I thought this was about as thoughtful and supportive a post-mortem on a controversial cartoon -- seen above, by Jeff Darcy -- that I've ever seen a big newspaper run. Among the issues addressed are exactly why the cartoon drew more commentary than the editorials on the same page, and why editorial cartoons aren't necessarily the beliefs of the newspaper that publishes them. It's refreshing to see that much thought given to a newspaper's publishing decisions, and that matter-of-fact a defense of publishing a controversial cartoon in an era shaped by newspapers' bending over backwards to try and placate anyone that's the least bit upset.
