Meet Michael Ramirez – Cartoonist

I am a political cartoon fan(atic). Political cartoons fascinate me because the really good cartoonists manage a truth in one cartoon that writers can take thousands of words to say. The good cartoonists are as honest as good reporters. Which means there are a lot of bad one. Many cartoonists, especially those on the left, parrot the talking points of the leftist writers. Lots of Nazi references and lots of smears.

One of the best, IMO, is Michael Ramirez. He was one of my first discoveries when I first began collecting cartoons on-line. He is so good. No, he’s great.

Michael Patrick Ramirez (born May 11, 1961) is an American cartoonist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. His cartoons present mostly conservative viewpoints. He is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner.

Ramirez was born in Tokyo, Japan, to a Mexican American father and Japanese American mother. He graduated from the University of California, Irvine, in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree. He has worked for The Commercial Appeal of Memphis for seven years and then for the Los Angeles Times.

In 1994, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning. He again won the Pulitzer for editorial cartooning in 2008. He is a three-time winner of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi Award for excellence in journalism in 1995, 1997 and 2007. In 1996, he was given the Mencken Award for Best Editorial Cartoon.

He is a regular contributor to USA Today and The Weekly Standard, and his work has a subscription/distribution of over five hundred and fifty newspapers and magazines through Creators Syndicate. He was also the co-editor of the Investor’s Business Daily editorial page In 2018, he joined the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

I was all ready one of his biggest fans when Michael Ramirez made me love his cartoons even more with his masterful skewering of the mediocrity that was Obama. And his slobbering fans in the media. No one did it better than Michael Ramirez.

If his cartoons skewering Obama weren’t enough of a gift the ones he did about Hillary were pure gold.

Ramirez is no fan of Trump either as many of his cartoons show. Although he seems to have relented a little since Trump has been slapping the media around. Most of us who lean right like that. The cartoon below was titled: Bird Brain.

Michael Ramirez usually has something to “say” about things in the news. He says what he has to say about both left and right. The right isn’t safe from his caustic wit or cartoons if they are in the wrong.

Remember this one when pin-headed Kathy Griffin thought showing her holding Trump’s severed head made for good comedy?

Michael Ramirez initially planned to study medicine in college and considered journalism a hobby. He became seriously interested in that field when his first cartoon for the college newspaper, lampooning candidates for student office, had the student assembly demanding an apology.

Ramirez was a regular guest on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. He has been on CNN, CNN International, Fox News Sunday, BBC Television, BBC Radio, NPR, the Michael Reagan Show. His cartoons have been featured on CNN, Fox News, The O’Reilly Factor, and The Rush Limbaugh Show. His work has been published in such publications as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New York Post, Time Magazine, Politico, National Review and US News and World Report.

He is the author of two books, Everyone Has the Right to My Opinion and Give Me Liberty or Give Me Obamacare.

Michael Ramirez lambastes Elizabeth Warren and her claims of being “Native American” often but I really liked this one:

I am amazed not only at the quality of the Ramirez cartoons but of the number. The man just keeps turning them out and with him, quantity is also quality.

I love is cartoons and make no secret of it. But of all of them, the one below is my favorite. He manages to destroy two things I dislike most, Obama and the Media, in one fantastic cartoon. Well done Michael Ramirez, very well done!

I don’t always agree with Michael Ramirez and his POV but I always respect that it is well thought out and that he has done his homework. His opinion on Coronavirus isn’t the same as mine but after reading his essay I understand how he came to his conclusion and agree with most/much of it.

I would rely on the advice of medical experts rather than the opinion of political pundits who think this “may not be as bad as they are making it out to be.” In retrospect, even if this turns out to be less than what is anticipated, I will be glad we took precautions to insure it was not worse. I think that is common sense.

Take politics out of the equation. Covid-19 doesn’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican, whether you’re a Never Trumper or an Always Trumper, a liberal or a conservative, Chinese or American. If your immune system is not up to the task, it will kill you. ~ Michael Ramirez

I hope you enjoyed learning something about one of the great cartoonists of our day. I know I enjoyed researching him. Even if we don’t always agree – I still respect him, admire him, love his cartoons and mostly agree with him. What more could I ask for?

Have a great day and laugh often – it’s good for what ails ya – like still being under house arrest by our own government.

This is an  open thread