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CNN Sunday Morning
Political Cartoonist Provides a Humorous Look at the News
Aired August 05, 2001 - 08:37 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.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, as we do from time to time here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING, we like to take a lighter look at current events, and for that we've turned to Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Mike Luckovich. Now, Mike is the editorial cartoonist for "The Atlanta Constitution," and he is syndicated. You've probably seen him in newspapers no matter where you live. And so, Mike, we welcome you back.
MIKE LUCKOVICH, CARTOONIST: It's great to be here, Brian. It's...
NELSON: Go ahead.
LUCKOVICH: Well, I was just going to say -- it's been wonderful, because we've got a fairly new administration here.
NELSON: You're probably having a real tough time to find some material, right?
LUCKOVICH: Oh, it's just been very tough. Although, actually, you know, it's funny how you do cartoons on, say, the tax cut, and that's sort of the dominating issue, and then it just doesn't go away for a long time. And so, the material during the summer, as you know, the material gets a little slow, and that's why I'm sure that the entire world of the news media is celebrating...
NELSON: Chandra Levy.
LUCKOVICH: Yes. Yes. Because that has just been a long running story and Gary Condit has just been the perfect foil. If we can show that first cartoon.
Yeah, I've got a group of media people, there's a CNN person, and ABC and NBC...
NELSON: Let's read the quote here.
LUCKOVICH: Yeah. He's saying...
NELSON: "We're outside the D.C. apartment of representative Gary Condit. We're waiting for him to come out so we can thank him."
What are you getting at here? LUCKOVICH: Hey, what would the media be doing without this story during the summer? It's been sort of a slow news cycle. I mean, I can imagine the evening newscast just going for the first 20 minutes to a test pattern.
NELSON: Yeah.
LUCKOVICH: If it wasn't for Gary Condit. So, of course, now...
NELSON: You often do stuff like that, though. Do you have fun poking a needle at the media?
LUCKOVICH: Oh, sure, oh, certainly, I mean...
NELSON: Television, especially.
LUCKOVICH: Well, yeah. It's great. Never newspapers, of course, they do no wrong, as you know.
NELSON: You've got one where you tie, and rather brilliantly, tie the FBI mishaps into the Chandra Levy story. What's your point?
LUCKOVICH: Well, the FBI has become the Three Stooges and it's just been so great from a cartoonists standpoint to almost weekly have another FBI screw-up come out. The latest thing was they lost a bunch of their laptops and...
NELSON: And guns.
LUCKOVICH: ... and their guns. So, you know, that's a bummer, isn't it?
NELSON: Let's take a look at the cartoon.
LUCKOVICH: So, the cartoon is a gentleman sitting at a park bench as these FBI guys are looking around.
NELSON: The newspaper says, "FBI can't find 449 guns and 180 laptops." And the gentleman on the bench says, "They found Chandra Levy, then they lost her." That's great.
LUCKOVICH: So, now...
NELSON: I think Jim likes it.
LUCKOVICH: Well, good. I'm glad. You know, the thing that, that lends itself to other things, because it got me to thinking about other interns that have been in the news. And so I did the next cartoon, if we could show that. I've got a police, a policeman. He's looking at a piece of paper that says "Monica" and the policeman is saying, "We're searching Bill Clinton's house to see if he had anything to do with his intern not disappearing."
NELSON: What's the point of that?
LUCKOVICH: I mean, see, Monica, wouldn't you just love it if she would just go away? She is always coming back. She is like, you know, she's like a bad case of the something or other. She's always returning and never staying away too long.
NELSON: Now, Bill Clinton is a favorite target of yours. You've done some really good cartoons on him.
LUCKOVICH: Well, how -- Bill is hard to let go of. Especially, you know, Bush, I'm sorry, the guy is boring. The guy, he's like a vice president, you never see him. He's always...
NELSON: Don't beat around the bush or anything, OK?
LUCKOVICH: Yeah, well, he's so scripted, and he's just not good for cartooning. So, when Bill comes back in the news, it's just such a God send.
NELSON: So, Bill went to Harlem.
LUCKOVICH: Yeah, well, Bill was Harlem this week, thank goodness. So, I've got him sitting at a table and...
NELSON: Let me read the quote here.
LUCKOVICH: All right.
NELSON: It says, "Dear, I think it's time we told him he's adopted." Now, this is an African American family and Bill is in there having chicken with them.
LUCKOVICH: Right, right. So, it's just...
NELSON: What's the point?
LUCKOVICH: Well, I mean, he -- first of all, Bill Clinton, unlike George W., he can go into any situation, any place, and be perfectly comfortable. And that's really...
NELSON: But he can always count on the black community to love him, no matter what happens, right?
LUCKOVICH: Well, well, that's true, but he's just such -- so good at relating to people like that.
NELSON: Let's move along.
LUCKOVICH: All righty, let's see...
NELSON: We've got, well you...
LUCKOVICH: OK. Yeah, now...
NELSON: Bush and global warming.
LUCKOVICH: Yes. And the European Summit. This cartoon, a European is saying, "I swear if he says the solution to global warming is air conditioning one more time..." NELSON: OK. Then, you've got Bush again. This time you tie in two other things...
LUCKOVICH: Well, yeah, now...
NELSON: ... and tax cuts.
LUCKOVICH: Oh, OK. Now, do we -- let's see. Which one do we, oh, no, this is on the surplus. Now, fortunately, Bush has a couple of daughters and they like to have a drink even though they're not quite old enough. So, when that all came out, I did a cartoon on that and then later I tied it into the whole surplus being eaten away by the tax cut. And so I have a gentleman there, at a bar, and a couple of Frankensteins, and he's saying, "The Bush twins are drinking again" -- the Frankensteins being the tax cuts.
NELSON: You've got another one with the twins involved coming up here as well.
LUCKOVICH: Right. This one, it's the Marine Corp Band and the conductor is saying, "The President is arriving with his daughters, go from "Hail to the Chief" directly into "99 Bottles of Beer."
NELSON: Isn't this a little cruel?
LUCKOVICH: Well, see, here's the thing. I really view presidential offspring as sort of off-limits. I didn't do anything on Chelsea. And when Jenna first got in trouble for drinking, the first time, I didn't comment on that. But when she did it a second time, I felt a moral obligation as a cartoonist and a human being to comment. Plus, she's an adult, and so, she is fair game now that she's done it once.
NELSON: Now, the last one we want to look at is Kay Graham, actually.
LUCKOVICH: Oh, all righty, yes.
NELSON: All right. Now, let's -- let me read this for our viewers. "It looks like we're finally going to get a decent newspaper up here." This, I presume, that is God or is that Moses or, I don't know...
LUCKOVICH: I think that's St. Peter.
NELSON: But that's Kay Graham on the left, isn't it?
LUCKOVICH: Right, yeah, right. She's being welcomed into heaven. OK, I had to do something on her because what a remarkable human being and she -- what was so great about her was that she was this very powerful human being, but she was so down to earth and easy to get along with. That's why I liked her so much. That's why I like you two so much, as well.
NELSON: Just don't ever do a cartoon on us, OK?
LUCKOVICH: Yeah, OK, I won't.
NELSON: I'm afraid what would come out. Mike Luckovich from "The Atlanta Constitution," the political cartoonist. You do great work.
LUCKOVICH: Thank you.
NELSON: You're very insightful. Thank you for being here, and we'll see you here again soon, OK.
LUCKOVICH: Thank you so much for having me.
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