactly.

LIN: All right. And Tom Ridge.

LUCKOVICH: Oh, now, this was one of my very favorite cartoons. This is when he announced the color-coded terror warnings and...

LIN: Orange, yellow...

LUCKOVICH: Orange, yes, all those.

LIN: ...green.

LUCKOVICH: ... and so, I've got -- a woman's watching TV and she tells her husband,"Shhh, Tom Ridge is about to unveil today's terror- alert color." As you see, he goes to the bag of M&M's.

LIN: Is that how he picks them?

LUCKOVICH: Yes, that's...

LIN: And we still do like green M&M's.

LUCKOVICH: Oh, exactly. And that would be the best color to be on, I think.

LIN: All right. And pedophile priests.

LUCKOVICH: Now, you know, I'm Catholic, and this is a tough issue for me..

LIN: Oh, yes.

LUCKOVICH: ... because I love the Catholic church. They do so much good for so many people, so many unfortunate people, and to have this thing going on, I just think it's just terrible. And so, I drew this cartoon. I've got Cardinal Law or someone like him, and he's got a group of pedophile priests I drew as wolves and he's saying, "You mean, I'm supposed to be protecting the sheep?" He was the shepherd for the wolves, I thought, in this case.

LIN: And what is this, evil...

LUCKOVICH: Well, now, Bush has shifted -- you know, Bush never even talks about Osama anymore. Have you noticed that? And he's shifted his focus, so he shifted his focus to Saddam. And so Osama here is in a cave and he's pretty bummed about that. So someone's trying to comfort him saying "Hey, you'll always be evildoer number one to us."

LIN: Tears at the heart.

LUCKOVICH: Poor Osama.

LIN: Yes. OK, how about David Copperfield?

LUCKOVICH: Yes.

LIN: Nice hair.

LUCKOVICH: Well, here we had this huge surplus, and now it be gone. And now we've got a huge deficit, and it's just -- it's so darn frustrating and then, plus, we've got that goofy tax cut that's going to take more and more money away. So I drew this cartoon. I've got Bush reading a newspaper, says, "Poof, $5.6-billion surplus disappears, and an aide is saying "David Copperfield wants pointers."

LIN: All right. And then...

LUCKOVICH: OK, now.

LIN: Oh what is it, Al Gore's sleeper cell.

LUCKOVICH: Yes, exactly. He never -- it was probably good that he got out. He didn't get people very excited. And so, I drew someone is saying, "He shaved his beard. That's a sign for us to activate." And it's, of course, it's literally, the Al Gore sleeper cell, some guy yawning and the other guy reading "Reader's Digest."

LIN: Oh, really. Oh, no, not another recount, OK.

LUCKOVICH: Moving on, we got...

LIN: And this.

LUCKOVICH: This is Harvey Pitt. Boy, this guy was so anti- reform, it was pathetic.

LIN: He does look like a pilgrim. I never even noticed.

LUCKOVICH: He does. And that's why I love the holidays because you can -- there are so many symbols that you can use. And so in this particular cartoon, rather than chopping off the corporate corruption turkey head, he's willing to go and chop off his own leg, so the corporate corruption turkey is thinking, "I love this guy."

LIN: How do you get these ideas, Mike?

LUCKOVICH: It's panic. It's...

LIN: Fear is a great motivator, I have found.

LUCKOVICH: Yes, it's late in the day and I'm thinking, oh, my deadline's coming up and I need to come up with something or else I'll never go home and so, I sweat and something just eventually happens.

LIN: So who's your next victim?

LUCKOVICH: Well, you know, I'm probably going to do another Rael -- I can't say the name of those.

LIN: Raelians.

LUCKOVICH: Whatever...

LIN: Think rye bread.

LUCKOVICH: ... you say it. I'll just -- you know, the clone group.

LIN: Yes.

LUCKOVICH: You know, that is just sort of a funny topic. I expected that guy, when he was on, to say, live long and prosper, because he's just kind of that offbeat type of person.

LIN: Oh, what's this that we're looking at?

LUCKOVICH: OK, now this was during the midterm elections. And it was based on, you know, the Democrats offered up some kind of old people, Walter Mondale and who was the guy, Lautenberg, in New Jersey, so.

LIN: Oh, that's right.

LUCKOVICH: So I've got a retirement home and a couple of guys and one says, "You know what we've got to look forward to after this after this, don't you?" And the other guy says, "The Senate?"

LIN: All right. Wassuup.

LUCKOVICH: Oh, now, this was such a great topic for a cartoonist and I want to thank, personally, Trent Lott for all he's done for us. I wanted to show the way that Trent Lott was really trying to relate to the -- to African Americans, so I have him saying "Wassuup" and...

LIN: And there he is.

LUCKOVICH: Yes.

LIN: All right. What about fruitcake?

LUCKOVICH: OK, now this was just last week and this was the big story, how North Korea has sort of stolen the thunder from Iraq a little bit. So another holiday metaphor, I've got a gentleman aide outside of Bush's oval office and he's saying, "Sir, I know you're focused on Iraq, but do you have time for a fruitcake?" And you see it's our Kim il-Jung, who looks a lot like Ernie from Bert and Ernie, the hair.

LIN: And you nailed it on the glasses. Thanks so much, Mike.

LUCKOVICH: Thank you for having me.

LIN: That was so much fun.

LUCKOVICH: I'll be back tomorrow, I believe.

LIN: You bet.

LUCKOVICH: Yes.

LIN: And have a happy new year, too, in the meantime.

LUCKOVICH: Thank you.

LIN: All right. We'll see you tomorrow.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com