200612130403From E&P news that a right-leaning cartooner was arrested for a family unfriendly activity:

Edward Bruce Tinsley, 48, creator of the comic strip Mallard Fillmore — known for its conservative edge — was arrested in Columbus, Indiana, on Dec. 4 and charged with operating a vehicle under the influence, the Indianapolis Star reports today. He posted a $755 bond.

It was his second alcohol-related arrest in less that four months, according to the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department. His previous arrest was Aug. 26.


Tinsley’s blood alcohol levels was 0.14, twice the legal limit.
Blogger/thespian James Urbaniakmakes the story even more ironic with a recent MALLARD FILLMORE strip that referenced the property of alcohol to make eggnog tolerable.

1 COMMENT

  1. Mallard is the worst comic ever. It’s NEVER funny. The only reason it gets syndicated is because it’s by a whiney conservative. How is this different than any other affirmative action situation?

  2. I imagine most comments here will be anti-conservative. But sometimes Mallard Fillmore speaks the truth about don’t-confuse-me-with-facts-and-logic liberals. It’s not going to convert anyone, however, as it merely panders to a conservative audience, much as Ann Coulter and Michael Moore pander to their respective audiences.

    BTW, I’m a libertarian (no, we’re not ultra-conservatives) who detests don’t-confuse-me-with-facts-and-logic people of any stripe, including my own. Tinsley should be prosecuted without prejudice, towards or against.

  3. Alcohol has long been the conservatives’ drug of choice. The more puritanical among that bunch will sniff and scold, but they won’t drum him out of the movement. They’ll tell him to enter a treatment program and pray for his recovery. After all, it’s not like he was caught transporting a half-pound of cannabis sativa. Or selling bongs. Or in a homosexual encounter.

  4. The way every lawmaker keeps making DUIs harder and harder, I expect this guy to get the book thrown at him. Most states don’t even let judges make any decisions, if you blow over the limit, then you’re going to get an automatic sentence. He’s 48, and likely to have done this all of his life. I expect a lot of jail time. If his first offense is driving related, I expect he’ll probably get a year in jail.

    And ~Chris, Mallard Fillmore IS a don’t-confuse-me-with-facts-and-logic comic strip. Sure it can hit the bullseye when the left does something wrong form time to time, but it doesn’t excuse Tinsley for all the garbage he spews in it the rest of the time. I don’t find it clever or insightful or anything. It’s not worth defending. It’s a propaganda piece, and Boondocks is in the same boat too (although you can find more newspapers dropping Boondocks than Mallard, isn’t that interesting?).

  5. < <Mallard Fillmore IS a don’t-confuse-me-with-facts-and-logic comic strip. Sure it can hit the bullseye when the left does something wrong form time to time, but it doesn’t excuse Tinsley for all the garbage he spews in it the rest of the time.>>

    I didn’t say otherwise. He creates and attacks a liberal straw man stereotype, thus any valid points (such as this one about free speech double standards: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/mallard/2000/MFT20061027.jpg) are ignored because nobody outside his conservative audience is paying attention. (And then he gets upset if conservatives are stereotyped!: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/mallard/2000/MFT20060609.jpg)

    I was defending the strip much less than I’m criticizing automatic attacks on conservatives, such as Robert’s, chan’s, and Scott’s posts. Heidi and you were able to comment without doing so.

    P.S. I dislike Aaron McGruder’s politics, but at least The Boondocks has made me laugh out loud, unlike MF. (What are the statistics of the number of papers dropping each strip vs. the number that carried each strip?)

  6. I’ll withhold judgment on Mr Tinsley’s guilt or innocence. However, I notice the wording of “The Beat”‘s lead-off paragraph: “a right-leaning cartooner was arrested” … in other words, “The Beat” wants to carry this item in order to bash someone on the right, more than for any other reason.

    ‘Mallard Fillmore’ is not, by a long chalk, my favourite comic strip. However, I notice that there are a large number of syndicated strips which go far over to the left, and only a couple of strips which lean even moderately right. I’ve heard people scream in outrage that a strip like Fillmore is even allowed to be published, yet these same people seem to have no problem that strips far more extreme on the left side of the spectrum are published.

    Poster Brian Spence seems to find some right-wing bias in his claim that more papers are dropping ‘Boondocks’ than dropping ‘Fillmore’. Duh! But if this claim is true, then it can only mean that more papers were CARRYING ‘Boondocks’ than ‘Fillmore’ in the first place; i.e., they were favouring a left-wing strip while not carrying a right-wing strip.

    Also, I respect the fact that ‘Fillmore’ is the ONLY political strip which sources its assertions. Whenever Fillmore makes a claim, there’s always an asterisk leading to the footnoted source. Left-wing comic strips are constantly making broad assertions but never backing them up with sources.